Mad dogs and Phoenicians

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. — old expression.

People in Seattle are undergoing tremendous angst because of the astonishing boom there. Plenty of the population was born there or has lived in Seattle for decades. They even have a name: mossbacks. A trenchant column of the same name is written by old-timer Knute Berger in Crosscut.

Things are different in Phoenix. Few people of my age or older are actually from here; fewer still were able to stay because of the limited economy. The term "desert rat" doesn't really apply. Cal is a desert rat. I'm thinking of those who remember the old garden city, a unique place they loved. Oasis people?

The defensiveness and boosterism of the growth machine is not the same as loving a place.

Which bring me to the New York Times story about "the rebel tribe" that hikes the mountains despite the murderous summer heat.

This is something relatively new. I climbed almost every mountain and hiked nearly every wilderness area around Phoenix, many repeatedly. But never in the summer. Nobody I knew would have even considered such a thing.

Summer was a season to be respected and feared. As Boy Scouts, we learned desert survival, as well as how to recognize and treat heat exhaustion and heat stroke. As May turned to June, old Phoenix became an overgrown desert town. The rhythms of life slowed down. People stayed inside. As for going outside, those fortunate enough to have swimming pools used them; the rest of us enjoyed the public pools.

Travel habits changed, too. People timed their car trips to go through the desert at night. Only a tenderfoot with a death wish journeyed without large supplies of water. Children knew the location of every service-station drinking fountain. Downtown shops were shaded by awnings. I'm convinced my generation of Phoenicians was more literate because we had so much time inside to read books.

Now, automobiles have achieved such technological superiority that a trip from, say, Phoenix to Tucson or to the High Country — which once required preparation and supplies and the knowledge the car might overheat by the time it reached Sunset Point — are merely a commute.

And there are enough madmen and madwomen, apparently crazed by the heat, that climb the mountains in high summer.

To the reporter's credit, she at least mentioned the spike in rescue calls this irresponsible behavior causes. When I was on the ambulance, I can remember only one mountain rescue in four years. Now they are a significant strain on first responders in a city facing continuing budget strains.

I wonder how many of these climbers vote against taxes or bitch about the "outrageous pensions" earned by the people who will risk their lives rescuing them from the desert's relentless, lethal logic.

I wonder how many are involved in efforts to preserve the desert from development or even know about the decades-long work required to preserve the mountains — something which required federal money as well as fundraising by a class of civic stewards that no longer exists.

And I meditate on how so many people are taken in by the human-made miracle of living in Phoenix now, and how fragile it really is.

In a media-starved city, the New York Times plays a curious role in Phoenix. It parachutes in top reporters who write half-informed articles about the water situation and ailing lakes Mead and Powell. Then it produces golly-gee features.

I have yet to see its considerable resources of journalism and skepticism applied to the growth machine and its depredations; the power of the LDS in state politics; Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station upwind of the nation's sixth most populous city; the poisoned aquifers, cancer clusters and shameful clustering of toxic industries around the Salt River and in south Phoenix. I could make a long list.

All the news that's fit to print? Hardly.

Here's a pro tip: Pour out a little from a bottle of water and freeze it. Then, when you go out, take the bottle and drink the melting water for hours. A good antidote to heat exhaustion.

 

 

Comments

[INPHX]

I hike 5-6 times a week during the summer. Mornings about 630 AM to 830 AM; evenings 5PM to 7PM. I love it.

I wouldn't hike if I was going to be out after 10AM or before 4PM (at least in the summer)

It's really no big deal. Bottle of water, cap, sunglasses, Iphone, headphones, sometimes suntan lotion- but a lot of the paths I take are shaded buy higher mountains to the west (in the afternoon)

There's always a decent smattering of people out and about and I often hike with a friend.

Those "in town" mountain ranges are really one of the great things about living in Phoenix.

There was recently quite a commotion when I guy I recognized had fallen and put a pretty big gash in his head. The good news is that the three or four firemen required were already starting to get him on the stretcher and to lend aid; the bad news (and I am not making this up) is that someone though he needed three MORE trucks (and their crews) down at the bottom to stand around and pretend to be doing something- maybe protecting against an invasion of giant radioactive spiders.

Must have worked.

No giant radioactive spider fatalities have been reported.

