It's that time of year again...

Two incidents from the NPS Morning Report demonstrate the dangers of dehydration, a definite factor in many areas at this time of year....

Lake Mead National Recreation Area - NV, AZ
Bodies Of Two People Found In Stuck Minivan

The bodies of a man and woman from Golden Valley, Arizona, were found near Greggs Hideout in Lake Mead National Recreation Area on Sunday, August 2nd.

Park dispatch received a call just before 5 p.m. reporting that bodies of the two people were found in a minivan by a third party who was passing through.

Mohave County Sheriff’s Office deputies and National Park Service rangers responded and located the pair in a minivan that was stuck in the dirt on Salt Spring Wash Road. They appeared to have died from environmental exposure. Only two bottles of water were found at the scene and there was no cell phone coverage in the area.

The Mohave County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death and confirm the victims’ identities. The incident is under investigation.

White Sands National Monument (NM)
Two French Visitors Die, Child Rescued

Two visitors from France died Tuesday afternoon while hiking the Alkali Flat Trail in White Sands National Monument. A child in the group was found alive, rescued by monument and local emergency personnel, and treated for heat exposure.

Park rangers discovered the three French nationals while on routine trail patrol approximately 1.5 miles from the Alkali Flat trailhead. The body of the woman was found about 5:30 p.m. and the man’s body and surviving boy about half an hour later. The daytime high temperature in the monument Tuesday reached 101 degrees F.

The deaths are being investigated by the Otero County (NM) Sheriff’s Office. French authorities were immediately notified and are assisting in the case.

What can we learn from these incidents? For starters, carry lots of water, especially in your vehicle where weight is a negligible factor. Extrication gear (i.e., shovel) is always a good idea.

Once again, a $250 PLB would have turned a fatal incident into a merely embarrassing one.

Know where you're going, and the difficulties and hazards you may encounter along the way.

Know the capabilities and limitations of your body, your gear and your vehicle.

Have a "Plan B" and reasonable means of self-help, self-repair and self-rescue.

Leave a hike/travel plan. Tell someone trustworthy where you're going and when you'll be back, every single time you set out for any sort of journey or activity where an accident may befall you unnoticed by others or away from immediate assistance, no matter how routine.

P.S. I have a dim recollection of hearing about some sort of app that lets you set up a deadline after which your custom emergency message will be broadcast to recipients you've pre-selected unless you cancel it before the deadline. Does anyone recall anything like this?

Given we're talking about tourists (read: rental car) Water, walking gear, and a freaking paper MAP is the best we can realistically expect.

True that!

Why lower expectations for someone who rents a car? Do we not all do that some time or another?

This suggests a thread along the lines of "How to prep when you are renting wheels in an unfamiliar location" or something similar......

that location is super-hot in the summer. I would not be surprised to hear max temps in the range 110-120 degrees C.

I feel really sorry for those people. I have been in that situation ONCE, and it was scary. the heat can literally overwhelm you.

the comments about a PLB are right on the money. But most tourists just "wing it". totally tragic.

This was a different incident (for me). But it's relevant. I remember riding my motorcycle on the Death Valley roads in summer ... maybe a year or two ago. But I wasn't stupid. I got up early and hit the road about 5am. It was COOL and beautiful then. By 8:30 am the HEAT was getting intense. I turned around (as PLANNED) and headed back to my point of origin. That was my plan for the day ... escape the heat.

BUT I REMEMBER. As I was heading back to "home", two cars went past me. Cruising thru Death Valley roads in the summertime. And I remember thinking - WHAT ARE THOSE PEOPLE THINKING? If their car breaks down out there - they are literally toast.

And that is the problem today. we cruise around in our nice air-conditioned vehicles, and we have literally NO IDEA how fierce that environment is ... out there.

TRAGIC.
Heat and dehydration is NO WAY to die.

Pete

Rental car driven by French tourists means air travel. That means luggage restrictions. Even when stripped down to comply with airline and TSA regulations, a car kit suitable for off pavement travel is going to take up as much space as a gym bag. And, commercial kits are not cheap enough to be considered disposable. What this boils down to is it's unrealistic to expect them to carry anything but the most abbreviated kit.

EDIT: I already asked a similar question about what to do when things go catawampus on travel.

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=210638&page=1

Complacency. Most people get so comfortable with their version of normal that they expect their "normal" to continue even when they go off road. The couple from Golden Valley, AZ should have known better. I expect people from AZ to carry a lot more water -- complacency. They didn't plan to get stuck. R.I.P.

