I pushed myself to go hiking again, even though my foot is still in pain, I was sick of the lack of exercise. I planned on going to a difficult to find spot that I had tried to get to a couple of years ago and could not find. I figured it should be around two hours round trip.
The hike started out ok, but there was a heat and humidty warning issued, which I generally do not pay attention to. Most of the hike was in forest, out of direct sun, so I figured there would be no problem. After over an hour, I was able to find myself on a map, and realized I was not even half way to the destination. I was also felling more exhausted that I expected, so I decided to cancel and reverse. On the way back, I was stumbling and feeling a bit drunk, and was concerned I might not be able to make it, or possibly would have to stop and recover. I had water with me, but probably was not drinking enough.
In the end I decide to take the risk of a short cut return, and hoped I was reading the map correctly. Luckily that worked. Total time was only two hours, which would be a typical short hike, but it felt like five hours.
I managed to get back to the car, but was very wiped, Drank about three cups of water, drove home and drank more water. After I ate something I felt better. However, I got on the scale, and despite all the water drunk, I’d lost five pounds since the morning, so I must have been extremely dehydrated.
Sweat works really well as long as there is plenty of water in your body — it takes water to manufacture sweat. If you run out of water, sweat stops and your body rapidly overheats. It turns out that it is extremely easy to run out of water — your body can produce 0.5 gallons (2 liters) of sweat every hour in a hot environment. Unless you are drinking water at the same rate, you will dehydrate and then stop sweating. Your internal thirst meter often is not sensitive enough when you need that much water (and it has been said that by the time you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated), so you have to keep drinking regardless of how thirsty you feel.
I came across this climbing plain and wondered if it was Poison Ivy since it’s known to grow where I was
It seems not - from checking with Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac Facts
Posted by Administrator in Hiking