Rough rough day.
It had pretty much all of the elements of a hard trail day: bad trail (my arms and legs are bloody from thorny overgrowth and deadfalls) bad weather (in the upper 80s with humidity), bad bugs (the gnats were atrocious and the hotter it got the more there were) and long water carries.
Had I not found water at mile 10 and taken a liter I would have run out long before White Rock CG. My usual rubric for water carries is a liter every 5 miles. This has worked for me on many desert hikes, even when temps are 90F and above. It was 14 miles from Lake Fort Smith to White Rock. I took 3.5L which should have been plenty.
A pool of much-needed water in Hurricane Creek
It wasn’t. The heat made me sweat, which was fine. The humidity kept the sweat from evaporating, which made me sweat even more. This was not fine. I drank way more water than I expected — about a liter every 3 miles — and it still wasn’t enough.
The last miles were on a south-facing slope through a thin minimally-shaded forest full of blowdowns and overgrowth. I began suffering from heat exhaustion, finding myself panting uncontrollably even at a slow pace over fairly level ground. I slowed down to a 1 mph pace and it was unsustainably fast.
I arrived at White Rock CG severely dehydrated and suffering from heat exhaustion. The campground not only has water, but a small general store staffed by extremely friendly folks. I walked in red-faced, drenched with sweat, arms and legs smeared with dried blood and they acted as if they could not be more delighted to see me.
View out from White Rock CG
A couple bottles of Gatorade and some salty snacks began to restore my metabolism to a normal functional state. A day hiker came by, we chatted, and he popped into the store and treated me to an ice cream.
I could have stayed at the campground, but I hadn’t made many miles and there was a campsite on the trail just a few downhill miles along. I filled up with water and began walking, arrived at the nice grassy campsite, pitched my hammock and hung up my sweaty shirt. But I had no appetite and skipped dinner.
There were some nice colors and views today, but everything from noon on was a death march. The climbs will be easier tomorrow but if the weather does not cool down I may have to bail. This kind of hiking is not fun at all.
It’s 7pm, getting dark and I am still sweaty and shirtless. It doesn’t cool off very much here at night. Not good.
35.69755, -93.93724