Beating the heat

It’s been warm here in Zion National Park recently, with daytime highs above 100 for the past 12 days …

… reaching as high as 108 !! Here’s how the park’s morning report showed it …

The park warns visitors about heat exhaustion and to stay hydrated …

… provides plenty of fill stations, both modern …

… and old-school …

… and tells employees to stop outside work when it reaches 105.

We use these approaches to beat the heat:

First, it’s siesta time 2-5pm on hot days. We are fortunate to have the Airstream’s two, 50-amp-powered Dometic heatpumps on the roof cranking out 33,000 BTUs of cool air …

Second, we try to get our campground host duties done bedore 2pm and after 7pm, and we wear the dorky but effective wide-brimmed NPS volunteer hats to keep the sun off our heads …

Third, we drink, alot, especially water, iced tea, lemonade, and did I mention water. Yes, a responsible adult beverage gets into the mix from time to time, but never when we’re working. On hiking days, we’ll carry a liter of water per person per hour. So we have alot of water bottles …

The nice thing is that every day the sun sets over the West Temple mesa, casting shade on the campground starting around 7pm …

At that moment, it feels like the temperature instantly drops 10 degrees, and the rest of the evening is pleasant.