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Colorado
Hiking
Hiking Safety and Health Protection
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"Be
Prepared" is a good motto. Most
of the risks involved in wilderness activities can be easily avoided or at least
mitigated with some basic knowledge and preparation. The thought of being in the Colorado mountain wild areas
evokes all sorts of adventurous notions of potential calamities. In reality the
most prevalent and important risk to guard against is pretty mundane - getting
wet and cold.
There
is a natural tendency to want to lighten the load you carry when hiking.
The trouble with this is that you can never be sure what you're going to
encounter on a hike (especially if it is an area new to you) or if there will be
anyone around willing or able to get you out of any trouble you may get into.
The equipment and supplies you carry give you some insurance that you can cope
with things like rain storms, rapid drops in temperature, heavy winds, injuries,
fatigue, getting lost and animal encounters.
Here
are some sensible practices to follow when going into wilderness areas.
Avoid hiking alone. Sometimes a minor injury or mishap can turn into a major problem if there is no one nearby to assist you.
Before
you hike out from a trailhead, leave a note in your vehicle where it can be
seen and easily read through a window with bold lettering stating: the
number of people in your party; where you intend to hike to; the trail you
intend to follow; the date and time you left; and the date and time you
intend to return by. If something happens to you, sooner or later someone
will notice your vehicle has been there for an unusually long time and the
note will be noticed and acted upon.
Let
an acquaintance in town know where you are going and when you intend to be
back. If you don't make it back, they can notify the authorities.
Take
along a cell phone if you have one in case of an emergency that requires
help. In many cases in the wilderness, you will not be able to get a cell
phone connection due to mountainous terrain, being in a canyon, or distance.
However, even if you cannot initially connect through, you or someone else
can climb to a ridgeline or summit and have a better chance for a connection
from there. Or you or someone else can hike out and keep trying until you
get the connection and have help meet to you at the trailhead, if necessary.
We'll
start off with a discussion of bad weather and hypothermia. While the other safety subjects
covered are things you
should know about, they are of less significance than hypothermia.
Bad weather and lightning
Violent storms can move in at any time in the Colorado Rockies, especially during the summer, when mid-afternoon rain and thunderstorms are a fairly common occurrence. These storms create hazards to hikers in several ways. The wind and rain can result in a drop of body temperature which can ultimately lead to hypothermia, and even death. The rain can result in trails and rock faces becoming slick and hazardous. Some of these storms are accompanied by lightning that poses a hazard to hikers especially when they are exposed above treeline.
When people are on treeless ridgelines and summits they are
usually the highest objects around and may create the locus of a lightning
strike. If you ever find yourself in
open terrain during an electrical storm, get low and fit into the local
features. Don't be the highest thing around - that can attract a lightening strike.
Sitting on your pack can give you some protection from ground currents created
by nearby strikes. Metal hiking poles or ice axe are attractive of electrical
charge - set them down flat several tens of feet from where you sit down while
riding the storm out. 
A less commonly encountered
hazard occurs when an unusually great amount of water rapidly falls within a
drainage system and creates a flash flood situation downstream. It may be barely
raining at a particular location down stream when a flash flood tears through,
created by a rain storm located miles away up in the mountains.
Unexpected
storms can occur at any time, especially at higher altitudes.
It's not unheard of for people to hike up to a high-altitude and make a
camp in fine weather, only to wake-up in the morning to find themselves in
inches or even feet of snow.
Hypothermia
relates to drops in human body temperature to levels at which physical and
mental abilities deteriorate. The
process is progressive and can lead to death. It is not the same thing as
"freezing" -- many instances of hypothermia in Colorado occur at
temperatures around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Hypothermia is a modern term for a
condition that used to be referred to as "exposure".
The
root cause of hypothermia is simple: loss of body heat at a higher rate then it
is created. The loss of body heat
is caused by things like low surrounding temperatures, wet clothes that have
lost their insulation properties, and wind creating wind-chill affects on the
body. Your clothes can get wet from rain or body perspiration. The inability of
the body to make up for heat loss is amplified by factors like fatigue,
dehydration and lack of food.
