re: Couple die in desert hike with nine year old son

The French are notoriously bad English speakers. It's possible they just couldn't read some of the signs.

It's silly how many people don't know the difference between the Darwin Principle and Social Darwinism. And, if we're being exact, Social Darwinism was a socioeconomic theory, not a "you lack common sense" theory.

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Reminds me of people trying to hike 8-10 mile trails in the Smokies in jeans and tennis shoes or flip flops who start their hikes at around 1 in the afternoon. These are the same people who try to get selfies with black bears.

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shite, at my peak fitness we hiked 22 miles in the smokies over 4 days and it kicked my arse. Well, at least the first 2 days did. Going back down was much easier.

ETA: This was beautiful weather the first week of April too.

Possibly. He was my classmate in graduate school, as my first bachelors from LSU wasn't in geo.

This is a very sad story, but what is up the french and heat? I remember about 10 years ago the french were dropping like flies during a heat wave. 10,000+ french died in one summer because 100 degree temps.

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I watched someone hike the Angels landing trail in Zion earlier this year in flip flops.

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I did Angels Landing recently and also saw this. It blew my mind.

I've done plenty of desert hiking and have turned back a startling number of foreign tourists who have no idea what they're getting into. Favorite case was when I was coming up out of the Grand Cayon South Rim at the end of a rim-to-rim hike and saw two dot Indian women in full ankle-length sarongs and sandals just starting down. Between them they had a single 20 oz. bottle of water. They were trying to hike to Indian Gardens and back.
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At the Canyon too years back. I'm walking the old trail close to the edge with maybe 2 feet to spare. This foreigner coming at me and goes to his left (my right) without giving a second thought. Gravel fell down the edge as he lost a lil bit if footing. How he didn't fall was prob a small miracle. He never blinked an eye.

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It's silly how many people don't know the difference between the Darwin Principle and Social Darwinism. And, if we're being exact, Social Darwinism was a socioeconomic theory, not a "you lack common sense" theory

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That's the most boring thing you've ever posted.

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This is a very sad story, but what is up the french and heat? I remember about 10 years ago the french were dropping like flies during a heat wave. 10,000+ french died in one summer because 100 degree temps.

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Thought about that too. Most of Europe in general has no clue about heat. 2003 heat wave

We were living over there then, and went to Italy for a week that August. No AC in hotel. Every evening we'd come back to the room and stand under a cold shower for 20 minutes.

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Had some elderly foreigners in Grand Staircase Escalante trying to descend into a slot canyon in sandals.

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Probably Germans. They are tops when it comes to inappropriate footwear based on activity. After I broke my leg skiing, the physical therapist asked if I was a serious marathon runner because I arrived to appointments wearing Asics.

We once saw a German chick hiking the 1 km inclined road to Burg Eltz in 5 inch stilettos. The partly cobblestone road gets pretty steep in spots. At some incline parts, her feet are nearly parallel to the earth We wanted to see how she handled the decline sections, but she & her date were moving at a glacial speed. That 5-6 minute walk probably took them 30 minutes.