I took on Hotter than H£#§ !!! Hotwater Trail in Texas…

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Th charts numbers are th temp And dew point added together to assist runners n hikers too see how this slows down their speed n overall distance in th conditions . And it does……..trust me.

Ok, now th report…A few years back…..well, now that I think a bit bout it, make it some decades ago in my oilfield days I overheated workin on th oil rigs in those 100+ Oklahoma summers heat exhaustion got me a time or two…fast forward to today…it tried again, but failed to do so! 161345BB-C05B-4C97-A173-FC16C095445C.jpeg4D43AD80-A115-479A-B812-C0A8BEC2DB22.jpeg When hikin this trail so close to home in summertime there are precautions to take (normal high temps are supposed to be 84,but ole Mother Nature has other ideas it seems…yeah, 101 is a tad bit more than normal). Ya gotta stay hydrated,spray herself down with bug spray…ticks n skeeters n such, watch out for rattlers, coral snakes, cotton mouths n copperhead snakes..along with mountain lions, skunks n wild hogs.. but not th Travolta n Tim Allen motorcycle ridin kind. With all this in mind, I valliantry strode off intothe wilderness, snow free cause I’m not in Utah with Scatman hikin up where there’s snow And colder temps!E5D6B20B-E934-401F-BCBA-8594C141EAFF.jpegGotta watch where ya put yer feet too as ankle sprains in this limestone”paved” trail can occur if’s ya let yer guard down.E6F9D66A-B000-4BC2-8C99-93F7CBBB5189.jpeg215E164B-8070-4658-98A2-0C28B1F950C4.jpeg42CF477D-EC34-443B-B940-1A945E65819D.jpegE6F9D66A-B000-4BC2-8C99-93F7CBBB5189.jpeg80EFF01D-9741-47B7-AF68-82C306082D8D.jpegBCE20B75-5497-4FE4-A553-685CCF3DC3A6.jpegWe r in drought conditions here in central Texas, but had abit of rain last week to keep th flowers n cactus blooming, ooops, forgot ta mention even th plants can “ bite” ya..Goutta watch out fer th thornS!
4DD77944-E533-400D-87B1-E40FAA211E9E.jpegThere’s history here too…th Native American kind and th settler‘s kind too as seen here usin th limestone rocks to make fences. Probably goin back to th 1850’s or earlier.
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Nother thing ya gotta do is take breaks n hydrate n keep hydration….here’s a nice spot I usually stop at n rest for a spell…
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Shoot! I plum forgot ta mention a couple of other things ya gotta watch out for hikin heere…poison ivy( as pictured) and it’s cousin, poison oak, both thriving in spots in spite of th darned drought!

Not matter what th ole Goodwater Trail threw at me in those equator like conditions over 6 or so hours, I made it home ta hike a nother day…i
Suprisingly, I’d seen two other groups out backpackin…whew..overnight temps were 72 or so..hot..warned one of th groups regardin all th stuff to watch out for n found out they saw a copperhead…

It was a fun day and on my last break, I was FINALLY able to find a spot where th wind was blowin, and I set up th ole hammock n soaked th bandanna down n wiped th cool water on my forehead n settled into th hammock for a spell.
Rejuvenated, this intrepid explorer, albeit at a slower pace than earlier, trod off to th trailhead to grab a cold Gatorade outta th cooler( always bring a cooler with water n Gatorade n to eat after th hike) and refresh myself at th end of th day.
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Review of my Fishin shirt…I always wore th ole standby button up nylon shirts before this and love em..I thought th polyester long sleeve 50 spf pullovers with hoodsn masks built in would be much too hot n clammy. But on th Amazon twin humid n hot day..it fared great! Not hot n clammy, no sunburn( I’d put th hat in th pack early on n used th hood in th sun). I also poured water round my neck to soak th material n that worked well.
I will be usin these in th future when hikin here and it would work wonderfully when one’s sauntering in th Rockies in color temps to as a base layer.

I wont kid ya, today was a harder than my 14 mile hot Yellerstone bog hike with Scatman last year…and this was much shorter..I’ll get used to this by mid June n be ready ta get outta th heat n head back to Yellerstone in Sept.

After today th Goodwater Trail will be forever more be th Hotwater Trail, at least to me it will be.

keep on hikin n stay cool!

The Trout Whisperer

PS. That pic was at th start of th day…I was a bit more ragged at th end!
 
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No picture with the face mask up and the hood? Bandit style.

I have a few styles of sunshirts and am wearing those more and more these days. It really is nice to not put on so much sunscreen and to not have surprise burns on my pasty arms.