Hypothermia
goes through several stages defined by body temperature and symptoms. First,
there is mild hypothermia which occurs at body temperature ranging down to 96 F.
Typical symptoms are involuntary shivering and the loss of the ability to do
complex motor functions. The person can still walk and converse. Next comes
moderate hypothermia, with body
temperature ranging from 95 to 93 F. Symptoms include dazed consciousness, loss
of fine motor coordination (particularly in the hands), slurred speech, violent
shivering and strange behavior (including taking their clothes off). Severe
hypothermia occurs with body temperature in the 92 to 86 F range, and is life
threatening. Symptoms include waves of shivering, inability to walk, taking a
fetal position to conserve heat, muscle rigidity and a major drop in pulse rate.
Victims
of advanced hypothermia can appear dead but in fact still be alive with
imperceptibly slow rates of breathing and pulse. The best way to deal with hypothermia is to get the victim
into dry clothes, give them warm drinks and food, and put them in a sleeping
bag, possibly with another person to speed up their warming. Get advanced
hypothermia victims to a medical professional (MD or EMT) as fast as possible,
even if they look like a goner - they may be revivable with the right
procedures.
Following
is an idealized scenario to illustrate how easily someone can get into trouble
with hypothermia.
Unexpectedly,
Brad gets a day off. He's been planning on climbing a nearby fourteener (a
mountain topping 14,000 feet) and figures today is as good a time as any.
Since the trip is happening unexpectedly he doesn't have time to line up
a hiking partner or to leave as early as he normally would have.
Leaving at the time he is, will put him high above timberline on the
mountain in mid-afternoon, the time that storms frequently roll in. He doesn't
worry about it much because the weather has been quiet over the past week or so. Since he is in a hurry and wants to hike light and fast, he
takes along only a liter of water and a little snack food. He leaves behind his
rain gear and doesn't have time to hunt up a map of the area he will be hiking
through.
Brad
gets out to the trailhead quickly and starts hiking at a faster pace than usual
to make up for his late start. The weather is warm and sunny with barely a cloud
in the sky. He makes good time by pushing himself and not taking any breaks
along the way. By about 2 PM he is
well above timberline and can probably make the summit within an hour.
The only problem is that there has been a front of dark clouds moving in
from the west accompanied by gusting winds and falling temperature. The whole
thing looks pretty ominous and with only his sweat soaked cotton T-shirt to
wear, he is getting cold. He
briefly considers turning back and calling it a day, but he rejects the idea.
He has already done most of the climb and doesn't want to waste it with
only the last leg of the thing to go.
He
keeps climbing and as he gains altitude the temperature decreases, and the
advancing storm also is bringing in lower temperatures and wind, and then rain.
By the time he makes the summit he is thoroughly miserable with cold,
soaked by sweat and rain and immediately turns around and starts his descent.
Forget the view - it's all socked in anyway.
He doesn't take a rest break because if he stops moving he knows his body
will cool down even more. He also wants to get down off the exposed mountain as
fast as possible for fear of lightning. All
he can think about is how nice it will be to get back to his vehicle and be in
it with the heater going full blast.
By
the time he reaches timberline Brad knows he may be in trouble. It's not just
that he's cold and uncomfortable. He is shivering, stumbling a bit and feels
kind of woozy. He knows he still
has several miles to go to get back to the vehicle and has little choice other
than to keep going. His pace has
slowed quite a bit due to overall fatigue and the effects of his body
temperature being lower than it should be.
He presses on and by luck encounters a couple of hikers with rain gear
on, enjoying the afternoon, largely unconcerned by the rain and wind.
They take one look at him and know he is just about done in.
The
two hikers, being ethical people, decide to drop the hike they had planned in
order to see that Brad (who is by now somewhat unintelligible) makes it back to
the trailhead okay. They give
him a warm synthetic fiber jacket to put on. They use a large 30 gallon plastic
trash bag as a makeshift raincoat for him by cutting holes in it for his arms
and head. Brad warms up and all
ends well, but it didn't have to - it
could have turned out badly. By his poor planning and decisions, he had
essentially made his welfare dependant on luck, and the presence and charity of
strangers.