[Nancy Lesicka]

Jon, you're spot on regarding the NYT's take on what is and isn't newsworthy. Pretty much on a daily basis my husband points out one of their headlines soaked in PC bias, with a groan of disgust. Enjoyed this column and your take on both the NYT and the macho idiots that think mountain climbing in 110+ temps makes them appear anything but "stupid." And I always particularly like that our publicly funded agencies are the ones called to bail their asses out.

[Terry Dudas]

Most of these "macho idiots" are visitors. They are clueless about the power of the Sonoran desert and many pay with their lives.

An aside: a French couple died on the White Sands Monument, in New Mexico, last week. They seriously underestimated how much water they would need on a on a marked trail in 101-degree heat. Their 10-yr-old son survived, but barely. Another tragic story to learn from, but these sorts of stories are buried by the MSM AND by local tourist honchos.

[Jerry McKenzie]

Indeed, most those needing help are out-of-towners or the woefully unprepared in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. I can safely say the hikers I know are not AZ conservatives and don't complain about the cost of rescues (or pensions). Many of them volunteer to help maintain the trails too.

I am one of those maddogs. Plenty of water (1/2 gallon, wet shirt, wet hair)will do for a couple of hours tramping up a mountain in the middle of summer (I hike after work). But really, it is a small cadre at that time of the day (nothing like when the temperature is back in the 80Fs)

[Scott]

"Which bring me to the New York Times story about "the rebel tribe" that hikes the mountains despite the murderous summer heat.

This is something new. I climbed almost every mountain and hiked nearly every wilderness area around Phoenix, many repeatedly. But never in the summer. Nobody I knew would have even considered such a thing."

Arizona native here to say the opposite—it's most certainly not new. I've always hiked in the summer, though less frequently. All of my hiking friends did the same. Does that mean I don't prefer to head north for a hike instead? Of course not. But when you live here, you know the land, how to prepare, and when not to make stupid decisions. Early morning and early evening hikes are great, though my favorite are night hikes.

[Sanjeev Ramchandra]

Here is an interesting article (click on link) from Robert Robb of the AZ Republic regarding the millennial generations' preference of urban form in Metro Phoenix:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/robertrobb/2015/08/11/phoenix-banks-peter-pan-theory-millennials/31490175/

[dawgzy]

So, I left Phoenix in 1965. Many years we spent hottest months in and around Prescott, leaving Dad to work, swelter and frolic in the Valley. But while in Phx, the measure of heat was the point where one couldn't go barefoot. On one of the very hottest days (115? 118?) , though, sibs, friends and I walked downtown to the movies midday. Little league started at dusk. Oak st, between 3rd and 7th sts was a tar-rier surface- it didn't bubble, but it got real soft-like, and radiated through the soles of your sneakers or zorries. Gee, when I talk about frying an egg on the hood of a car, people give me funny looks. It was in the newspapers at least every year, I tell yah!
I went to Spain in the Summer in '79.What a revelation. Siestas, late nights and people out after midnight enjoying the cool air. Unthinkable in go-go land.
Off topic and reply to Sanjeev's post Re. density in Phx. Phoenix has so many very wide, busy and noisy streets of 6-8 lanes; the street scene will be built around this feature. Even if "walkability " is better by the usual metrics, being in a densely built area will require tolerating noise, smells and some hazards. When I visited my brother when he was just NE of 32nd St and Indian School, crossing IS almost always necessitated a very long schlep to the nearest traffic light, vs risking one's life. "Just the other side of the street" is an undertaking to a pedestrian there. Nevertheless, densifying is mitigating and likely to the good.
Is the day so far off when we might see car lanes taken out, or converted to bike lanes in some areas? … Yes, it is.
HS 50th reunion in October- looking forward to valley visit.

[cal Lash]

Hiking mountain trails early morning with headphones?
Ever hear of rattlesnakes. I have seen many in the mountains on both ends of Phoenix, especially in the early morning. And i have serious doubts about running with headphones anywhere except at LA fitness or your living room.
And i have had a small rattler in Sunnyslope stick to my boot. It struck with out rattling.

[cal Lash]

But i must admit that for a number of years winter and summer i ran at noon with the downtown YMCA crowd from there to Encanto Park and back. Thats 4 to 6 miles. Maybe that's what's affected my postings?