The couple from France should have realized that White Sands was not even close to their version of normal. In France you are very rarely outside cellphone coverage, but I'm not seeing much coverage inside White Sands Nat'l Monument -- NM cell coverage (NE of Las Cruces, NM). I've been many places in France and what they had in common was lots of people. You can go a long time between people in the desert SW. again, R.I.P.

Speaking of normal, who else here has a PLB in the vehicle they normally drive?
Do you take the PLB with you when you go on vacation?
Who else carries gallon of water in addition to the water you brought along to drink that day? I'm not even in the desert.

I travel by commercial air all of the time, and I always carry a good kit. They didn't need a road recovery kit or any heavy tools, just a map, a little shelter, signaling and water! Their critical failure was that they did not use their most important survival tool, their brain.

Your brain can get through any airport check point, and it does not cost anything more to take it with you.

With a very little preparation it can get you out of, or prevent, any such situation.

With a little water and food it can continue to function indefinitely, no need for batteries.

It can be improved and become more effective with a little proper maintenance, with very little associated cost.

What do you bring for shelter when you have to travel by air, Montanero? I'm curious because that would seem to be kind of bulky for your one personal item on the plane.

I carry gallons of water in my car. It's just convenient. It's also easy to do. Just drop a case or two of bottled water in the back.

However, on a recent cross country road trip I discovered that my cell phone gets no reception at all in some states. I have enough food and water to last me a few days, and the high way wasn't so deserted. If my car breaks down during the day, I can probably see another car within an hour. But, still, I started thinking carrying a PLB in the car might not be a bad idea. People have driven off the road, gotten trapped in the car for days because nobody could see them or hear them from the highway.

I'm not sure we need to characterize the dead as one way or another. We don't know what they were thinking. Perhaps, as someone pointed out, the French tourists really just didn't know how desolate and dangerous a place they were going to. Maybe they assumed, based on their previous travel experiences with other locations, there would be tons of people to flag down for help if they ran into trouble. Driving in Yellowstone is like that.

I mean, I have water, emergency food, maps, and a 40 lb bag of mechanical tools, medical stuff, and survival equipment in my car. If on this recent trip, my car flipped over and I got injured and trapped in a spot nobody could see from the highway, I'd hate it if people said, "He should have gotten a better cell phone plan! He should have brought a PLB! It's stupid to take a trip when you're so unprepared!"

Locals should know better but I can give tourists a pass even tho it might kill them.
Many tourists have no concept of what adverse local conditions can actually be or what they mean! They often have no conditions at home
that are anywhere near what they might face here. The real question should be how can they realistically be informed in a cost effective way. If they choose to disregard the warnings at least the effort has been made.

Locals should know better but IMO very basic survival necessities and skills should be taught in schools, perhaps in P.E. class. I'm talking simple stuff like carry water, shelter (adequate clothing for conditions, etc) what to do if you are caught out. etc. real basic no cost simple skills.

For tourists who have no idea/concept of local conditions what can be done that is cost effective. By cost effective I mean what would a rental car company or resort hotel be willing to offer at no cost to guests?
Perhaps a .10c pamphlet listing basic supplies for off of the paved road, put it in there hand, area cell coverage and how to check your provider cell map? Info. on real water needs, how and where to shelter if you get stuck, what to do if out of cell coverage, etc. If tourists are cruising a local area and plan to return perhaps a desk check log book for day plans. If the day book is used and the hotel has luggage in the room but no car in the lot overnite a simple call to the S.O., they check with the rental car Co. to see where the Car GPS is located might save a life and a lot of search expense.
Heck in modern rental cars should they have a panic button attached to the built in GPS System, should all cars that have GPS transponders have that feature?

I carry an emergency blanket at a minimum: SOL Emergency Blanket

Sometimes a more substantial Space Blanket: Heavy Duty Emergency Blanket

Usually I also have a heavy contractor bag. These items ore really not that bulky.

These things work very well for a desert shelter and for signaling. You also have to understand that I am not trying to travel light with only a carry on. My trips are usually 2 weeks long at least and involve a mix of outdoor activities and meetings in more civilized surroundings. I am usually checking two large bags regardless. My carry on is usually some reading material, electronics and my basic essentials for a surprise night out. They come in handy for layovers in airports also.