Altitude adjustment and altitude sickness
Gaining altitude has physiological effects on everyone. However, the effects vary considerably among individuals and do not seem to correlate very much with physical condition, sex or age. A young well conditioned athlete could find himself more set back by a substantial rise in altitude than some inactive out of shape person.
Altitude
affect is such that a fit person used to running several miles daily, who then
comes up to a location 5000 feet higher than they are used to, may become exhausted after a half-mile of their usual running workout. A week to
several weeks may have to pass at the new higher altitude before the usual level
of performance ability exists again.
What causes
this change? Two physiological
factors have been identified as resulting from altitude gain.
The first and most obvious effect is caused by
a reduction in concentration of oxygen in the air breathed. Going from
sea level to 12,000 feet results in a reduction of oxygen concentration of about
40 percent. It takes time for the
body to adjust to this reduction. The
other factor involves leakage of fluid from the capillaries into the lungs and
brain.
These
physiological effects result in two considerations: a reduction in physical
stamina and the potential for developing altitude sickness.
Given time for adjustment, the body will compensate by such methods as
producing more red blood cells, increasing the pressure in pulmonary arteries,
increasing the production of certain enzymes and deeper breathing.
Loss of physical stamina with altitude gain is easily detected. The symptom is feeling tired after a relatively small amount of physical exertion. The cure is to be at high-altitude until your body can make the necessary adjustments, and to take it easy until then. In a practical way, this temporary loss of stamina can lead to bad results if you are on a hike, and you are the only one suffering from altitude associated weakness. The best thing you can do is to be honest with yourself and the others and slow down and take necessary rests before (not after) you drive yourself to physical exhaustion. If you start feeling woozy - don't be ashamed to take a break. It's harder for the body to regain strength after you drive yourself to near collapse.
Altitude
sickness
The medical
profession recognizes several types of altitude sickness. They go by the names
of acute mountain sickness, high altitude pulmonary edema and high-altitude
cerebral edema. Mostly, they are
due to fluid buildups in the lungs or brain. It's not important for a hiker to be able to diagnose and
differentiate between them. Some of the symptoms associated with one or more of
these altitude sicknesses are
listed below. If you or a member of
your party have some of these after a gain of substantial altitude, the best
first step is to come down and lose at least 1000 to 2000 feet of altitude.
Return to town as soon as possible and get medical attention.
Some
general altitude sickness symptoms
Headache,
dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath, respiratory symptoms worsening at
night, loss of appetite, nausea, disturbed sleep, tightness in the chest,
persistent productive cough bringing up white, watery, or frothy fluid,
mental confusion, loss of coordination, disorientation,
loss of memory, hallucinations, psychotic behavior, coma.
Once in a while you see people take very young children on hikes up to high altitudes - usually with the child riding in a backpack seat arrangement. The problem with this is, if the infant develops altitude related problems the parents may not recognize anything until it's too late, and the infant can't describe the symptoms it's feeling. I've never heard of an infant death occurring like this, but it is a risk a parent should consider before taking a very young child up to high altitude.
Many
accidents have their root cause in fatigue. Tired legs and inattention can
create injuries from stumbling and falling.
Inattention due to fatigue can also result in taking a wrong trail and
getting lost. You can get tired out
at any time of day, but afternoon seems to be the most common time for it.
Hikers should monitor their own level of fatigue, both physical and
mental, and take rest breaks when they feel it coming on.
The
best way to avoid fatigue is to frequently take short breaks from physical
activity along with frequent small drinks of water and small intakes of food.
Mental awareness can be perked up by caffeine tablets.
A good way to monitor yourself, is to be aware of getting
woozy, dizzy or mentally unfocused. This is a signal to take a break.
Animal encounters: bears, mountain lions, rattlers, dogs
Encounters
with potentially dangerous animals while hiking are rare.
They get a lot of exposure in fictional accounts of wilderness adventures
and the media, but in reality they account for comparatively few mishaps each
year.
