[pct-l] Let's all be careful out there

[Luce Cruz]

On Sun, Aug 3, 2014 at 4:08 PM, Rob Langsdorf <sdscpcts at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Thanks for posting this Brick,
>
>      But the report doesn't really say much about what caused his death.
> It makes it sound like he had enough water to drink, but it doesn't say why
> he then went into heat stroke. I wonder if he had more water applied to the
> outside if he would have survived?
>
>              Rob


Hard to know exactly what led up to his achieving heat stroke without more
detailed info. Prior medical conditions, medications (OTC, prescribed,
illegal?) recent alcohol consumption, or just not having enough water? Some
folks have symptoms that just run out of control once they get started down
that rabbit hole and don't recover unless drastic measures are taken very
quickly. How to know if you've never been through it what your own reaction
to heat illness might be?

There just doesn't seem to be enough information to really know how this
one particular person got caught up in this series of events that led to
his death, but the lesson to us is important: don't let events on the trip
get anywhere near where your life is truly at risk from a preventable
mishap. The trail will always be there to be walked, tomorrow, next week,
month, year, and we have to put our safety and the safety of others
foremost.

For most folks, heat illness is totally preventable or relatively easy to
treat, but for some it might not be so easy or simple, but it's always sad
to hear that someone lost their life trying to do this wonderful thing.

Unless someone has a problem with low sodium levels in the first place,
most typical "backpacking" meals sure seem to me to have more than plenty
of sodium in them.

-- 
Luce Cruz