Even before the 2018 fire, the trail that Gerrish had selected for the hike was a risky choice. The steep ascent out of the canyon was along a southeastern-facing slope, which meant it was exposed to the full brutality of the sun.
Yeah, one lesson: do the hard part early, while you're fresh. A down-then-up hike isn't just a little harder than the same hike in reverse it's, maybe as an estimate, four times harder. And that's not counting weather or other environmental conditions.
Lesson two: calculate where and weather may change and make things worse. Heavy rain will make a steep trail nasty whether you're going up or down; baking heat won't matter as much if you're able to go down fast on a good trail.