Bear
spray
I will start off with giving a solution to some of the problems of animal encounters before I actually describe them. Bear spray is a product which has appeared in the last few years designed mainly to deter grizzly bear attacks. It's is a very caustic longer range pepper spray that is a stepped-up version of the stuff police and civilians use for non-lethal self-defense against people. Anything that is effective at deterring a thousand pound grizzly bear will probably work quite nicely against the smaller black bears, mountain lions and aggressive dogs that might be encountered while hiking in Colorado. Spray is probably more effective than a gun. In an unexpected, quick, close quarters encounter with a large dangerous animal a lethal shot is harder to make than a diffuse spray in the right direction.
Bears
Bears
are becoming more frequently encountered in Colorado. There are several different types of bears in North America,
but presently in Colorado only black bears are at all common. Generally, black
bears have a reputation for being shy and retreating when it comes to human
contact. However, in recent years
there have been cases of black bears becoming rather aggressive towards humans
in the quest for food. Unlike
cougars or polar bears they usually don't regard humans themselves as dinner but
rather the things they bring with them when camping or hiking. The best way to avoid problems with bears is to maintain a
clean camp and clean clothing. Keep food smells and grease off your clothes and
body and dispose of garbage or anything that smells like food a long way from
your camp, at least 100 yards.
Sows
with cubs to protect present another source of possible aggression.
Get away from any bear cubs you may encounter.
Hanging around long enough to take some photos of the cute little things
can be very dangerous. Visually fixing a cub, crouching a bit and raising a
camera probably looks like an imminent attack on her young to a mother bear. If
you see a sow with cubs make yourself appear as unthreatening as possible and
walk (don't run) to gain distance from them.
When
hiking you want to avoid unexpected confrontations that trigger a fight or
flight response in any animal encountered due to a perceived threat to its young
or a violation of its personal space. Making
noise while hiking is one way of avoiding surprise encounters.
Some people attach a bell to their pack.
Some use whistles, which can get pretty tedious and annoying.
Bears tend not to attack groups of several people or more, so there is
some safety in numbers.
If
you encounter a bear (or any other potentially dangerous animal), maintain a
confident but non-aggressive posture while moving away from them and giving them
time to move away from you and/or the route you are trying to take.
Try to move past wildlife on their downhill side -- animals tend to go
uphill when fleeing something.
If
you encounter an aggressive black bear that seems ready to attack and you have
bear spray -- use it. The canister will have directions that describe its use
and at what ranges it can be expected to be effective. Another tactic to deter
animal attacks is to make yourself look as large as possible by bringing your
arms out from your body, in the hope that the animal will be scared off by your
apparent size. Keep the animal in sight as much as possible but do not make eye
contact with it (this can trigger an aggressive reaction).
Slowly and confidently move away from the animal while watching its
movements and actions. If you turn from the animal and run, you'll probably trigger
an attack. Also, you cannot outrun
a bear.
There
are two basic lines of thought about how to react to an actual bear attack.
If, as in the case with almost all bear attacks, it's a panic reaction by
the bear, then the best course is to protect your face and thorax by curling up
on the ground, leaving the bear to paw at your back which is hopefully protected
by the pack you are wearing. When
the bear realizes you are no threat, it loses interest in the attack and leaves.
However, in the rare instance that the animal is attacking you in order to kill
and eat you, then you should do everything you can to fight it, injure it and
drive it off. In the absence of the ability to have a chat with the bear about
its intentions, the best solution is to carry bear spray.
Mountain
lions (aka cougars, panthers, pumas)
The
mountain lion population in Colorado has risen in recent years, and there have
been a few known and suspected attacks on humans. These animals are rarely seen and are most active at night.
If you do see one, it is probably just chance and you can count yourself
lucky at having gotten a look at one in the wild.
However, there are rare cases of these animals attacking humans for food
(that is, the homo sapien itself is the intended meal, not its Hershey bars).
While seeing a mountain lion once is most likely due to chance, seeing
one twice or more in a day may well indicate that you are being stalked.
