RFK Jr strides into new controversy: hiking in sweltering Arizona … in jeans

The Guardian

22-07-2025

Robert F Kennedy Jr has promoted contrarian ideas around issues such as vaccines but another, more sartorial, choice has also raised eyebrows – an insistence on wearing jeans while exercising.
On Saturday, the US health secretary took a strenuous hike up Camelback Mountain, situated near Phoenix, Arizona. Despite the temperature rising above 90F (32C) on the morning of his hike – Phoenix hit 107F (41C) later that day – Kennedy conducted the hike in dark blue jeans, posing for pictures along the way in a sweat-drenched green T-shirt.
The choice of jeans by the 71-year-old confused some of those who encountered him. 'It was about 92F, I think, temperature-wise, at that point, so very impressive for him to have done that at his age,' Matt Larson, a hiker who talked to Kennedy on the trail, told Fox 10.
'I remember thinking: 'That wouldn't be my choice of hiking apparel in this weather,' but you know, kinda a generational thing.' Larson said it was 'cool' to meet Kennedy but added: 'It is pretty risky to be hiking if you're not acclimated to our weather in the heat.'
'Bro is out here hiking that damn mountain in jeans and 110+ weather!?' one X user commented on the health secretary's post about the hike. Another wondered: 'Jeans? Phoenix? July?!?'
Phoenix is known for its ferocious heat and has broken records in recent years for elevated temperatures which, like the rest of the US, are being fueled by the human-caused climate crisis.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is part of Kennedy's department, recommends that people drink plenty of fluids, pace themselves and 'wear loose, lightweight, light-colored clothing and sunscreen' during periods of extreme heat.
Heat is one of the largest weather-related killers in the US, with more than 2,300 people dying due to swelteringly hot days in 2023 alone, although the true number may be far higher.
Kennedy, though, has shown himself to be an ardent devotee of denim. The vaccine sceptic has been videoed undertaking gym workouts shirtless and wearing jeans.
In May, Kennedy even waded into a contaminated Washington creek wearing jeans and no top. In photos posted online, Kennedy was shown playing with his grandchildren in the creek and even submerging himself entirely under the water.
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Rock Creek, which winds through north-west Washington, has high levels of bacteria, including E coli, as it is used to drain excess sewage and storm water after heavy rainfall. As a result, city officials have banned swimming in the creek due to the dangers posed to human, and pet, health.
Kennedy, who previously revealed that a parasitic worm had 'got into my brain and ate a portion of it', is known for his unusual outdoor adventures. Prior to joining Donald Trump's administration and overseeing widespread cuts to health experts and services, Kennedy divulged that he once strapped a dead whale carcass to his car roof and, separately, accidentally killed a baby bear and then dumped the corpse in New York City's Central Park to make it appear it had been hit by a cyclist.
The health and human services department was contacted for comment.