Florida man and stepson die hiking in Texas desert

[RussBLib]

I know I don't have to tell you good Dems, especially those from Texas, to NOT GO HIKING IN THIS HEAT! Especially not in Big Fucking Bend!! What kind of fool does that? Oh, yeah, a Florida man....

Man and teenage stepson die on hike in Texas national park in 119F heat

A man and his teenage stepson have died while hiking in a Texas national park as extreme heat grips the state. The pair, who were visiting from Florida but have not been identified, were hiking on a rugged trail in Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas on Friday as temperatures reached 119 degrees Fahrenheit (48 Celsius).

They were with the boy’s older brother who attempted to carry his 14-year-old sibling back to the trailhead after he collapsed and lost consciousness. Their 31-year-old stepfather hiked back to their vehicle to get help.

Big Bend National Park’s Communications Center received an emergency call at 6pm. A team of park rangers and US Border Patrol agents reached the scene at 7.30pm “and located the young victim deceased along the trail,” according to a statement. Roughly 30 minutes later, the 31-year-old man was discovered dead at the scene of a car crash in a nearby embankment.

“The Marufo Vega Trail winds through extremely rugged desert and rocky cliffs within the hottest part of Big Bend National Park. No shade or water makes this strenuous trail dangerous to attempt in the heat of summer,” NPS said. Big Bend – a sprawling desert park named after the large bend in the Rio Grande river that borders the US and Mexico – is experiencing extreme heat with daily temperatures reaching 110 -119F.

More than 40 million Americans are under heat alerts due to a prolonged “heat dome” which has settled above southern Texas. Highs in some parts of the states have reached 125F. “Heat domes” occur when hot ocean air fuelled by warming waters become trapped in the atmosphere. The National Weather Service predicted temperatures will remain extremely high through the Fourth of July holiday.

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/big-bend-heat-death-texas-b2363950.html

[Silent Type]

1. When it gets to 90 with high humidity, I have to alter my short hikes

because the heat/humidity saps energy and electrolytes. Don’t go far from home or auto.

RIP. It hits you before you recognize it.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

3. I don't walk outside with temps 85 or above. Wait until night or I walk inside mall

[OAITW r.2.0]

2. Dad, did you thibk of the risk?

WTF, why should it be obvious to me not these folks... Dads?

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

4. young stepfather making stepson march in the heat...

[Irish_Dem]

6. Yes I thought the same thing.

[onetexan]

5. Not just south tx, north tx too

Crazy hot up here.

[HAB911]

7. Didn't have enough money for a submarine ride

[Vogon_Glory]

8. WHAT IS IT WITH THESE PEOPLE???

What inspired that fool to go hiking in the Big Bend during the fribbling Summer? Low air fares, low hotel rates, or what? That might have done it, although I bet he didn’t think to wonder WHY the rates were so low!



In years past, I might have cut the guy some slack for ignorance. There’s no excuse now. If he’d wanted to do family bonding with a hike, he should have gone north. Way north, where it’s cooler,

[ecstatic]

9. That's so awful. Way too hot

I think everyone will have to start paying a lot more attention to weather reports prior to visiting a state. I'm sure as Florida residents, they assumed it would never be worse than the weather in Florida.

Also, you really don't want to fall ill in Texas. A friend of mine also died on vacation in Texas, last year. The healthcare provided was horrifically bad, in my opinion. Had they been in any other state I believe she would have survived.

[Doc Sportello]

10. I hiked it in May many years ago and it was brutal

14 miles with lots of water and I was completely dehydrated at the end. Teamps were in the 80s as I remember. Still nothing near what it's like now. Crazy to hike it now.

[edisdead]

11. This is a pretty sad story

I don’t get the sentiment here at all.

[RussBLib]

12. Sure it's a sad story....

...but you also have to ask, WTF were they thinking? Or were they thinking at all?

[edisdead]

17. They probably weren't thinking

You are right.

But I get the sense from some of the replies that they somehoe deserved it because “florida man”. People make poor tragic decisions everywhere. Frequently.

I dunno this just has a bad look on the forum to me.

[Vogon_Glory]

13. My feeling was bewilderment and sorrow that this happened.

I believe that the father bore responsibility for a bad decision. These deaths were preventable. They needn’t have happened—had the step-father done enough research in advance about trail conditions before he set out. For whatever reason he didn’t, and then his step-son died.

[Tommy Carcetti]

14. Why the gratiutious "Florida man" snark?

I mean, I get it that he's from Florida, but your phrasing in what was undoubtedly a tragic--if avoidable--story seems superfluous.

[RussBLib]

15. Because stepdad was from Florida

It's a way of identifying where someone is from.

And put Florida together with Texas and hold my beer!

Sometimes I practice snarkasm, superfluidity, stereotypicality and superfluousness.

Sometimes not.

[Tommy Carcetti]

16. I mean, I get that part.

But honestly this could have just as well been a story about a New York man, or a California man, or an Illinois man, or a native Texas man, or what have you.

So your question about "What kind of fool" does this answers itself: A fool. Irrespective of origin.

[edisdead]

18. Agreed Tommy.

This is a bad thread.

[maxsolomon]

19. Sad and pointless.

Like most Death by Misadventure.