If
it does become apparent to you that you are being stalked, the best approach to
avoiding an attack is to show no fear or vulnerability. Arm
yourself with bear spray, a club, knife or a rock. Make yourself look as large
and dangerous as possible by bringing your arms out from
your body, keep the animal in sight, slowly and confidently move away from the
animal. Don't let the animal get
behind you as this is how they like to mount their attacks. They usually attack
from ambush (going for the neck), and you might want to change your route and head for open terrain
if possible. If you hike with trekking poles or a stick this can be used as a
weapon if you actually do come under sudden attack.
If a mountain lion attacks you, fight for your life with everything you
have including bear spray, poles you may be carrying or have picked up, a
makeshift wooden club, your pocket knife or any rocks you can lay hands-on.
From
personal experience I would guess that you might expect to see a rattlesnake
once every 50 to 100 hikes you go on in the Colorado Rockies.
Usually you just see or hear them, without coming close to getting struck.
My last encounter with one was a closer call than I have previously
experienced with them. The snake had made a home for itself in a hole within a
clump of small rocks right in the middle a well traveled hiking trail.
I think if I had been going down trail rather than up trail as I was,
and/or had not been using a hiking stick, I probably would have totally
surprised the snake and gotten struck at. As
it was, it warned me when I was about six feet from it by rattling. The fact
that these snakes normally give warning before striking shows that they are not
intentionally aggressive towards humans.
I
drove the snake back into its hole with my hiking stick and blocked it with large rocks. Rattlers are a part of the ecology of the forests, and they
have a right to live unmolested. But they are also quite venomous and can cause
permanent injuries and even death to their human victims.
This was a well-known hiking area not too far from a state university and
was frequented by college kids hiking in shorts and running shoes -- giving zero
protection from snake strikes. That particular snake's habitation was a nasty
accident waiting to happen.
Following
is some general information on rattlesnakes and dealing with bites.
Rattlers
are pit vipers and will normally have two fangs on each side of their mouth.
When they bite there may be one to
four puncture wounds. If you get bitten by a snake in Colorado and instead of
fang puncture marks there is a semicircular teeth bite mark, then the snake was
non-venomous and all you have to worry about is getting treated by a physician
for potential infections. You usually know if you're dealing with a rattlesnake
because of the rattling -- but sometimes they lose their rattles so
that's not a 100 percent certainty. Check
the nature of the wound - any pain and swelling should give you an indication of
whether or not you have been venomized.
In some
cases rattlers give dry bites during which no venom is injected. The amount of
venom injected, if any, depends on such factors as duration of fang contact,
number of strikes, size of prey (you in this case) and time since last feeding.
Juvenile rattlesnakes sometimes inject as much venom as adults. Most rattlesnake
bites are sustained by young guys trying to use them as playthings.
When you
come across a rattlesnake that has been startled and is rattling, the first
thing to do is stop and hold still, visually locate the snake, let the snake
calm down, then move away from it to at least ten feet.
Next, take a look around just to make sure there aren't any others
nearby, but stay aware of the original snake's location and movements.
Then work out a safe route around it, and leave.
Unless there is some overriding reason to do it, don't mess around with
the snake - that is actually how most bites occur.
If you are bitten by a snake, get away from it as fast as you can to avoid any further bites. If it can be done without risk, kill the snake and take the body with you to the emergency medical facility you go to. This will facilitate verification that it is poisonous, and its type. This is more important in regions of the country other than Colorado, that have more than one type of venomous snake. Be careful - even badly injured or dead snakes can still bite.
Basic
first-aid measures for rattlesnake bites:
·
Ideally, activity should be
minimal, which will be impossible if you have to hike out to get medical aid.
What a snake bite victim CAN do, is to calm themselves with deep breathing and
mental discipline to slow their heart and blood circulation. You want to slow
the movement of venom from the bite area to your vital organs.
·
Jewelry and tight fitting clothing
should be removed from the bitten extremity.
·
If the victim won't be able
to reach medical care within 30 minutes, as will normally be the case in
a hiking situation, then slow the
venom movement from the bite area by applying a bandage wrap 2 to 4 inches above
the bite. This is NOT a tourniquet
- it should not cut off the flow of blood - the band should be loose enough to
slip a finger under it.
