Mysterious death of entire family while hiking

[ZomblibulaX]

Oh my God. When faced with new/more information I changed my opinion. Whoa.

Pretty sure someone has to call you a nazi for that. Please let us know your party affiliation so accusations can be leveled from the appropriate opposition.

[SumJongGuy]

[davjr96]

The NPS in Yosemite posted today about toxic algae blooms in Yosemite with a warning that filtering and boiling do not work.

[SumJongGuy]

The NPS in Yosemite posted today about toxic algae blooms in Yosemite with a warning that filtering and boiling do not work.

Bleach drops? My kid found out the hard way on a scout trip to wait the full 20 minutes when treating filtered water with bleach drops before drinking it. Wasn't that algae bloom poison though. Just a bad time for an hour or two..

[AK47bp]

Who would give a 1yr old River water to drink?


City folks maybe.


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[Dantheman]

Bleach drops? My kid found out the hard way on a scout trip to wait the full 20 minutes when treating filtered water with bleach drops before drinking it. Wasn't that algae bloom poison though. Just a bad time for an hour or two..

It's not the bugs, it's the toxins they produce. A few drops of bleach probably does nothing to degrade cyanotoxins.

[frorider]

https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and...drinking-water

Not easy to remove. Activated carbon helps.

[Bronco]

Article in the Seattle Times this morning about 3 dogs recently dying from algae bloom in the Columbia River.

https://www.seattletimes.com/life/ou...gae-suspected/

[SumJongGuy]

Article in the Seattle Times this morning about 3 dogs recently dying from algae bloom in the Columbia River.

https://www.seattletimes.com/life/ou...gae-suspected/

It's been a thing around here for a couple of years now. Not many are aware of it though. At least twice a year I see something about dogs dying from drinking algae bloom pond or stagnant creek water. 12 years of scouting, last 6 mostly purifying our own water and never anything worse than the runs a day later or occasional tummy ache/ brief puker when the filtered got mistaken for purified. Last three years we got more vigilant about avoiding sources with tons of visible algae.

[highangle]

https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and...drinking-water

Not easy to remove. Activated carbon helps.

"Sounds way too sciency for me to trust!"
"EPA?lol!"
"The Myth of Cyanotoxins, by random YouTuber"

[mcski]

Maybe they ate some horse worm pills

[paulster2626]

What about replicants?

Country kids don't swim in those, either.

[SumJongGuy]

Country kids don't swim in those, either.

Ya but not because of those... more because of snapping turtles and cottonmouths.. gators farther south and east..

[spanghew]

Ya but not because of those... more because of snapping turtles and cottonmouths.. gators farther south and east..

Book One of
The Trapper's Last Shot (by John Yount) is one chapter long, three printed pages long. It tells the story of five boys who go swimming -- Cocke County, Georgia, during the dry summer of 1960 -

"When they got among the trees on the river bank, the oldest of them, who was fourteen, shucked quickly out of his britches and ran down the bank and out on a low sycamore limb and, without breaking stride, tucked up his legs and did a cannonball into the water. The surface all around, even to the farthest edge, rolled when he hit as if the pool were alive, but they didn't see the snakes at first. The boy's face was white as bleached bone when he came up. "God," he said to them, "don't come in!" And though it was no more than a whisper, they all heard. He seemed to struggle and wallow and make pitifully small headway though he was a strong swimmer. When he got in waist deep water, they could see the snakes hanging on him, dozens of them biting and holding on. He was already staggering and crying in a thin, wheezy voice, and he brushed and slapped at the snakes trying to knock them off. He got almost to the bank before he fell, and though they wanted to help him,
they couldn't keep from backing away. But he didn't need them then. He tried only a little while to get up before the movement of his arms and legs lost purpose, and he began to shudder and then to stiffen and settle out. One moccasin, pinned under his chest, struck his cheek again and again, but they could see he didn't know it, for there was only the unresponsive bounce of flesh."

[zartagen]

Book One of
The Trapper's Last Shot (by John Yount) is one chapter long, three printed pages long. It tells the story of five boys who go swimming -- Cocke County, Georgia, during the dry summer of 1960 -

"When they got among the trees on the river bank, the oldest of them, who was fourteen, shucked quickly out of his britches and ran down the bank and out on a low sycamore limb and, without breaking stride, tucked up his legs and did a cannonball into the water. The surface all around, even to the farthest edge, rolled when he hit as if the pool were alive, but they didn't see the snakes at first. The boy's face was white as bleached bone when he came up. "God," he said to them, "don't come in!" And though it was no more than a whisper, they all heard. He seemed to struggle and wallow and make pitifully small headway though he was a strong swimmer. When he got in waist deep water, they could see the snakes hanging on him, dozens of them biting and holding on. He was already staggering and crying in a thin, wheezy voice, and he brushed and slapped at the snakes trying to knock them off. He got almost to the bank before he fell, and though they wanted to help him,
they couldn't keep from backing away. But he didn't need them then. He tried only a little while to get up before the movement of his arms and legs lost purpose, and he began to shudder and then to stiffen and settle out. One moccasin, pinned under his chest, struck his cheek again and again, but they could see he didn't know it, for there was only the unresponsive bounce of flesh."

Fuck.

I thought that scene in Lonesome Dove was bad. But this... fuck.

[BmillsSkier]

*Takes pond swimming off the list in dry years*

[abraham]

Yeah that's impressively written and impressively grim.

[The AD]

I'm calling bullshit on it.

Although perhaps we can add "cottonmouth attack" to the list of possible ways these hikers died. It seems about as plausible as some other things already mentioned.

[ötzi]

That was rough to read whether it's true or not.

An old girlfriend of mine from rural Missouri fell through a river bank there (was walking along and sank into the ground) into a copperhead nest, hundreds of them were apparently in there. But it was winter, and they were barely moving. Apparently copperhead slaughter ensued.

[AK47bp]

I'm calling bullshit on it.

Although perhaps we can add "cottonmouth attack" to the list of possible ways these hikers died. It seems about as plausible as some other things already mentioned.

Jeeze ya think?

Covered in snake bites would be a dead giveaway


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[PB]

I think the intended message was, "don't go near water that isn't clean and clear"
Better yet, "don't go near the water at all"

[TBS]

I'm calling bullshit on it.

Although perhaps we can add "cottonmouth attack" to the list of possible ways these hikers died. It seems about as plausible as some other things already mentioned.

Especially when cottonmouths do no live, outside of captivity, in California…

And yeah, the bite marks & toxicology reports might be dispositive…

[SumJongGuy]

I'm calling bullshit on it.

Although perhaps we can add "cottonmouth attack" to the list of possible ways these hikers died. It seems about as plausible as some other things already mentioned.

Definitely overkill... Time I spent in Oklahoma youth I'd heard of a couple water skiers getting bitten here and there when they fall near a nest. But, it wasn't any stories like that. The snakes defend their nest then go back to it. Farm ponds were more about stepping on a snapper.. or cottonmouths, but snakes go the other way when they can. Never heard of anyone getting all the way to the shore with 20 snakes still hanging on them. Makes for a horrific read though.

[BmillsSkier]

I think the intended message was, "don't go near the water at all"

Never get out of the boat. Absolutely goddamned right.

[old goat]

I think the intended message was, "don't go near water that isn't clean and clear"
Better yet, "don't go near the water at all"

I read--maybe in Desert Solitaire--that in the desert at least you want to avoid the crystal clear water because it likely has toxic chemicals like arsenic. Look for a pond with something growing in it. Not that there are a lot of choices in the desert.