sfinkz
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2021
- Messages
- 100
- Reaction score
- 1,074
I've had dogs all my life, they don't all behave the same so it's quite possible this dog laid down and refused to go on. Then what? The humans would have a choice to make- leave the dog, carry the dog, or stop and try to coax it into continuing. An overheated dog lying in 100F/38C+ heat, with no shade would quickly go from refusing to continue to being unable to continue. The humans just climbed ~1000'/305m in extreme heat with no shade, and they have only a small amount of water left. Their dog is dead or dying, and the gravity of their situation is sinking in. They take off the backpack so they can both take a close look at their baby. They're feeling the effects of incipient heat stroke, and need to sit down. According to the National Weather Service "It surprises many people to learn that the heat index values in the chart above are for shady locations. If you are exposed to direct sunlight, the heat index value can be increased by up to 15°F (8°C)." It computes for me. That's my own opinion of roughly what happened.
Yes, the dog may have been the ‘trigger’. Besides heat, the toxic algal exposure is also certainly most relevant to the dog. This was reinforced to me by a recent weekly Sheriff’s update. Asked if ‘testing’ was complete, the Sheriff answered, ‘for the individuals yes but we still have more to do’. My mind read ‘dog’ but he may have been referring to environmental testing). The entirety of the loop is inappropriate for any dog in extreme heat but all of my dogs and any self-respecting trail rat happily places themselves at the South Fork on that Sunday morning, the obvious difficulty being climbing out of there in the afternoon.
But each member of that party had ‘triggers’ attached to them, all exacerbated by the growing heat. (By ‘trigger’ I mean anything that hinders their progress and increases their exposure, all contributing in small ways to eventually being overwhelmed and ‘trapped’, to be consumed by the heat).
Already hamstrung by baby and dog—now unable to frolic in the river and requiring nervous supervision—the obvious triggers of drinking water, heat, load and terrain loom. But there are a number of potential innocuous triggers working in concert with one another and fueled by the heat; a minor fall/scrape, a bad tuna fish sandwich, the heel of a parent feeling a little wonky after stepping on that baby rattle late the night before, the swarm of ‘skeeters finally outrun, a …
One example I am curious about and haven’t seen discussed: were mother and child breastfeeding?
It would seem to conform to their beliefs. And after a year, you think you have that routine down but on the trail, in the heat, it’s another story.
I recall what that was like. Not easy for anyone. Find a shady spot with seating, remove 40 lb baby carrier, unload baby, do your thing, reverse order, repeat. The heat also effects production and the child’s appetite, it will eventually get what it wants—at detriment of mother’s hydration—but may require many more feedings, all hindering progress as the clock continues to tick and increasing exposure as the day grows warmer.
MOO, for illustrative purposes only to highlight any of a myriad of unanticipated issues throwing a wrench into a plan allowing for little margin of error.
Also MOO; I get the sense this party was all tethered to and dependent on one another, only as strong as their most fragile member. At first sign of distress, as heat stress announces itself and with a narrow window transitioning to heatstroke and its debilitating mental and physical toll, there was never a contingency considered, from the sanctity of the river bed, to send the most able up the ridge with the other tending to the vulnerable. No matter what, they were going to stay together as a family, until that was broken and they were only one.
Last edited: