Scenes of TV news folk running outside to experience two minutes of monsoon rain have become too common to make fun of.
But we can't help dissing last Tuesday's ridiculous, first-person report by Kevin Kennedy of Channel 12 (KPNX) about hiking Camelback Mountain in 111-degree heat.
Yes, hiking in the heat can be dangerous. That's why, of the thousands of people who hike local mountains in the summer, a few (usually unprepared) souls succumb to extreme conditions and find themselves on the nightly news.
Kennedy's brief write-up of his "safety test" makes it sound like you'd have to have a screw loose to get outside and walk when it's hot.
For his "safety test," Kennedy brought along paramedics and decided in advance not to ascend the trail for more than 10 minutes. The article doesn't say whether he climbed Echo Canyon or the easier Cholla Trail.
So why did the hike "prove dangerous," as the headline states?
Hell if we could figure it out.
Not very astonishngly, his body temperature and heart rate went up during the hike. He began sweating and needed a drink of water.
Of course, that's what's supposed to happen when you exercise.
The desperate pseudo-hiker finished his 16-ounce water bottle before turning around:
The last part of my hike was no thrill without liquid. In the end I finished and received a positive check from paramedics, but I did not feel perfect. I was very hot and my head was a bit hazy.
The bottom line: I was fine but had I continued much farther without water I could have ended up in trouble.
What's next -- TV reporters driving without air-conditioning? The horror!
