Hiking in the smoke

[Salmon River Solutions]

Going out for a day hunt tomorrow and wondering how people are doing hiking in this heavy smoke. It’s pretty bad here in North Idaho. Picture doesn’t do it justice. Visibility is probably 500 yards

 

[corycody]

We've cleared up quite a bit in SW MT, but we had it pretty thick. I notice it when hiking but not enough to not go out.

 

[JohnB]

I deal with it by sitting on the couch and binge drinking. Seems like that's healthier for me than the smoke. Caveat is I have some asthma issues so this stuff kicks my butt even if I'm not breathing super hard.

 

[spike camp]

We hiked out of a fire area, the day after a fire started..
Super thick, thought I was going to barf for 2-3 miles of a 5 mile downhill hike.
Brutal, wouldn’t do it again and I don’t advise it.

 

[Salmonchaser]

West slope of the blue mountains is just terrible, about 300 yards visibility at the 3500 foot level. Drove over the summit today and it was much better.

 

[MattB]

My elk hunt starts Friday and I took the last 5 days off in the Bay Area. Shot some broadheads at the range today though.

 

[zacattack]

That looks terrible. How long does that take to clear when the fires are gone?

 

[matthewmt]

I'm 100 yards from flathead lake in MT and i cant even see it currently.

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[mt100gr.]

Not far from matthewmt. Maybe 500 yards visibility. Just shot some arrows down the hill on my place and could feel it hiking back up to the house. The smoke really laid in over the last 2 hours. Thick.

 

[Thomahawk]

Wow that sucks. You could come to ne and chase some mule deer in the sand hills. The crazy thing is we can see the smoke here too.


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[ODB]

Yup, down in the valley here it's socked in again real good...or bad... we had a few days of clear skies, then nada...

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

Wearing an n95 mask sucks, but when the smoke is real thick it is the lesser of two sucks.

 

[menhaden_man]

This smoke model is pretty good (from WSU):

AIRPACT-5 | Dynamic Map

 

[Marmots]

SW Idaho looks like a straight to DVD sci fi movie.

I usually don't have any breathing problems but working a physical job outside all day has me hacking and coughing every morning.

It sucks that I'm destroying my lungs but I don't even get to look cool while doing it.

 

[Broomd]

It's horrible here, as bad as I've seen it and these fires aren't as close as 2015 when they were a couple of hills over. It's an unhealthy situation for many.
It's amazing how chilly it is as well, the smoke can take an 80* day and make it 45*.

 

[matthewmt]

Yeah its crisp out even with the sun right over head.

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[North Idaho Stickbow]

Panhandle here too. I’m going out tomorrow. We’ll see how long I stay out. The smoke is insane!!!

I’ll be taking a respirator mask. Yay.

 

[willidru]

In Northern California it’s been about 10 days now since I last hiked. AQI consistently over 150

 

[trazerr]

The smoke from our fires reached the east coast this week.. not too pretty here. The farthest I will be hiking in the next few days is to the mailbox and back.

 

[BuckHunter24]

Heading out tomorrow for our first hunt of the year. Its a fair bit better in Spokane today then it has been. Our target camp spot is close to 10 miles in with a lot of elevation gain, whether we make it there or not depends alot on the smoke conditions.