With respect to providing information to non-local visitors, bear in mind that in both these cases the fatalities occurred in areas administered by the National Park Service which does indeed provide safety information with various warning signs, brochures, and personal contacts, among other means. This is what is posted on the White Sands website with respect to the Alkali Flats Trail, which is less than a five mile round trip -

"There is no shade or water along the trail, and summer temperatures can exceed 100 degrees F (38 ° C). Heat-related illness is common in warm weather and can be fatal. Hike during cool times"

I would bet that there were warning sign posted, which is not to say that they were heeded. A more detailed discussion of these incidents would doubtless be very instructive.

Perhaps, in this particular case, this French family didn't read English?

It's hard for me to personally relate to something like this. I mean, I do plenty of stupid things and have doubtless survived my own stupidity many times without ever even realizing how stupid I was. But surely the concept of a desert in high Summer, complete with sand dunes, ought not be so unfamiliar as to make the hazards anything other than glaringly obvious.

As for rental cars, I plead guilty to knowing of some nice camping sites that I jokingly say are accessible only by 4WD OR rental car, meaning that your car is at greater risk of getting beat up or stuck, but can probably make it. But none are so bad, remote or hazardous that you couldn't walk out in a few hours or have a buddy with a pick-up pull you out of a rough bit easily enough.

Update from CNN. It wasn't a stuck rental car. The car got them to the trailhead just fine. It was attempting a 4.6 mile, no shade, deep sand hike in 101F (38C) with only 40 oz of water for three people that killed them.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/08/us/new-mexico-french-deaths/index.html

The Inquisitr has a picture of the couple. They don't appear to be out of shape. They just badly underestimated the affects of the desert sun and the dunes.

http://www.inquisitr.com/2319070/french-...im-their-water/

I've gone out in late season desert hikes with (4) 1.5 L bottles (>200 oz), and come back to the car 4 hours later with less then a liter remaining. It's incredibly easy to underestimate water needs in the open desert.

It's been a very long time since I've done any desert hiking, but I'm thinking a lot about travelling out West to do some again, probably just day-hiking or a short overnight mixed with car camping at most.

In doing a bit of unrelated research for my niece who's taken up backpacking in the often rainy Pacific Northwest, I came across umbrellas that clip to pack straps for hands-free use. Some of them appear to silver and/or reflective. Would this actually prove a useful item for desert hiking?

Back in the day, I also used to carry a cheapo, lightweight foam ground pad to lie on for protection from stickers, rocks and such, and to provide a little insulation from the heat of the ground. An afternoon nap is just about my favorite wilderness activity, so I thought it was pretty useful to have along.

I've also taken up using two hiking poles when backpacking with heavier loads, but I've never used them in really sandy, loose conditions. I have the smallish snow baskets for them, but would they work well enough in the sand, or would they just be a useless frustration?

I was thinking that I could use them to rig a sunshade with a Heetsheet, and I guess I'd need to bring along a few stuff sacks or something to use as sand anchors. But if hiking poles are a bother, I could substitute a few even lighter tent pole sections instead. Does anybody have field experience rigging up this sort of sunshade in the desert and know what works best, doesn't work well, or isn't worth the bother, either for a routine trial rest or for emergency? Any advice welcome. Thanks.

I think the stuck rental car fatalities and the desert hiking fatalities were two separate incidents.

"With little water for the family-of-three, the parents decided to give their young son two sips of water for each of their one, this would end up saving the child’s life as the two adults perished from heat-related causes in the desert sun.

KVIA reports that David and Ornella Steiner were hiking in the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico with their 9-year-old son Enzo in mid-day heat when Ornella fell down a dune and hurt her leg. Otero County Sheriff Benny House says that it appears the father and son left the marked trail to find help for the injured woman, leaving her behind to wait for help to arrive."

I cannot reconcile my own habit of taking long, difficult, or off-trail backpacking trips alone with the standard advice of "never go alone." But it appears the French family also broke two other pieces of the standard canon of backcountry advice in leaving an injured person alone and in leaving the trail to seek help, a.k.a., the deadly shortcut. However, I presume that impaired cognition due to hyperthermia and dehydration was the major causative factor.

Not that any of us wise and prepared types would ever allow ourselves to be put in such a situation , but lets pretend. Assuming your brain was still in gear, what would be the best course of action if conditions were extreme, your spouse was injured, water was minimal, and you knew the marked trail led to help, at most, about 2 1/2 miles away?

