The city of Palm Desert – which has reportedly done a terrible job of educating their own employees to not send naked photos of each other around the office – told a local tv station that it prefers an “education program” alerting hikers to the dangers of heading to the trails in the scorching desert heat over actual rules. Where this program actually can be found is as mysterious as why idiots keep hiking in dangerous conditions.
With news that Phoenix is considering banning hiking on trails when temperatures reach 110 degrees (100 degrees for dogs), KMIR asked the city of Palm Desert if they would do the same.
“Certainly we’ve considered it. We have never gone down to where it’s actually on a city commissioner committee for approval but when weighing the decision between any kind of education program versus a regulation program, we always seem to lean, here in the city, more towards a education program,” Ryan Stendell, director of community development for the City of Palm Desert told the TV station.
So does the city actually have some kind of educational program for hiking in the heat?
I Googled “hiking in the heat Palm Desert” and all that came up in the results were articles about hikers being rescued because they chose to go hiking when it was way too hot. I also searched the city’s website for any such educational program and found only a description of trails – with no warning of any kind about the heat.
I did find a bunch of regulations for food trucks and a whole page dedicated to garage sale regulations in the city – so yeah, regulations over education for yard sale signs, but still no regulations despite people dying on hiking trails. Priorities, I guess.
For the amount the city is paying its employees (even those not even working for the city anymore), you would think some kind of warning about the dangers of hiking in the Palm Desert heat would be easier to find – especially since it could save lives and taxpayer money.
While I continue searching for the Palm Desert hiker education program, take a moment to read up on the Cactus Hugs Guide to Hiking in the Desert Heat.
