rhm

This morning I heard on the radio that you can see or smell the smoke from wildfires pretty much all over the western U.S. I imagine that sounds worse than it really is, but for sure, it's pretty awful.

I rode right through a range fire one time, in August 1983. It was in central Washington; we were riding north east. There was a strong wind from the west. We could see smoke on the eastern horizon, but it was far away. We could smell smoke, but that was coming from the west, probably a different fire. What we didn't understand was that the wind was so strong, the smoke was staying close to the ground and we didn't see it until it rose higher, a mile or two away. We really know what we were doing. Well, our road turned left (north), we came over the top of a hill, and there it was; we had ridden right into the middle of a fire. Plenty of men fighting it, but they had no time to deal with bike tourists. One of them told us to take a deep breath and ride right through the wall of smoke blowing across the road. Turning back was not an option, he said. There were flames on the west side, blowing across the road, and the men were trying to keep it from jumping the road. We did it; I waited until the last moment to take the biggest breath I could, then stayed as close to the side of the road as possible, went as fast as I could, squinted my eyes almost closed, and ... pretty soon I was out in the sunlight again. Scary. Got to a road block a few miles later; they weren't letting anyone through. The guy at the road block was communicating with the fire team by walkie-talkie, and told us the fire had jumped the road just minutes after we got through.

In these days of better communication, I imagine it's a little easier to avoid this kind of thing. Anyone else had brushes with fire?

fietsbob

On the relatively Wet, Coast, I just got a call from the County Emergency Service Offices , there is a Burn Ban in effect ..

They called my house this morning.

I used to live near the area of the current big Rocky Ck fire which is east of 29 Napa-Lake-Yolo county.

nun

Lucky for me I missed the fires in Twisp and Winthrop this year, but I was there a couple of months ago. There was a small fire in Browning MT when I was there and some smoke across MT and ND from Canadian fires.

indyfabz

Right now a friend of mine is doing Cycle Idaho or whatever it's called. A few days ago they stayed in Noxom, MT. They were supposed to ride to Troy via MT 56 (a very pretty road) but it was closed due to fires, so they went straight to Sandpoint, ID. She has been posting photos on FB. You can see the smoke in the air, and ash has been falling.

I was living in Mesa Verde N.P. at the end of a tour. My then GF was interning in the park with a grad school program. A few of the students, including the GF, were living in the campground but most were in a rented house in Cortez. Less than a week after I arrived a fire started on private land. I was later concluded that it likely started from a lightning strike during a Wednesday night thunder storm. The fire smoldered until Friday morning when the winds kicked up, causing it to erupt and spread to the park. I had ridden into town Friday morning. Everyone was ordered to evacuate the park. Fortunately, the GF and some others were able to swing by the campground in a N.P.S. van and grab my panniers and gear and one tent. We all had to stay at the house in Cortez. Saturday morning there was ash falling in town and the smoke-filtered sunlight caused orange looking shadows. Looked just like the photos mentioned above. My tent and the others left behind did not burn directly, but falling embers turned them into Swiss cheese.

The park was closed for at least a week so we took a road trip to Utah and Vegas. When we returned, I was able to visit the cliff dwellings before the park opened to visitors. A few days after the park reopened, a fire started on Ute land bordering the park and the park was closed again. I remember sitting on the front porch of the house in Cotez and watching the smoke-filled sky above the mesa light up orange. "There goes another tree." someone remarked.

Fires in WA have closed a portion of ACA's Northern Tier route, which goes through Winthrop and Twisp. Both those towns have been evacuated. Winthrop is the first "real" town you come to when crossing the Cascades on WA 20 and relies heavily on tourism. There is a nice KOA there and even a brew pub. There is also a cyclist-only campground that a couple established on their property. It was in the area of Twisp that the 3 firefighters were killed the other day when shifting winds caused the fire to overtake their vehicle.

It's very bad in a lot of places.

mcallaghan

I live in Aspen, CO and the last few days have been extremely hazy due to the fires along the west coast (California, Oregon, Washington). If you've seen footage from the US Pro Challenge you'll know what I mean. Almost to the point where, despite not a cloud in the sky, the effects of the sun are much more in line with a cloudy day. Its still clean air - not bad to breathe in, etc - and I would imagine that riding near a forest fire that would be the main issue.

tarwheel 

I would not want to be touring near a wildfire, from the standpoint of air quality as well as fire. Smoke not only is unhealthy to breathe, but also makes you less visible to drivers. Getting burned to a crisp is a whole other hazard and has happened to people in cars, so I wouldn't want to be on a bike when a wildfire was crossing a road.