101d? Yuck.
@scatman will probably mention there was some snow here overnight at least my end of the valley. Definitely less than half your temp, at least today, but melting away to be spring-like this week out here. I am going to go sleep on the snow Friday night for good measure.
Taking time to cool off in the hammock sounds splendid.
 
Honest to god I don't know how you can stand living there...

Then again I woke up in the middle of the night and looked out the window to make sure there were no wildfires heading my way.
 
It’s
Honest to god I don't know how you can stand living there...

Then again I woke up in the middle of the night and looked out the window to make sure there were no wildfires heading my way.
tough, especially th heat exhaUstinov back in th day..a Doctor once to me that, like an old car engine that overheated, I’d not be able to take th heat quite as well from then on….over 40 years have past..that is why I slowly immerse myself into summer hikes here..th last couple of summers I hiked 9+ miles 1-2 times a week on this trail….

of course, Scatman wanted me to be comfortable on last yearsGneiss Creek hike, so he made sure Yellerstone had a record hot day in Sept..89 and being 7000 feet closer to the sun..I was able to do only 14 miles of our 16 mile dayhike…

We are lookin to move 350 miles or so north in th next year or two.

Got 105 with th heat index today here…
 
No picture with the face mask up and the hood? Bandit style.

I have a few styles of sunshirts and am wearing those more and more these days. It really is nice to not put on so much sunscreen and to not have surprise burns on my pasty arms.

101d? Yuck.
@scatman will probably mention there was some snow here overnight at least my end of the valley. Definitely less than half your temp, at least today, but melting away to be spring-like this week out here. I am going to go sleep on the snow Friday night for good measure.
Taking time to cool off in the hammock sounds splendid.
You really know how to hit a guy where it hurts…th cold is my friend…but there’s a state law here that it only gets cold here once in a blue moon….
 
I'm not seeing you climbing over any downed logs? :) I think you should be constructing some bogs along this route so that you will feel more at home.

Good on you making it through the heat.
 
No picture with the face mask up and the hood? Bandit style.

I have a few styles of sunshirts and am wearing those more and more these days. It really is nice to not put on so much sunscreen and to not have surprise burns on my pasty arms.

101d? Yuck.
@scatman will probably mention there was some snow here overnight at least my end of the valley. Definitely less than half your temp, at least today, but melting away to be spring-like this week out here. I am going to go sleep on the snow Friday night for good measure.
Taking time to cool off in the hammock sounds splendid.

Yeah, we got some snow at the north end of the valley too. The weather gods have been frowning on me for my past indiscretions I think. After the 306 mile dust storm in New Mexico two weeks ago, I thought my bad weather experience was behind me for the rest of the spring, but on my way to Portland, I had torrential rains when I was driving down the Columbia River Gorge; then it rained 90% of the time I was in Portland moving my daughter out for the summer, and I ran into a blizzard as I approached Mount Hood on the way home. Cars and trucks had slid off the road in various places, which made for some white knuckle driving for this old timer. I thought I might get some relief when I got to Boise, but the storm just followed me across Oregon and into Idaho, with thunder, lightning and pouring rain.
 
LOL ....... 34 degrees and a blizzard ....... 4 inches of new snow ...... ahhhhh, spring in Idaho....
 
LOL ....... 34 degrees and a blizzard ....... 4 inches of new snow ...... ahhhhh, spring in Idaho....
Bob please send th snow and 34 degrees my way…mowed th front yard just now at 75 degrees and 72 dew point…a steam bath fo sure!
 
I'm with @Wanderlust073 on this one. I spent a summer in Florida once taking classes at the U. of S. F. and thought I was gonna die, and all they have there are alligators and giant roaches and huge lightning and such, well at least on campus. I felt like my life was in danger daily, especially from heat stroke.
 
... the water is NOT lava.

I would have laughed at this twice if it had let me. :roflmao:

This was a cold (upper thirties) Yellowstone day in October. I was searching for the old Howard Eaton Trail through the sticks. I still had a ways to go before my day was over and I didn't want to get anything wet, so I attempted not to fall into the Gibbon River, and this was the only way.
 
Lookin for a bog yesterday on th trail.. gotta watch out for copperhead snakes as theyblend in perfectly with th leaves . Andbefore ya asked, the dewpoint was higher than Saturday, so it was a bit worse hikin in th moist heat.2A089782-329F-4F6A-8211-EA2460C478BF.jpeg89EF5210-C928-4CDB-82DA-5C3586A68D9F.jpeg2A089782-329F-4F6A-8211-EA2460C478BF.jpeg
 
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Oh I looked high,
Then i searched low
No bog Was found,
As for why I don’t know.

Disclaimer: I didn’t go spelunkin down th abandoned outhouse toilet to see if there’s a BOG down there.. waitin for the Scatman to come to Texas n assist and that adventure!
 
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