1. Leave the child and the injured spouse with the remaining water and go for help?

2. Take the child and the water and go for help?

3. Leave the child, take the water and go for help?

4. Ration the water until sundown, then go for help?

5. Stay together and try to assist the injured spouse to hike out?

6. Something else?

The list of good options is very short. The child survived; given their circumstance I'm not sure any other choice would have led to a better outcome. If you start with much more water you have better options on that list.

You can carry the tent poles of a freestanding tent. You can use these with a military poncho to make a shelter because the poncho has grommets already.

For a hot desert (not all deserts are hot!) you really need two layers for your shade shelter to drop the temperature significantly. If you have tow layers with a good space between them which allows the air to move freely the temperature under the shelter will be much lower than just one layer. I would use the heat sheet, silver side up, on top.

Even one layer is good, especially something as reflective as a heat sheet, if it is high enough over your head. A low shelter will build up hit quickly.

A space blanket with grommets will be easier to set up than a heat sheet. Having the hiking poles will help, but you do need a bit of cordage and either stakes or rocks to anchor it.

If you are going to a place that is flat you will need a freestanding shelter. I actually do like umbrellas for these areas. You can carry your shade with you and they are airy.

They should have stayed together.

I hike regularly in the desert. I always bring a long sleeved shirt, wide brimmed sun hat, FAK, plenty of water w/electrolyte powder, etc. Every single time most of the other hikers (lots of families) are carrying one small water bottle, no hat, wearing only a tank top or t-shirt, and trainers. Honestly i'm amazed more people don't run into trouble.

Yeah, cuz that's pretty much like how the Bedouin and other desert peoples dress.

In the era before high-tech outdoor fabrics and garments were common, I found that an oversized white 100% cotton dress shirt from Goodwill and cheap, baggy twill work pants worked for me.

I never actually got around to trying one, but I also thought about a pith helmet (at least when out of sight of others).

A few years back when we lived next to South Mountain Park (desert, hills to modest mountains (by Western U.S. standards) and steep climbs) in Phoenix, I would go out daily into the park for an hours or so. I cannot begin to count the number of tourists I gave water bottles to over the years (or the number of times I had to remove cactus spines from folks). I always carried enough for me and some extra. In the hottest months, daily rescues are the norm. Thankfully, most of the park has good cell service. City folks and people from less heat soaked climates just don't seem to get it. "I'll just go out in the morning"...when it's already 90-95 degrees and warming up at 3-4 degrees/hour!

When I speak to groups about survival and specifically desert survival, they look at me with a fair amount of skepticism when I tell them that we have folks die every year in just an hour or two in the desert. Water and shade are the keys to staying alive in the desert.

<shrug> Drives me up the wall!

If you are going to work and/or play in desert conditions, you want to be an early bird. It is best to get going by 4:30AM to take advantage of the relative cool.

Sometimes during SAR operations you don't have that option. I and my partner once started on a trail at noon. Temp was 91 at the outset,with a five mile climb up a southern exposure, fortunately with a guaranteed water source at the top. We carried two and one-half gallons and reasonably full rescue packs.

When we reached the stream, we had consumed all our water and were quite thirsty, consuming about a quart each from the babbling brook. Fortunately we had gained enough altitude and it was later in the day, and we were in a shady canyon, so conditions ameliorated considerably.

P.S. We did find our victim, seriously injured, and extricated him the following morning

That's really the only "good" option when one member of a small group gets injured. Everybody heads for the nearest safe haven, be it the trailhead or the nearest road. In larger groups of a half dozen or more, there's the option of splitting of one or two hikers to escort the injured hiker back while the rest of the group continues.

IRT the correct desert garb; long, loose, and lite has always been the rule. My favorite garment was an Oxford cotton dress shirt, two sized too big, with the collar cut off, and vents cut into the underside of the upper sleeves. Temperature regulation was incredible.

One of the things I noticed about the Bedouin in Sahara is that they tended avoid even the slightest physical exertion in the midday heat. They would get up very early, make the most of the morning and retire to their tents or mudbrick houses well before noon. They would rest until well in the afternoon, by which time they would refresh themselves with a cup of tea and resume their daily chores until late into the night.

It is a very particular way of life from a Westerner's point of view. To a casual observer the Bedouin may seem very easy going, downright lazy. But in reality they are just highly rational people adapted from birth to the harsh desert climate.

