Summiting Mt Evans vs trekking 15 miles on beach?

[CoopAir]

I shall not tolerate such rubbish. Good day, sir!

LOL I can PROMISE you that I will make up for the lack of drinking on the trek, that night back at the lodge! Just wayyyyy too much at stake for me to risk not completing this. I mean, to me at least, this is the Bahamas equivilant to summiting Denali

3 days after I complete this trek, I am going to take on one that is even more out there! This one will be on Great Inagua, (80 miles NE of Cuba and 100 miles NW of Haiti) where I will drive 61 miles (6 hrs) on a rocky outback road.

From there, I'll trek another 11 miles, along an absolute kick butt beach, while carrying 58 pounds---almost to the the NE Point of Great Inagua where I will spend the night on the beach, 72 miles from the nearest permanant settlement! Then at the crack of dawn I will trek the remaining 3 miles to NE point Great Inagua and then back!

When I safely get back to Matthewtown (only settlement on Inagua) the bartender who happens to be serving me that night is going to LOVE ME!

[SkaredShtles]

What are the objective hazards on such a monumental tropical undertaking?

[AyeYo]

I'd think dehydration would be #1, by far.

[TallGrass]

What's your back up water plan? Solar still kit? Small RO kit? Are there any freshwater sources to filter en route and how long of an upstream trek from an estuary is it? "Aqueous Salt" is shown upper left.

Larger pdf file of below.

[MonGoose]

Are we talking about this kind of beach?


or this kind of beach?

[madbuck]

Maybe I missed something... I jogged 15 miles along Myrtle Beach this past May. I didn't carry a backpack, just around 20 ounces of water in a handheld bottle.

Notwithstanding bushwhacking and wading through water (uhhh, waterwhacking?) -- I was thinking of this perhaps too literally as well: just go light.

From there, I'll trek another 11 miles, along an absolute kick butt beach, while carrying 58 pounds---almost to the the NE Point of Great Inagua where I will spend the night on the beach, 72 miles from the nearest permanant settlement! Then at the crack of dawn I will trek the remaining 3 miles to NE point Great Inagua and then back!

You 'extremepointers' are all the same, LOL. But I'm glad you're following the classic rules of carrying at least 56.5 pounds.

What's your back up water plan?

Turtle blood?

[madbuck]

I was thinking of this perhaps too literally as well: just go light.

What will you do if the weather turns on you? How would you survive? I don't see how you'd make it back without 40 or 50 pounds of gear.

Dick

The OP focused on the heat, humidity, and sand, I (like BenfromtheEast) envisioned the potential for miles of smoother running along the water's edge. Similar to Mongoose's "Option A."
If the weather surprisingly turns bad, one should only be, at most, half the total distance from safety!

But it's a big difference in the calculus if there are tides, rocks, and bushwhacking involved -- as the video showed.

[Bowman]

I was thinking of this perhaps too literally as well: just go light.

What will you do if the weather turns on you? How would you survive? I don't see how you'd make it back without 40 or 50 pounds of gear.

Dick

The OP focused on the heat, humidity, and sand, I (like BenfromtheEast) envisioned the potential for miles of smoother running along the water's edge. Similar to Mongoose's "Option A."
If the weather surprisingly turns bad, one should only be, at most, half the total distance from safety!

But it's a big difference in the calculus if there are tides, rocks, and bushwhacking involved -- as the video showed.

I think Dick was being sarcastic. Weren't you, Dick?

[mtree]

Such silly people. Just swim it! Naked. Geesh.

[CoopAir]

I'd think dehydration would be #1, by far.

And a very close 2nd is heat exhaustion since it will also be very humid, not to mention nowhere to take shade along with the sand and water reflecting a lot of the suns rays back at me!

[CoopAir]

To further elaborate, there are NO freshwater sources along the route, on either of these 2 treks, so I'll carry a case (5 gal) of individual water bottles.

That way if one bursts I'll still have 23/24 remaining.

As for the weather turning, (lightning is by far #1 concern) I'd just crouch down in a spot at the base of a bluff and wait til it passes.

Trek #1 on Mayaguana, (7.5 each way)that you saw the video of, is a mix of both beaches that Mongoose posted.

Trek #2 to NE point Great Inagua (14 each way) is 98% beautiful sand, on the other hand.

[justiner]

The beach trek would most likely be more difficult. I've done Echo Lake -> Summit of Evans in much less than 3hrs before, carrying one bottle.

15 mile beach hike still just sounds like a long... morning to me. This is def. a case where schlepping the weight of 5 gallons of water is a lesson in diminishing returns. Gawd, that doesn't even sound fun. I'm too fare of skin. This trip would be hell.

But I'm curious - you don't setup caches of water? Like, you don't honestly carry all the water for the second day, to the campsite of your first day, do you?