BABY, IT’S HOT OUT THERE! HOW TO STAY COOL (AND ALIVE) WHILE WALKING IN THE SUMMER HEAT
It’s July. Much of the country is melting. And somewhere out there, someone is lacing up their boots and heading for a trail in 98-degree heat because “it’ll be fine.”
I have been that person. Let’s have a conversation…
Whether you enjoy summer or not, it gets brutally hot for at least part of the year in most places on earth. But there is no reason to skip your daily walk or hike. The key is to prepare intelligently, keep your body cool, stay properly hydrated, and know when to call it. That last one is the hardest for people like me who consider a walk non-negotiable. But you know what? The trail will still be there tomorrow. Your ability to walk it will not be, if you push too hard in extreme heat.
TAKE HEAT WARNINGS SERIOUSLY. I MEAN IT.
Heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses can be life-threatening. Under extremely hot and humid conditions, the smartest thing you can do is postpone your hike. Yes, I just said that. Me. The woman who walks every single day and considers it the most important thing I do every day. I am telling you to stay home if the conditions are dangerous.
If you’re long-distance hiking, take a rest day (or two). If you’re a daily walker like me, shift your timing dramatically or shorten your route. It is much, much easier to prevent heat-related illness than to recover from it.
START EARLY (OR GO LATE)
This one sounds obvious, but it bears repeating because people seem to ignore it. The sun’s peak intensity for hikers generally falls between 10am and 4pm, with the actual hottest temperatures often hitting in the mid-to-late afternoon due to heat building throughout the day. Start your walk early… ideally before 9am in extreme heat… and try to be done before the worst of it arrives. If you can’t go early, evening walks after the peak has passed can be lovely, though you’ll want to account for daylight.
HYDRATION IS NOT OPTIONAL (AND WATER ALONE ISN’T ENOUGH)
I wrote an entire blog post about this recently (The Magical Potion You’re Probably Not Drinking ), so I won’t repeat everything here. But the short version is absolutely imperative…
Start the day hydrated. Drink before you’re thirsty. By the time thirst kicks in, you’re already behind. In hot weather, you may need up to a liter of water per hour (32 ounces), depending on your exertion and the heat. Carry more water than you think you need, and on longer hikes, have a way to replenish it, such as a water filter or purification tablets.
The part most people miss is that when you are sweating profusely, water alone is not enough. You’re losing electrolytes along with that sweat, and if you keep drinking plain water without replacing them, you can actually dilute your blood sodium to dangerous levels. This is called hyponatremia, and it is just as dangerous as dehydration. Replenish your electrolytes with a quality electrolyte mix, fruits, or salty snacks throughout your hike. Your body needs the minerals as much as it needs the water.
WEAR A HAT
Covering your entire head with a hat may seem counterintuitive when you’re overheating, but keeping your face, ears, and neck out of direct sun will keep you significantly cooler overall and protect your skin from UV damage. Especially if you take long walks like me.
In the summer, I like quick-drying nylon boonie-style hats that are easily washed and weigh hardly anything. A wide-brimmed hat is far better than a baseball cap, because it covers your ears and the back of your neck, which are the areas most people forget about until they’re sunburned and miserable.
Sunglasses protect your eyes from UV damage, reduce glare-related fatigue, and are especially important in places where you walk on light-colored surfaces like concrete, sand, or snow that reflect the sun’s intensity right back up at you. (However, if you walk mostly on shady, deep forest trails like me, you may want to skip the sunglasses.)
THE HUMBLE BANDANA (MY MOST VERSATILE PIECE OF GEAR)
I always carry a bandana in my pocket, no matter the weather. Its uses change from season to season, but its usefulness never diminishes.
In hot weather, I regularly wipe the sweat off my brow, chin, the back of my neck, and even my arms. The more sweat you can clear away, the cooler you will feel, especially if there’s even a slight breeze. It is a simple remedy that actually works.
But on a super sweltering kind of day, the real trick is to soak your bandana in cold water and drape it around your neck or tuck it under your hat. The evaporative cooling effect is immediate and remarkable. When I find a cold stream on a hot day, I dunk the whole thing, wring it out just enough, and wear it like the world’s most effective (and least fashionable) necklace. You can also place it on your wrists or temples, where blood vessels run close to the surface, for faster cooling. It also works great to swat annoying gnats and those buzzy stalking flies away (you know the ones that follow you for miles and make you question your sanity??).
DRESS SMART (AND YES, SKIRTS ARE COOL. LITERALLY.)
Wear loose-fitting, lightweight clothing that won’t stick to your skin. Light colors reflect the sun’s rays, while dark colors absorb them and turn you into a walking solar panel. Look for UPF-rated fabrics that provide built-in sun protection, and consider lightweight long sleeves and pants… they keep the sun off your skin, create a barrier against bugs and brush, and can actually feel cooler than exposed skin baking in direct sunlight. It beats sunscreen and bug spray… especially if you have super light skin and go from chalk color to hint of lobster in seconds like me.
