The Old Hot Foot -or- Are People Really This STUPID?

[dales]

Woman suffers third-degree burns after walking barefoot in Death Valley

By Amy Graff, SFGATE

Updated 5:09 pm, Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Death Valley National Park temperatures are reaching furnace-hot highs this week as a heat wave engulfs the Western United States.

The park's world-famous giant thermometer hit 120 Saturday, soared to 124 Sunday, sunk to 123 Monday, is expected to top out at 126 Tuesday, the first day of summer, according to the National Weather Service.

Just how hot is it outside when the temperature is above 120 degrees? Hot enough to turn the dessert floor into an oven.

A heat warning issued by Death Valley this week includes news of a woman who suffered third-degree burns after walking about a half-mile on hot sand in June. The unnamed woman lost her sandals in Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, and required ambulance transportation to a hospital after her walk.

"The temperature of the sand was not recorded, but touching a 120° F surface for over five minutes can cause burns of that severity," the release reads. "Ground temperatures are generally significantly higher than official temperatures, which are recorded about 4 feet off the ground in the shade. Ground temperatures over 200° F have been measured in Death Valley. To put that in perspective, 160° F is sufficient to cook meat."

Abby Wines, a spokesperson for the park, says that she's never heard of anyone burning their feel like this in the park in the 12 years she has been working there.

"Every summer we have at least a few days that are over 125," Wines said. "Maybe a few summers it will reach 129. Not every summer."

The park's record was reached back in 1913 when the high soared to 134 degrees.


That high has even come close to being beat, as Wines says, "We haven't been above 129 since hitting that record."

[Burning Petard]

I have heard about long distance runners crossing Death Valley and using several past of shoes as they melt the soles.

snailgate

[Joe Guy]

Someone walking barefoot in Death Valley is a medium rare event...

[RayThom]

There's more to this than meets the eye. I'm thinking peyote buttons.

However, with a name like the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes what else could be expected?

[rubato]

It should be searingly obvious that the woman was careless (she lost her sandals) not stupid.



yrs,
rubato

[Big RR]

Well, walking through sand dunes in Death Valley wearing sandals (likely flip flops because she lost them) doesn't seem like the smartest thing to do either.

[Scooter]

Indeed, it's not as if she set out to walk through Death Valley barefoot, but once there, with no footwear, did she have any choice but to walk to get help?

[Big RR]

Well, you're probably right--unless she could send someone else back to her car/whatever to get some footwear. And hiking by yourself in an area like that makes little sense (and since she wore sandals I doubt she's all that familiar with Death Valley and its conditions).

[Crackpot]

She should have been clued in by the name. It's the same reason no one voluntarily gores here:

[Joe Guy]

I certainly would never gore there...

[oldr_n_wsr]

Was the desert floor "cool" when she took her first step barefoot? Did she fail to notice her feet were bare for a long enough time to "misplace" her sandals?
I go bare-foot a lot, but one step on the beach sand on a hot day in august has me putting on sneaker/flipflops/sandals (and that is nowhere near the heat in death valley).

[rubato]

Well, walking through sand dunes in Death Valley wearing sandals (likely flip flops because she lost them) doesn't seem like the smartest thing to do either.

Singling out one person from the group who voluntarily go to Death Valley at this time of year as "less intelligent" is cutting it a little fine.

I've been at Lake Powell when it was hot and you can kick your foot sideways to remove the sand on the surface and then step on much cooler sand an inch or so down. It was lake Powell, we were swimming, boating, skiing &c so we were usually barefoot and in swim trunks.




yrs,
rubato

[Big RR]

I didn't say going to Death Valley was evidence of being "less intelligent", just that you need to be prepared for the conditions you may face. And hiking in sandals or flip flops in that heat is not intelligent. While I have only driven through death Valley, I have hiked in deserts almost as hot, and even the soles of sneakers can get heated to the point of almost melting (and it is not a matter of just kicking you foot down and inch or so to get to cooler sand as it would be around a lake). You have to be prepared for the conditions before you start out; I wouldn't want to try it in flip flops. I once skied the sand dunes in Saudi Arabia, and you had to make sure you were protected in case you fell because even the dunes got quite hot.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Didn't know you had spent time in The Magic Kingdom, RR. That's the only place I have ever experienced 50C = 122F. A July day in Dhahran. I'd been in the hign forties 47 - 49 plenty of times and that is hot. But that day it showed 50 on my thermometer was quantitavely different - my eyeballs felt as if they were boiling. And yes I was wearing shoes.

[BoSoxGal]

I read online today a story about a family that just drove all the way from Wisconsin to Death Valley just to experience 127+ degree heat.

Takes all kinds . . .

[rubato]

I read online today a story about a family that just drove all the way from Wisconsin to Death Valley just to experience 127+ degree heat.

Takes all kinds . . .

People pay a lot of money to get tattoos too. Go figure.


yrs,
rubato

[Guinevere]

Andrew adored Death Valley. Somewhere in my box of pictures and memories I have a postcard he sent me from there, probably 15 years ago now.

I miss his voice here.

[dales]

Charles Manson had a thing for Death Valley too.



His capture Oct. 1969 Inyo Co. CA

[Bicycle Bill]

I read online today a story about a family that just drove all the way from Wisconsin to Death Valley just to experience 127+ degree heat.

Takes all kinds . . .

If you had ever put up with a lifetime of Wisconsin winters you would understand it.

-"BB"-

[BoSoxGal]

That makes sense to me - I put up with several Arizona summers and have visited Death Valley a few times so don't see the appeal. The desert is beautiful in its own way, but more so in January, in my opinion.