·
Irrigate and clean the wound.
·
Cutting the bite wounds is NOT
RECOMMENDED as this increases damage to the tissue and has not been shown to be
beneficial.
·
If you have a
Sawyer Extractor snakebite kit - use it. Don't use mouth suction to
extract venom from a wound. It can contaminate the wounds with human mouth
bacteria, and can let venom be introduced into any cuts or abrasions in the
mouth. Sawyer Extractor kits can be bought at many sporting goods stores. The
kit contains a syringe-like device that will draw out some, but not all, of the
venom from the wound. These kits are NOT a substitute for treatment at a medical
facility (which hopefully can occur within 2 hours of the bite).
·
Cool compresses can be applied but
do not do not apply ice.
·
Immobilize the area with a splint
if possible, which it probably won't be if your leg was hit and you have to hike
out.
·
Use a cell phone to call for help
or send somebody out, or hike out using a slow measured pace with a crutch if
necessary. In some cases the most sensible approach will be to notify a medical
facility of what has happened (if you can) and to arrange for an EMT vehicle to
meet you at the trail head, perhaps with antivenin.
The sooner the MD's know they will need antivenin the better - not all
medical facilities have it on hand. There's no sense in adding even more time
than necessary to let the venom destroy tissue. It is highly desirable to get
medical attention within two hours of the bite.
·
Serious snake bites are usually
treated with antivenin which is derived from antibodies created in
horse blood. Snake bite victims who are allergically sensitive to horses
must be carefully managed.
Very few people who are bitten and venomized by rattlesnakes die.
Death is not the usual outcome of rattlesnake bites. The main consequence
is long lasting loss of dexterity and reduction of tissue mass in the venomized
bite area. The consequences of rattlesnake bites are very unpleasant.
Here are some things you can do to avoid getting bitten.
·
Wear
boots not sandals or running shoes when hiking - the higher the boot tops the
better.
·
Wear long trousers instead of
shorts. Bare legs increase the
probability of a successful strike. Loose
trousers might result in a strike to the wrong spot, or a deflected strike.
·
Use a hiking stick. Often, the
first thing to come close to a rattler will be your stick instead of your leg.
When stepping over a log or a fallen tree you can plant the stick first
and perhaps stir up the snake before exposing your leg.
The snake's first strike may be at the stick versus your leg.
Domestic dogs
People
take their dogs hiking all the time. Most
of the signs at trailheads and parks say that dogs must be leashed. Of all the
dogs that I have seen on trails, I don't think any of them were leashed.
I have personally never had a problem with a dog I encountered while
hiking. Stories do crop up from
time to time about hikers being bothered and threatened by unleashed dogs.
Maybe this is another reason for carrying bear spray.
I have never heard of this occurring in Colorado, but up in Alaska there are stories of people going out hiking with their dogs and the dogs taking off into the bush and kicking up and harassing bears. The angry bears go after the dogs, and of course the dogs flee straight back to their masters for safety -- with a bear not far behind. Creates an amusing picture doesn't it? As the bear population in the Rockies increases maybe we will hear some amusing anecdotes of this type closer to home.
Mosquitoes
and West Nile virus
The
West Nile virus problem is best dealt with by reducing the number of mosquito
bites by wearing long sleeved shirts and trousers.
Spraying DEET on your clothes and skin works well in keeping mosquitoes
and other bugs away. I also like to
wear a baseball cap which I spray with DEET which seems to keep the mosquitoes
away from my face and neck. It should be applied to skin and clothing only --
keep it out of open wounds, scrapes, eyes, nostrils or mouth.
If you use a water bladder and tube instead of water bottles - avoid spraying DEET on the end of your drinking tube.
Pay
attention to the directions before using it on adults and especially on
children. Like many chemicals, DEET
has to be used with some care, especially with young children. DEET should not
be applied to kids' hands since they put their fingers in their mouths and can
thus ingest it. Otherwise, recent studies indicate DEET is quite safe and
effective.
The following info is taken from the CDC's rundown on West Nile virus.
·
Most people who are infected with
the West Nile virus will not have any type of illness.
