Hiking Log – Hot..

Hiking Log – Hot..

This is part 18 of excerpts from the trail log which was located on a New York portion of the Appalachian trail. For the post which explains this series, click here.  Each new edition includes a quote from a hiker, along with this writer’s insight into what the person might have meant. Your interpretation may be different!

Following is my selection of this week’s thoughts of a hiker (this week I’m quoting several hikers).

July 25, 2016

Hiker 1: “It’s too early in the day to be this hot!”

Hiker 2: “I was here. Gonna be a hot one!”

Hiker 3: “South wind – But I could really use a north wind today – it’s hot!”

Hiker 4: “Hot AF!”

The Appalachian Trail is almost 2,200 miles long. It passes through various landscapes in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Anyone hiking the entire length, which traverses many different national and state parks, mountains and valleys, will encounter weather of many types.

On this particular Wednesday, July 25th, 2016, the temperature at 6am was 80 degrees. By 2pm, it was 94. The humidity levels were 70% during the day, going up to 90% in the evening. If you’ve never experienced this type of heat, you are lucky! This kind of weather is not fun. The air is heavy, making any kind of physical exertion difficult. You can sweat buckets just sitting still. It’s harder to breathe. There also seem to be more mosquitos, gnats and other insects buzzing around on hot sticky days.

Our four separate hikers might have been day hikers, weekend hikers, or those who were going the full distance. Regardless of what they’d already been through or what they had in front of them, the fact is that they were still moving. Each of them was hot, uncomfortable and probably very thirsty. As background, this hiking log is located on the top of a hill, reached after climbing some very large rocks. I could envision all four of these hikers plodding up the hill, huffing and puffing. They decided to take a break and write something in the log, and all they could think of to share was how hot it was.

After a probably brief break (it’s not that comfortable to sit on rocks for long), they grabbed their backpacks, took a breath, and soldiered on. I think their words and actions speak volumes about determination, perseverance and motivation. These hikers were not giving up. Not even on a day as hot as this one. Kudos, hikers, kudos.

For more thehousekat.com Hiking-related posts, click here.