Love travel and outdoor adventure? Join me for destination ideas, itineraries, tips, gear, and more in the PNW and beyond. My goal is to make your adventures easier and less stressful so you can make memories that last a lifetime!
Dealing with heat on adventures 🥵
Why hello there Reader!
If youʻve seen the news at all lately, you know weʻve been having uncharacteristically hot weather here in the PNW recently.
And Iʻm not talking about it was a little warm...Iʻm talking our averages are typically in the 70ʻs and they hit 115°F this past weekend. Luckily, our house does have A/C, so weʻve been able to stay in during the hottest part of the day.
Thanks for sharing what you love to do during the summer with me last week! Not surprising, but a lot of you chose water based activities like kayaking, beach days, and SUPing. Those are great ways to beat the heat a bit.
But, during the summer, whether youʻre in the water or if youʻre out camping or hiking, knowing how to deal with the heat is so important.
Recently, our oldest came downstairs at bedtime complaining that he felt like he was going to throw up. He was pale and clammy and had a headache. With several years of camp nursing under my belt, I immediately recognized that he was most likely experiencing symptoms of mild heat exhaustion. It had been one of our first hot days and he had been playing outside part of the day.
Sure enough, after getting some fluids in him, and cooling him down a bit, he started to perk up and was back to normal soon.
But, it was a great reminder to me that when itʻs hot, even if weʻre not on a strenuous hike, we need to be staying hydrated and watching for signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
Thankfully, John and I are both nurses (though, hereʻs our mandatory "Iʻm not YOUR nurse or doctor and you should consult with your own medical provider and adventure at your own risk" disclaimer 😉), so we know what to look for. More importantly, we know what actions to take to prevent it or stop it from progressing to full on heat stroke.
In a couple of weeks, we will be doing an Instagram Live with a some other adventure moms (who also happen to be nurses) to share more details and answer questions about heat related illnesses, but in the meantime, here are some tips to help you stay safe in the heat. This email is about to get long, Reader, but this is important info I want you to have, so bear with me! And, if you donʻt have time to read it all now, just bookmark it and come back to it with your coffee tomorrow morning. 😉
- Consider planning your activities (hiking, etc) in the early morning hours before the hottest part of the day. Or, wait until the evening when it starts to cool down.
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Drink plenty of water. Dehydration can happen fast!
- Pre-hydrate before the night and day before a hot hike.
- Always carry more water than you think you will need and bring a water filter as a backup, even on a day hike.
- The general rule of thumb for adults in heat is 1/2 liter of water per hour of moderate activity. But, thatʻs in moderate temps. When itʻs hotter or if youʻre exerting yourself, you will need more.
- Sip water often throughout the hike instead of waiting until you feel thirsty.
- You may want to consider adding electrolytes (we like Nuun tabs) to your water as well.
- Choose your hiking trails carefully. When itʻs hot, we do our best to choose trails that are short and/or have additional water available to filter and refill during the hike.
- Check in with your kids often to make sure they are good and drinking plenty of water (even if you feel like youʻre becoming a broken record) is extremely important to keeping everyone safe.
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Clothing tips:
- Choose light colored, loose, breathable, UPF rated clothing.
- Lightweight long sleeves, hats, sunglasses, and/or something to cover your neck, like a buff are great for protecting yourself from the sun.
- Instead of wearing cotton socks, choose wool or synthetic blends designed to wick moisture away from your feet.
- Consider carrying a bottle of water with a nozzle to mist yourself to cool down and/or dipping your hat or shirt in a nearby river or lake to help keep you cool.
- In addition to UPF clothing, make sure to bring plenty of sunscreen and reapply often so you donʻt get burnt. Donʻt forget your lips and ears!
- If itʻs just getting hot in your area and you arenʻt used to the heat, give yourself time to acclimate. It can take 10-14 days for your body to adjust, so be cautious for the first few weeks of high heat.
- Find shaded spots to rest - whether youʻre hiking or camping or even just out for a walk in the park. The shade can be significantly cooler than the sun and can give your body a chance to cool down a bit.
- Pay attention to your urine (weʻre nurses - you had to know this was coming 🤪). If youʻre frequently peeing and itʻs a light yellow, youʻre keeping yourself hydrated. If youʻre not peeing frequently and/or your urine is dark yellow or almost brown, you are most definitely dehydrated. Hereʻs a great color chart that shows what your urine should and shouldnʻt look like.
