It was 90+ and I knew that the BST from Indian Hills to Bridal Veil Falls would have almost no shade. 10 miles round trip. Sounds great, eh?

The Bryce 50k is coming up in 9 days and it is forecast to be hot, so I wanted to see how I fared in the heat. The trip to Bridal Veil was hot, but I had plenty of water. At the falls I took off my shirt, submerged it and put it back on ice cold. Nice! As I left to make the return trip I had a genius idea. On the way there I had drank both of the bottles of ice water in my chest pockets, saving the (almost) full bladder for the return. As I thought how nice the cold wet shirt felt and how it would probably be dry and hot within 5 minutes or so I looked down at the stream, looked at my empty bottles, looked back at the stream and then the light bulb went on. I filled both bottles up – not to drink, but to intermittently dump over my head, down my back, on my arms, down my chest, etc. It was genius and it seemed to keep my core body temp down. I did the return trip faster than the way out as well, and I was feeling great. I attribute it to the bottles of water. I think I’ll do this at Bryce. Have 2 empty bottles in my drop bag at mile 14. By that point it will be warming up. Then, take them with to cool me off. Refill at the mile 22.5, etc. I think it’ll be a good way to keep a bit cooler.