·
It
is estimated that 20% of the people who become infected will develop West Nile
fever with mild symptoms including fever, headache, and body aches, occasionally
with a skin rash on the trunk of the body and swollen lymph glands.
·
It is estimated that about 0.67
percent (less than 1 out of 100) of
persons infected with the West Nile virus will develop the severe form of the
disease. The symptoms of severe infection (West Nile encephalitis or meningitis)
include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma,
tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, and paralysis. .
If
you become ill after outdoor activities and bites, make certain that your physician knows
this, and can therefore factor this in when ordering
tests and making diagnoses.
Generally speaking, it is the second year of an infectious disease outbreak of this sort that it is the worst. In Colorado, 2003 was the second year for West Nile virus. Possibly, hopefully, the frequency of the disease in Colorado will abate from here on.
Ticks
Ticks
attach themselves to humans and other animals in order to feed on blood.
They are small roundish dark insects that can cause illness in humans due
to viruses and bacteria that they may input to the host during feeding. Using
DEET cuts down on the odds of getting ticks on you. There are two types of tick
caused illness in Colorado and both are rare.
·
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is a
bacterial illness which can be life-threatening. The early symptoms are
headaches, fever, nausea, abdominal pain, lethargy and a rash which develops on
the extremities and spreads to the entire body. It is a rare disease with only a
couple of cases reported yearly.
·
Colorado Tick Fever is a viral
illness which is not life-threatening. It's
symptoms are headaches, fever, nausea, abdominal pain, and lethargy. These
symptoms last four or five days, followed by an apparent recovery. Then the
symptoms return for a few more days. Total recovery usually takes several weeks.
The disease is not life-threatening and infection results in lifelong immunity.
If
you become ill after being outdoors, and especially if you have had ticks on
your body, let your physician know of the possibility of tick disease exposures
so it can factored in when ordering tests and making diagnoses.
As with the case for mosquitoes, the best defense is long sleeved shirts
and trousers and DEET. Look over
your body for any ticks and remove them with tweezers by carefully grasping the
tick's head as close to your skin as possible. Pull the tick straight out, using
firm, steady pressure. Another method is to use a credit card or knife blade to
carefully sweep down and force the tick's head out of your skin. The idea is to
get the tick's head out of your flesh without exposing the ticks fluids to your
blood. Don't prick, heat, smother or crush the tick. These methods may cause the
tick to regurgitate into the bite wound which increases the chance of infection.
Heat Exhaustion and Heatstroke
It can get hot in Colorado, even at the higher elevations. Physical
exertion at high temperatures can lead to heat exhaustion - becoming dehydrated
increases the chances of it. Insufficient
water in your body inhibits sweating, and you won't cool down to the degree that
you would otherwise.
Symptoms of heat exhaustion include rapid breathing, high pulse rate,
heavy sweating, paleness, fatigue, muscle cramps, dizziness, moderately elevated
temperature, headache and nausea. When it gets more severe the symptoms may
include vomiting and fainting. Some
of the less severe symptoms also commonly accompany heavy physical exertion. You
have to listen to your body. One
good (usually early) sign that you are pushing yourself too hard is if you start
feeling a little dizzy or woozy. If
so, take a break and let your body recoup before resuming physical activity.
If someone does appear to have heat exhaustion, have the person lay down
in the shade (if possible), rest with their feet raised a few inches and drink
some water.
If heat exhaustion symptoms are ignored and the person keeps on with
their physical exertion, the problem can become more severe and lead to heatstroke. This is
life-threatening. With heatstroke
the ability of the brain to regulate body temperature ceases -- the person's
temperature can go up to 104 F or higher.
Heatstroke symptoms can include confusion, highly elevated temperature,
strong rapid pulse, delirium, seizures and unconsciousness.
If someone appears to have heatstroke you should do the following: remove
some clothing and cool the person with water and by fanning them.
If there is a stream or pond nearby, put them in it to cool them down.
After the person appears to be getting better (with their temperature having
dropped to about 101 F) have the person assume the first aid recovery position.
Get medical attention for the person as soon as possible even if they appear to
be recovering.
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