Even if youʻre doing all the right things, you may still experience signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. This list from the CDC shows you how to recognize heat related illnesses, what to do about them, and when to get help.
Tiffany
P.S. Keep scrolling for what's new on the blog, podcast, and gear/tools worth checking out 👇👇
P.P.S. John has some time off next week, so Iʻm taking the week off as well to spend as a family. Next week, there will not be an email, so Iʻll see you in your inbox in two weeks. There will still be a new podcast episode on Monday though, all about Car Camping with Kids!
WHAT'S NEW
The Stoke Fam Podcast: Full-time International Travel
When you’re considering full-time (or even short-term) international travel, there are lots of questions that come up. Where should we stay? How do we budget? Wait – what about communicating in another language?!?
Our guest today is Adelaide from Talkbox.Mom and she’s here to share her family’s experience of traveling full time. I’m so excited to share this with you because she’s a fellow homeschool mom who loves to travel.
Plus, she has a unique talent – when she and her family arrive in a new country, they can start talking in that language right away. After about two weeks, they are talking and understanding the locals – and they are understanding them.
Today, she is here to share with us her experience of traveling full-time with her family and how they made everything work. But, also, how to experience a new place even deeper by learning the language.
In this episode, we chat about:
- How Adelaide and her family transitioned to full-time travel
- How to start speaking the language as soon as you arrive in a new country (or at home)
- Why learning a foreign language college style is setting you up for failure (a.k.a. verb conjugation isn’t the best place to start)
- Tips for full time and international travel with kids
- How to get your kids invested in trip planning and budgeting
- Lots of energy and laughs!
If you want to try Talkbox.Mom yourself, you can head here and use:
- THESTOKEFAM20 for $20 off Phrasebook and First Box OR
- THESTOKEFAM5 for $5 off the Phrasebook
| Listen on Apple |
| Listen on Spotify |
We shared the breakdown of what we did on our trip to Maui here, including our daily itinerary, where we ate and the adventures we did.
GEAR DEALS & TIPS
Yellowstone National Park Trip Guide & Itinerary
One of our most popular topics on the blog is Yellowstone and we have updated our 3-day itinerary post and created several more sharing where to stay, what to know before you go, what to pack, and much more. You can find all the newest posts updated for 2021 here.
But, I have also completely revamped our Yellowstone National Park Printable 3-day Itinerary and it is now a complete Trip Guide, Planner, and Itinerary all in one!!
It includes:
- 50+ Page Printable Trip Planning Guide. You can also download it to your iPad and use with an app like Goodnotes!
- 2021 updates & info
- Quick tips, FAQ’s and things to know before you go
- Must-see attractions & activities
- Suggestions & tips for where to stay
- Tips on activities, attractions, and lodging
- Detailed 3-Day Itinerary and suggestions for alternate trip lengths
- A link to the Full 3-Day Roadtrippers map with all points mapped for the entire trip
- DetaDetails & Confirmation Page to track your reservation information
- Plenty of pages for brainstorming & notes
- BONUS: Customizable Yellowstone Packing List
- BONUS: Kid Activities: Yellowstone Trip Journal & Road Trip Bingo
The regular price is $9.99, but since you already purchased the original and because youʻre so awesome, Reader Iʻm offering it to you for 75% off until July 5th. If youʻre heading to Yellowstone this year or next, we want you to have all the help and tools you need!
In full transparency, the rest of our subscribers got discount, but it was much smaller. We appreciate your support and purchase of the original 3-day Itinerary, so we are giving it to you at a fraction of the cost. 😊
| Use Code: BISONORBUST for 75% off |
Gaia GPS
I'm so excited to share this one with you! If you've been around a bit, you know we're huge fans of Gaia GPS. We use it all the time to help us find hikes and dispersed campsites, but also to help us navigate, check for snow on trails and much more.
We have worked out a deal with them to get you 20% off of a Premium Membership so you can take full advantage of offline maps, multiple layers, and more.
| Check it Out & Claim Your Discount Here |
P.S. The Stoke Fam partners with affiliate platforms and partnerships where commission may be earned based on clicks and or purchases, and I would love it if you decided to use the links above! Affiliate links help bloggers like me to fund the free content that we provide on our website, newsletters, and social media accounts.
The Stoke Fam
by Tiffany
Love travel and outdoor adventure? Join me for destination ideas, itineraries, tips, gear, and more in the PNW and beyond. My goal is to make your adventures easier and less stressful so you can make memories that last a lifetime!
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