Half Dome – Yosemite Musings

I remember the days living in Northern Virginia. Every other weekend in high school and college, we’d drive the 3 hours to Ocean City, Maryland. For 2 glorious days, we’d lay out and roast. The goal was to get our middle class white skin as dark as could be. Hours on the sand slathered with baby oil. A theory was that if you burned it would turn to tan. I got my share of blister-burns. My stomach sometimes looked like a hunk of medium well steak. Despite our parent’s caution to use sunscreen, clear baby oil or sweet smelling coconut butter were our only “protection.”  Hey, my dark Italian heritage would keep me safe – and nothing looked as good as snow white teeth grinning from a bronze face. In the days before SPF we were building a healthy tan.  Fast Forward to today.  Boy, were we dumb. A friend just had a small slice taken off her nose. Basal Cell Carcinoma. (BCC)    A friend recently lost a son to melanoma which started as a sore on his instep – later traced to 5 years of lifeguard duty as a teen. Why am I telling you all this? I had a small spot on my chin that was not healing. I just got it sliced and am awaiting the lab results. BCC probably. A very early and easily treatable skin cancer. The bad one is Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Folks, all that sun is cumulative. We pay now for our mistakes then. Wrinkles, age spots and haggard skin are all due to the sun. Did you know that a typical shirt only provides an SPF of 5 to 9? Did you know that while hiking, as we go up every one thousand feet the UV radiation increases about 5%? Granite rocks at Yosemite can reflect upwards of 90% of the sun’s rays. Yikes. Check out the products from a company called Solumbra. They have been the leader in sun protection wear for over 17 years. They sell shirts with SFP of 30. Columbia and others are now also offering sun-guard products. Hiking? Kayaking? Snorkeling? Water skiing? Wear a real sun-shirt and lather up. We can’t undo our youthful mistakes, but we can change the pattern and be more aware and cautious. And see your dermatologist. That little thing on your ear that doesn’t heal may be treatable early.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “I'd help another place, another time, you've got your troubles, I got mine.” – The Fortunes

*Carpe Diem Experience– Rick Deutsch–www.HikeHalfDome.com*