Cold and wet

The beginning of our hike has caused us to consider a very serious physical condition called hypothermia. This is a situation where the body temperature falls because of exposure to cold, wind, and moisture. Those are just the conditions we have faced for the first 3 days of our Walk, with winds between 10 and 15 mph daily, and Saturday peaking at 40 mph gust. Winds are a chilling influence that can sap the energy from the body as they continually remove the blanket of warm air that our body temperature creates.

It is also caused by wet with temperature conducted through the water. Rain at temperatures in the forties is notorious for reducing core body temps; so is immersion in water by crossing streams and being caught by wave wash. Water can transfer body heat away from you in a hurry and we had waves flowing across the sand, filling stream mouths, and even traveling up the beaches as the wind drove the water in front of it.

Finally the temperature is an influence. It does not need to be below zero, just below our bodies temperature. If it is and the air is moving, the body continually puts out heat to create warmth around you, but it has to work too hard when all the conditions above converge.

So what do we do? We need food to burn, the right calories, and we need rain coats that breathe so that we do not just sweat inside and soak our clothing and bodies. The skin layer must be one that holds warmth even when damp, not cotton!!

As we age we lose the ability to shiver and this is our first defense against cold, so we have to think more about the clothes we wear. They must wick away moisture, insulate even if wet, and finally be covered by layers that prevent the cold rain from reaching us, yet be breathable so that they take away excess heat and moisture we create by walking.

We are lucky that we have good gear, polypropylene as the skin layer, fleece shirt layer, and good rain coat that breathe as it protects. With a full day of trekking we cannot just “tough it out”.