I also remember being greatly impressed by the way they rationed water. I don't think their daily water consumption is much above an average Westerner living in the temperate zone. Water is in short supply in Sahara so the Bedouin do everything possible to conserve it. Above all, they restrict any physical activity during the hot hours of the day to keep their body temperature low and avoid sweating. Doing so helps them get by with not much more than the regular 3 or 4 quarts of water per day.

This is also why historically the Bedouin would primarily travel long distance at night. But as far as mobility, they are completely dependent on the camel and now the ubiquitous 4WD. There is no way humans can cover long distances on foot in a hot desert environment. The British learned it the hard way early in WWII (Long-Range Desert Group). It's simply impossible to carry enough water for a long trek on one's person.

The unfortunate French tourists seem to have made every possible mistake they could. It ended tragically, but I am nevertheless amazed that they kept pushing on even once they realized their water wouldn't last long. In that sort of environment they should have backed up to the car very quickly, about the first time they felt the need to take a sip of water.

In my experience in other parts of the world is that they rise early, take a long break at midday, and work late. Keeping your activity to the cooler hours does help. You need a cooler place to take that midday break though. Just laying in the sun does not help very much.

Shelter and water, don't go to the desert without them!

I suppose the desert has its own kind of beauty but I can't imagine going there for recreation! I don't like the heat at all.

For most of the year, deserts can be surprisingly cool and comfortable; just stay away during the summer. In the American Southwest, nearby mountain ranges provide quick relief from the heat and a great variety in life zones with extreme contrasts in flora and fauna.

I am just back from my usuak summer gig in South Dakota and i was surprised at how cool and wet SD was this year. Usually summer temps in Hot Springs top 100 degrees, just like in Tucson and other desert areas. I can remember 100 plus degrees when a kid vacationing in Brainerd, MN, as well.

When it is hot, wherever you are, start early, lie low and take a siesta during midday, and stay cool.

They have warm weather in France, too, with temps up to 104 degrees. So perhaps the french turists thought they could easily manage the desert. But not taking into acount that french summer is humid (I think) where as the desert in dry heat.

I don't think it was the dry heat so much as the energy expenditure from walking in deep sand and overheating from the direct sun.

From personal experience, I've found that the dry heat of the desert Southwest and eastern Columbia River Gorge is much easier to tolerate then the hot and humid climate found in south Florida. Provided, of course, that I have some shade. At 100+F in direct sun, it's like wearing my backpacking pack.

I find that high heat and high humidity really contribute dehydration, hyperthermia and other heat illnesses. But I suspect that dry heat may dehydrate just as rapidly but more subtly, since it evaporates more quickly and doesn't leave you feeling as obviously damp and sweaty. This may be more misleading, and therefore more dangerous.

You done gone and broke the code. :-)

To make a further contribution to what is clearly becoming a heated discussion - the heat loss from your evaporating sweat is cooling you down and therefore aiding your survival. But the process has its limits. As the temperature rises (in my experience, somewhere above 104F or so in a low humidity situation) you had better curtail activity and stop generating heat.

We probably should distinguish between the effects of heat and those of dehydration, which can be insidiously fatal at surprisingly low temperatures.

You're right.

A simple, easy medical test for dehydration is to take a pinch of skin from the back of the hand or wrist between your thumb and forefinger and lift it up from the surface. If the skin remains tented up above surrounding skin level instead of immediately returning to level, then the patient is dehydrated.

The real secret to managing dehydration is prevention. Drinking water upon waking and again before starting the day's heat exposure activities, and being encouraged to drink at regular intervals throughout the day, will help. Gatorade or other sports drinks often popular, but are really no better than water. Given a normal diet, neither sports drinks nor salt tablets are usually necessary. However, some people do eventually get tired of having to drink plain water, so some sort of flavoring can help them to maintain adequate fluid intake.

Also, one of the simplest and most effective interventions for mild hyperthermia or uncomplicated heat stress is to have the patient immerse their hands and forearms into a bucket of tepid water. This technique has been clinically validated, and is quick and convenient, since all you need is water and a bucket, no icepacks, no towels, no fans, etc. It's also easier to get some people, especially the Type-A's, to do that than to get them to lie down with ice packs or cold damp towels applied to their groin, armpits and neck, or accept other interventions.

Water may be bulky, but it keeps us alive!