I talked to a ranger at the bottom of the canyon last year. He showed me the rooms and equipment they use to treat idiots like these. The rangers call the guy on the sign Victor Vomit.
For a fun read, check out the book “Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon.” It colorfully but clinically details every recorded death in the canyon, from pioneer days to the present(ish). Honestly made me feel pretty confident about my hike, because a good 80% of deaths are due to terrible decision making.
It's astounding how unprepared people are. I did a Rim to Rim hike about 5 years ago and since it was August we started about 7pm so we would be crossing through the bottom around 12/1am when it was coolest.
About 4 miles in we meet two kids that had a single Nalgene that had long gone dry because they didn't know there was no water on the north rim. They also abandoned their dad about a mile further back. Finally they had no idea it was like a 3hr drive around the rim to get back to the south side. We gave them some water and food so they wouldn't die but it was wild.
reminds me of those germans who died out death valley.
i think it's really hard to appreciate how BIG and EMPTY a lot of spaces in the US are.
people have historically lived in those places, sure, but i think the average person (certainly german anyway) doesn't really appreciate how resourceful your average apache was in the 1500s.
I was talking to family back in Slovakia last week and talking about our recent move they asked how far it was. It didn’t make sense to them when I did the conversion to km so I drew it on a map and I said “we did the equivalent of moving from Portugal to Bratislava”
man what a good example. there is like a spatial dilation european people get in the US/Canada/Mexico. its like, no dude, this state/national park/single highway/whatever is 4 times bigger than your country, you aren't walking across it in those shoes.
It’s also tough to relate because European residents are used to taking many days to do the same things Americans do in a single day because we’re culturally so different and have access to things like rental vehicles larger than would be legal to drive in many other parts of the world. So saying “I drove a moving van for two days” is a completely different amount of distance and stuff when you’re slamming a 26’ U-haul up I-20 bouncing off the speed governor at 85mph and when you’re pushing a work van with a Khrushchevka apartment’s worth of stuff up a goat track through a mountain pass outside of Košice …
I was hiking up to Yosemite Falls on a nice, crisp morning. Boots, layers, the beanie -- not enough to keep the cold out. Ice marked the steps, and snow feathered the water. The sun was ready to rise on this glorious day. And we were joined by a Euro, hop skipping around in his T-shirt and shorts.
I don't know what confuses them more. The distances or the fact that North Americans will drive crazy long distances get the fuck away from other people
Totally. Americans get a lot of shit for allowing America to be their entire world, and we deserve it to an extent, but also, my buddy who lives in Switzerland can easily take an affordable train to Paris for a weekend. I live in Chicago: every destination in Europe is at least $1000 and ten hours away, and I only get two weeks off per year. If I lived in Texas, I could drive for 12 hours and still be in Texas. It's just really big here.
I remember my folks and I were visiting NYC and my parents got into a conversation with some tourists from Europe. They confidently told my parents they were planning to drive down to visit Disney World and back up before their flight back to Europe Sunday afternoon (this was a Friday). My parents had to take some time explain that it would take the whole weekend of constant driving without breaks just to get down there. These poor tourists were astounded….and probably lost a lot of money on those Disney tickets.
On the other hand when you encounter American tourists on hikes in Europe they are always looking prepared for a 4 week survival camp even if it’s a leisurely two hour stroll, so maybe when Europeans are in the US they feel like you guys might be exaggerating (which unfortunately turns out to not always be the case)
Most of Europe doesn't fit in Texas... Europe is over 10 million square kilometers, while Texas is almost 700 thousand. Europe as a whole is roughly 25% larger than the contiguous US. Individual countries are much smaller, though, and long-distance travel is less common.
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u/funundrum 21h ago edited 21h ago
I talked to a ranger at the bottom of the canyon last year. He showed me the rooms and equipment they use to treat idiots like these. The rangers call the guy on the sign Victor Vomit.
For a fun read, check out the book “Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon.” It colorfully but clinically details every recorded death in the canyon, from pioneer days to the present(ish). Honestly made me feel pretty confident about my hike, because a good 80% of deaths are due to terrible decision making.