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They took an 11 year old and a 4 year old for a hike in Death Valley?
Also, there’s something that comes up in any dangerous activity - rock climbing, flying small airplanes, SCUBA diving, whatever – that it’s rarely one bad decision that kills you. Death comes when you can no long work your way out of the “decision hole” or “decision cone.” Rather, it’s a series of bad decisions you don’t recognize as bad decisions until you are so deep in the “hole” that it’s increasingly hard to get out. And as you pick your activity that’s got more inherently dangerous components – flying in questionable weather, cave diving, kayaking in really fast water – you are starting out deeper in the hole. Hiking in Death Valley on a 100F degree day is questionable – hiking it on a 110F degree day going on with no margin for error at all.
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As far as anyone can tell those tourists didn’t set out to take a challenging hike through Death Valley, they drove their rental van to a remote area of the park thinking they could take a shortcut to Yosemite and got stranded when their tires went flat on a road the vehicle wasn’t equipped to handle.
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Jeez, 128F. A few years back I was launching rockets in the Chihuahuan Desert near Hatch, NM. In mid-June we were seeing highs around 108F - 110F and that was just wildly uncomfortable. Oppressive, hostile levels of heat.
It made me reconsider Breaking Bad with this new, unseen protagonist, like everything in the show was that much worse because of this invisible aggressor.
I can’t imagine 128F, and hiking in it, to boot! My gentle PNW blood is too thick for such climes.
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Valley of the Death Valley Hikers
I visited Death Valley in October a few years ago. It was still 40°C or so, and being outside the air-conditioned car at all quickly became quite uncomfortable. How anyone would voluntarily engage in strenuous outdoor activity there in July/August when the temperature is 50°C or more is completely beyond me.
History very nearly repeated itself last month:
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