[soleri]

Cal, I ran twice a week in the hottest part of the day five to six miles. Curiously, the worst experience I ever had was running Trail 100 in the Phoenix Mountains from North Mountain to Dreamy Draw at six in the morning. My running companion forgot to bring water so I shared what I had with him. By the time we were done, the temperature was over 100, the water long gone, and I was hallucinating. I gradually rehydrated during the day but it was like being stoned on bad juju.

[cal Lash]

There was a guy that ran everyday at noon and for 3 summers without a hat. I heard he died of cumulative heat stroke. I helped build the Charles Christiansen trail 100. And recall seeing Bob Kite an ultra marathoner with from face to ankle trail rash after he jumped over a rattler mid Crystal trail and went down hard. I also hosted the only 10 K in (Cant spell the current name) Squaw Peak park. And the PPD 100 mile relay in South mountain Park. We did these events when snakes were hibernating. I hosted a SAU (Swat) squad negotiater through the Western States 100 and he hallucinated from the 80 to 100 mile finish. You can hike and run all year around given you take a number of cautions. But if you suffer heat stroke once U may not survive it twice. I think The Valley of the Sun should not allow Tourists in the summer. It should be ILLEGAL.

[Donna Gratehouse]

Before my knees and hip went to shit, I hiked regularly in Phoenix. Telegraph Pass up to (close to) the antennae on South Mountain and the Cholla Trail on Camelback (did Echo Canyon a few times but my tendency toward anxiety found the decline too daunting). Whatever, my preferred trails kept my calves diamond hard and my butt saluting the sun. Those were the days.

But hike any time after 7 am in the summer? Fuggeddaboutit. Still, one morning in the summer of 2000 I headed up Camelback with less water than I needed and luckily I realized that when the wooziness began. So I headed back down, posthaste, upon realizing that death awaited me if I insisted on finishing.

"Hiking mountain trails early morning with headphones?
Ever hear of rattlesnakes."

I went around a corner on South Mountain once and saw one. My eyes bugged out to the size of quarters and I distinctly remember saying, "If you don't bother me, I won't bother you!" That seemed to work, luckily!

[Patricia]

Thanks, Hardly anyone mentions that the legislature is very LDS, and certainly no newspaper reports it. I attribute many of the stingy policies in this state to that kind of leadership.

[Ruben Perez]

Used to hike Camelback four times a week. Carried three quarts of water. Two for me. One for the dim bulbs who forgot water. That's all I have to say about that.

[Cal Lash]

I have many times on The South Mountain National trail out of the Guadalupe Picnic area watched adults with small children with no hats or sunglasses and no water. Many bring dogs with them also with no water or pad protection. On occasion I try and express the concerns only to be met mostly by hostile stares. Most of these adults appear to be economically well off. The poor I meet in the desert usually have hats, long sleeve shirts and bandannas they wet with the water from the gallon water jugs they are carrying.
Desert hiking apparel can be purchased in Saric, Sonora or at your local Arizona REI.

[expr]

NH now has a Hike-Safe card
http://hikesafe.com/index.php?page=the-nh-hike-safe-card

If you do not pay for the card and they have to rescue you because you were negligent, they can charge you

[Ruben Perez]

Did Lewis, Clark and Powell have hike-safe cards?

[Chucko]

When I moved from Phoenix to the Northwest in the early '70s, my hiking buddy could never understand why I always wore long pants (especially Levis) hiking in the Cascades in the summer. Then he went to grad school at ASU and started doing some desert hiking, and it all made sense.

In Scottsdale in the '60s, climbing Camelback in the summer just wasn't done. I can remember one evening when the south face of the mountain was lit up by spotlights while the Fire Department pulled someone off.

[cal Lash]

In case U all missed it. Jon is one of about 10 writers considered for The best Arizona Novelist. Somehow I missed out on the debate at Changing Hands book store in Phoenix.

[Mark in Scottsdale]

Chucko and Cal, good on you for you the long sleeves, etc. That's how I have always done it myself. When I am going to be outside in the sun for an extended time I usually wear long pants, long sleeved shirt, and a cowboy hat. I don't like the way searing sun feels on my skin and truly believe it's cooler in long pants/sleeves than in dry-fit shorts and tops like most runners/hikers seem to wear. Also, less sunscreen is needed the more you're covered up, which is a big plus since sweating through a bunch of sunscreen is kind of annoying).