And here’s my personal favorite hot-weather tip… wear a skirt! A lightweight hiking skirt feels dramatically cooler than shorts or pants, because the repetitive swishing of the material moves air around your legs and, as a bonus, helps keep bitey things at bay. Although “hiking skirts” are relatively new in the outdoor gear world, almost any lightweight skirt will work for a walk (as long as it has pockets, right??).
And for the gentlemen reading this… the first official outdoor skirt was actually a kilt, made for men, with no women’s equivalent at the time. Skirts are not just for women. Just sayin.
GET SHADY!
Choosing shady routes is your single best strategy for staying cool in the warmer months. Trails in tree-covered areas are decidedly cooler than exposed sidewalks or open meadows and ridges, and they are absolutely worth the time to seek out. Even a partially shaded path makes an enormous difference.
On longer hikes, plan your rest breaks in the shade. Sit down. Take your pack off. Let your body actually cool before moving on. In extreme heat, waiting out the hottest hours under a nice tree with a snack and a cold bandana is not laziness. It is self-care!
And if you happen to see me in town, I’ll be the one playfully zigzagging across the road from one shady patch to another, looking like I’m either lost or avoiding someone. I’m staying cool, bro.
REDUCE YOUR AMBITION (JUST TEMPORARILY, OK?)
On hot days, this is not the time to crush your mileage record or tackle that epic exposed climb you’ve been eyeing. Seriously, do yourself a favor, and reduce your daily mileage on longer hikes. Avoid routes with extensive open areas and major elevation gains during the worst of the heat. Choose shaded, lower-elevation, creek-side trails when possible.
This is also not the time to try a brand-new, unfamiliar trail. Stick with routes you know, so you’re not adding the stress of navigation to the stress of heat. It’s totally ok to save the impressive summit for a cooler, cloudy day.
GIVE YOUR BODY TIME TO ADJUST
It takes your body approximately 10 to 14 days to acclimatize to significant heat and humidity. If you’ve just come from a cooler climate, or if this is the first serious heat wave of the season for you, go easy on yourself for the first week or two. Your body is literally learning how to cool itself more efficiently, and pushing too hard before that process is complete is how heat illness happens.
MY WEIRDEST STAY-COOL TIP
You might laugh at this, but I bring along a honey lemon throat lozenge or two on hot walks. Because they’re slightly spicy, they honestly trick my brain into thinking I’m cooler. Don’t knock it until you try it! Of course, water is the best bet for actual hydration, but this satisfies me for a minute or two. (I fully expect zero scientific validation for this. I don’t care. It works for me.)
KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE
This is essential knowledge for anyone who spends time outdoors! Heat exhaustion is the warning stage. Your body is struggling to cool itself, but it’s still trying. Symptoms include heavy sweating, weakness, cold or clammy skin, nausea, headache, dizziness, and muscle cramps (which are also all symptoms of dehydration). If you catch it here, you can recover. Get out of the heat immediately, rest in the shade, drink fluids with electrolytes, and cool your body with a wet cloth on your neck and wrists.
Heat stroke is the emergency. It means your body has lost the ability to regulate its temperature, and your core temperature has reached 104 degrees or higher. Symptoms include hot, red skin that may be dry or damp, a racing heart, confusion, slurred speech, rapid or shallow breathing, nausea, and altered mental status. This is a life-threatening medical emergency… Call 911 immediately. Move the person to shade, cool them by any means available, and do not wait for symptoms to improve on their own. Time is of the essence.
One important note… humidity plays a huge role in heat danger. When the air is already saturated with moisture, your sweat cannot evaporate efficiently, which is your body’s primary cooling mechanism. A 90-degree day with high humidity can be far more dangerous than a 100-degree day with low humidity. Pay attention to the heat index, not just the temperature. You know what “they” always say… “It’s a dry heat!” Well, as it turns out, they were actually right!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Summer heat doesn’t have to end your hiking season. It just asks you to be smarter and more efficient about it. Start early, hydrate properly, dress for the conditions, seek shade, slow down, and most importantly… listen to your body when it tells you it’s had enough.
And please, especially if you hike solo like me, tell someone where you’re going and when you expect to be back. It takes ten seconds and could save your life.
If the forecast is truly extreme, with heat advisories and excessive heat warnings blanketing your area… please hear me when I say this with all the love and authority of a woman who has walked thousands of miles in every season. Stay home. Drink your electrolytes. Rest. The trail will be there when the heat breaks. Honoring your limits is not weakness. It is one of the bravest things you can do… choosing to stop so that you can keep going. Even the forest rests in the heat of the day. The trees and animals don’t push through it. They simply wait and rest. And when the cool finally arrives, they’re still standing strong. Be like the forest.
xoxCollin
