Hot Weather Walking and Heat Illness

Heat illness can strike any walker. We just had a long, hot weekend and my friend Krista was feeling bad after a tough eight-mile hike. She was sweating profusely on the walk, although she had a Camelbak and was drinking. "When we finished, we hadn't even made it back to the main road off the trialhead before I told Steve to pull over - I had to get out and try not to puke. As we started to drive back towards town, I realized that although I had the A/C on, I was in a cold sweat, dizzy, ready to puke and my heart was fluttering."

Rather than driving home, they detoured to the nearest hospital. She spent four hours in the Emergency Room with heat exhaustion, getting three bags of fluids.

Take signs of heat exhaustion seriously. The best medicine is to get to a cool area and drink salt-replacing sports drink such as Gatorade or Powerade at the first signs of dizziness, light-headedness, headache or nausea. But if your symptoms continue, get to a hospital as heat stroke can develop and it can be fatal.
How to Treat Heat Emergencies
I walk earlier in the morning on hot days and I'm not afraid to cut it short.
Before You Walk in Hot Weather