I used to love hiking in summer heat. The past couple years, though, not so much. Coming into this summer I got me to wondering why. 

With the recent spate of record-breaking temperatures, I decided to hit the trail and see if I could pinpoint my growing problem with summer.

Late one morning I set out on a local path. The temperature was in the mid 80s, the humidity not far behind. In deference to the heat, I eased up a tad on my pace. 

Ten minutes in I’d worked up a nice sweat. I’ve always liked a good sweat, makes me feel like I’m not slacking off, not to mention that I’m flushing a toxin or two in the process. My shirt went from moist to damp, which revealed one bugaboo with summer hiking: Whereas The Platters had trouble with smoke getting in their eyes, my problem was sweat.

Fix No. 1: Sweat-free eyes. There’s an easy solution to keeping salty sweat from dripping into your eyes and obscuring your vision: a bandana, or Buff. Some people use a ball cap, relying on on the headband to absorb your salty discharge. Problem is, the closed cap causes heat build up. Solution? A wrap-around cloth that lets heat evaporate, but catches sweat. Also, when it reaches maximum capacity, simply remove, wring, replace.

A summer annoyance, to be sure, but not a deal-breaker. On I walked, building more heat. Soon, it was time to hydrate. Or was it, you wuss! As I reached for my water bottle I could hear the voice of umpteen football coaches from my high school days: “Gut it out, son! Only weaklings need water!” Not true, it turned out. Not only could proper hydration keep you energized, it turns out, it could also keep you alive on a hot summer’s day. 

Fix No. 2: Take a swig. I now carry two liters of water on almost every hike, winter, spring, summer and fall. However, simply having water on you doesn’t mean you’ll drink it. Which leads to …

Fix No. 3: Make it a cold one. One of my favorite songs as a kid growing up out West: “Cool water,” the Marty Robbins version. Clear, cool water to be precise. Which is why every night before a summer hike I stick a couple of three-quarter-full water bottles in the freezer. Next morning I top them off with cold water and I generally have clear, cool water for most of the hike — water I look forward to indulging. 

Continuing, the next summer annoyance surfaced quickly and was signaled by a squish, squish, squish sound. Yup, sweat-soaked socks. Not only are drenched socks prone to quickly causing blisters, they’re just plain gross. There’s a simple solution for this as well…

Fix No. 4: Pack extra socks. Always pack an extra pair of socks and swap ‘em out before you hear the tell-tale squish. Then, take the socks you’ve just removed and clip ‘em to the back of your pack. Within a half hour or so a pair of wool socks will dry just enough for you to put back on, should the need arise. (Help yourself even more by wearing lightweight summer hiking socks.)

So far, so good. But were these minor annoyances really what had soured me on summer hiking? No, it turns out, for a few minutes later I was confronted by my real nemesis: the horse fly. Summer is full of annoying pests, the majority of which can be fended off, to a reasonable extent, with traditional bug repellents. But not horse flies.

Years ago I was complaining to a former superintendent at Umstead State Park in Raleigh about her horse flies. “I’m on my mountain bike,” I explain, “trying to outride this especially pesky horsefly. I’m peddling like mad, but it keeps nipping at my ears. I look down at my speedometer and I’m going 35 miles per hour!”

“The park speed limit is 20,” she replied. No help there.

In fact, it wasn’t until recently that learned of the one thing that does seem to keep horse flies at bay.

Vinegar.

Like, a dab behind the ears?

Exactly. Although if the thought of smelling like a tossed salad on the trail doesn’t appeal to you, any essential oil — citronella, eucalyptus, lavender, peppermint — will do. A spritz or two about the head and summer hiking’s real nemesis will be someone else’s problem.

So, in addition to your Ten Essentials, you should add an 11th

A lavender sachet.

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More on summer hiking

For more tips on making the most of a summer hike, check out this post from April: “90 degrees? Our tips for hot weather hiking,” here.

Hike this Weekend in Western NC

And a reminder that we’ll be hiking this weekend in Ashe County as part of the N.C. Department of Natural Resources/Hometown Strong Return to Western NC adventure series. Learn more and sign up to join us here.