My dad taught me to wear a cotton undershirt, too, to soak up the sweat and hold it against your body, and I have done that pretty much every day of my life. Generally speaking, I find that it also keeps your shirts from getting sweat-stained or as wet/smelly.

I am pretty paranoid about water, I figure I'd rather pack around a few extra pounds I'm likely never going to touch, than to even run out. I also always bring the basics like a few trail snacks, extra sunscreen or bug spray, whatever the situation dictates. I can't imagine these folks who run up and down the mountain in running shoes with no pack of any kind. I'm an old Eagle Scout so I guess I am just Mr. Be Over Prepared.

The 90-100 degree nights can be a killer, too, if precautions aren't taken. People need to be mindful that just because the sun went down, it's still extremely warm out and your body is going to keep sweating like crazy to try to avoid going into heat exhaustion. This is a big issue with high school football players and trying to avoid cramping in the first few weeks of the season. They have to pre-plan for it, hydrate well, etc. (one kid told me he ate a lot of pickles, not sure of the science on that but I guess it makes sense) for those hot Friday nights.

[Mark in Scottsdale]

So sorry, I meant to include this link in my post as it is relevant to RC's blog point about non-natives. This is a great chart that shows you what number of people in each state were actually born there. AZ is of course low down on the list for native-born percentage (37%), but not the lowest. Ahead of us are DC (37%), Florida (35%) and Nevada (24%).

https://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acsbr10-07.pdf

[soleri]

I read the Bob Robb piece linked by Sanjeev. It was typical libertarian defensiveness disguised as triumphalism. Rogue calls these people "sore winners" - you can certainly pick up on their hypersensitivity (see: INPHX). If Phoenix is Exhibit A in The Ayn Rand Guide To Galt Gulches, why isn't it more celebrated by the very market these same people deify? Yes, there's sunshine, fairly cheap rents, and, as we're discussing, the mountain preserves. But outside the booster cabal on the right, few people think of Phoenix as anything other than the dreary mega-suburb The Goldwater Institute calls home. Even David Koch, one of the godfathers of soulless conservatism, lives in New York City.

I was running this morning up here in Portland through a neigborhood a few miles away at NE 30th Ave & Killingsworth, which isn't high-dollar even though it is gentrifying. Yet that intersection has some of the best restaurants in the city, and perhaps the country. There are, at least, a half dozen there sitting almost next to one another. Again, the area isn't anything special except the quality of a very liberal city and its creative class. You wouldn't find anything remotely close to this gastronomic slice of heaven in Phoenix despite it being twice Portland's size. Odd, isn't it, that Bob Robb's city can't compete against this socialist hellhole.

What is it about libertarians that make them demand that we live in their version of utopia where we're forced to drive everywhere, shop at national chains in "lifestyle centers", and eat at places like Applebees? Where's the choice? It's peculiar how these freedom-lovers are so tetchy about almost anyone's observation that their favorite crappy cities reflect an equally crappy ideology. The few people who valiantly try to get something started in Phoenix's neglected core are patted on the head and patronized, but it's clear their real sin is not worshiping money like a Real American would.

I know the cultural history of Phoenix as well as I know myself but there really aren't many people interested in hearing its story. Just let me say that Phoenix was once interesting, vital, and unique but those qualities got washed quickly when Republicans instituted their reign of mediocrity. That's the way they like it: for themselves, for their children, and for you dear reader despite what you might like.

[Cal Lash]

Mark in Scottsdale, for years I have been told you cant be cooler in long clothes than in shorts and a wifebeater T-shirt. And I almost always winter and summer wear a cotton T shirt under my long sleeve shirt. But then I am old enough to understand evaporative cooling.
So Soleri what do you wear while running in the rain in Portland and do you wear your headphones and listen to "Sometimes a Great Notion?"

[soleri]

Cal, I wish it would rain. It's very warm up here - this will be the hottest summer on record when it's all over and maybe in the Holocene Era as well. But not to worry! America's birdbrains know that science is a conspiracy (government grants!) and that only right-wing lickspittles are qualified to judge the work of atmospheric physicists.

[Rogue Columnist]

Same thing in Seattle: Hottest summer on record, and coming after a very warm and dry winter and spring. Little talk of climate change. Scientists are naturally cautious. Now, after James Hansen's treatment, I suspect they are intimidated.