Over the last few days, San Diego weather has heated up. If you’re planning on enjoying the great outdoors, it’s important to be prepared for hot weather.
At Cowles Mountain in Mission Trails Regional Park, the thermometer is going places it hasn’t been in months. It had hit 100-degrees by noon on Monday.
But the sizzling temperatures aren’t keeping hikers from hitting the trails.
“It was pretty hard going up. I got to the middle and I kind of wanted to turn back cause it got pretty hot,” said Sunny Hitchcock.
Hitchcock has hiked Cowles Mountain many times. But she admitted, she wasn’t prepared for the weather on Monday.
“I don’t know what I was thinking. I always bring like at least a gallon of water. It is heavy, but like halfway through, you’re gonna thank yourself,” Hitchcock said.
Hitchcock said she saw people on the trail with no water. One of them brought a child along. But on days like this, park rangers say children and pets should not be on these trails.
Ranger Rebecca Smart put up warning signs for the first time this season, telling people "No Pets" and "No Children." Smart said after weeks of May Gray and June Gloom, folks need a stark reminder about the hot weather.
“You had 70, 80 degrees, and now we’re up 95. When there’s that big shift, people sometimes have a lag, acclimating. So that’s why we’re out here,” she said.
Smart said along with plenty of water, it’s also a good idea to wear a hat and sunscreen. At the Cowles Mountain trailhead, there’s a machine that dispenses free sunscreen.
If you’re going to hike on a hot day, avoid going between 10 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. And, Ranger Smart said, you can expect to see a snake or two.
“Many people report seeing a huge increase in the snake population on trails. We think that has a lot to do with all the wonderful rain we had this past season. So everything’s growing and mating and we’ve got more animals,” she said.
With summer temperatures here, it’s important to be prepared.