Years ago we were camping at Yellowstone National Park and then traveled to nearby Grand Tetons NP, where we were staying in a cabin for a couple days. There was a wildfire burning in the area, and we were informed that we might have to evacuate on short notice if the winds shifted and it started moving in our direction. Fortunately that didn't happen and we had a great visit.

BTW, we had originally planned to take a vacation this summer in Washington-Oregon, but decided to wait until another year when the weather is more favorable. That wasn't the only reason for changing our plans, but a big one. One of the reasons why I like vacationing out West is the clean air, long vistas and cooler, drier weather. That doesn't seem to be the case this summer.

stevepusser

Back in the late '80's (August 1988?), I and a couple riding companions on a two-week tour were riding up into Yosemite Valley along the floor of the Merced canyon just after it had finished burning. Snags along the road were still smoking, a few had visible flames, and we breathed through wet handkerchiefs to cut down on the smoke. We passed a fire camp on the way up, and I still remember the exhausted firefighters sleeping everywhere on the bare ground at midday.

A later trip had me passing Lake Almanor in northern California just before a big mushroom of smoke erupted maybe 10 miles behind me, and the fire blocked the road I had just come down. That trip through the mountains had smoke haze everywhere, even though the fires could be hundreds of miles away.

valygrl

yeah I hitchiked through one in canada a decade ago, and re-routed an entire tour a few years ago due to fires in WA and OR. breathing smoke=bad.

Shimagnolo

I'm in the Front Range of CO, and that last two days have been hazy from the West Coast fires.

prathmann

Fortunately nothing scary, but a couple incidents come to mind. The first was a few years ago when I was returning home after a ride of a few days out to the top of one of the Sierra passes (Carson). On the way down I saw lots of smoke rising from a spot next to the road and discovered it was a small fire just starting at one of the trailhead parking lots. About then a motorist pulled in as well. Neither of us had cell service there so we agreed to head down the road in opposite directions and call in a report as soon as we could get reception - which we did. Later that day I stopped at a Forest Service office to check on possible camping sites in the area and mentioned having seen this fire and taking a couple pictures - that turned out to be a mistake. For the next week or so I kept getting harassed with calls by someone from the Forest Service with more and more questions going over the same material - he clearly thought I must have started the fire. Finally I got him to stop after sending him the complete GPS location and photo record of my bike tour.

The second incident was more recent on a tour this July from Jasper, AB to Missoula, MT. There were lots of fires in the general area so we had a number of days with smoky air on our ride south past the Canadian Rockies. We entered the US in Glacier National Park and stayed at the St. Marys Lake campground before riding over Logan Pass to Apgar. From there we looked back over McDonald Lake toward the pass and saw a small smoke cloud in the direction of the pass. Only a few hours after we made it over the pass the Park Service closed the road due to the fire and it remained closed for the next three weeks, along with evacuation of St. Marys and Rising Sun campgrounds.

Medic Zero

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I recently rode across Northern California doing cycle camping and staying with friends. When I went to leave the Clear Lake area where I had been staying with friends for a couple of days there were several wildfires raging quite nearby. I had the option of hitching a ride with friends all the way to my next destination, but after keeping a close eye on the wind patterns and forecast I decided to risk riding out from Cache Creek Regional Park. I thought all of the smoke was above me, as I could see the plume from one of the fires rising into the sky at least a thousand feet before the wind caught it and started taking it downwind, but some of the smoke must have been at my altitude at some point because when I reached my destination that day I realized that my legs weren't sun burnt, I had gotten poison oak from the forest fire smoke!

Luckily it was a pretty mild case, which was a great relief, as I am very allergic and have had my eyes swollen shut for days and other awful things from coming into contact with the plants in the past. Gloves, beard, long sleeves, helmet, sunglasses, and headband all seem to have largely saved me, because I only had poison oak from my sock line to the elastic on my bib shorts! O.o



TL: DR version: You can get poison oak from forest fire smoke!

Medic Zero

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Couple of the incidents mentioned above reminded me of several things about fires and this last trip I did. I too experienced some rather weird light quality, particularly on the worst days, some of the time it looked like I was wearing glasses with a yellow tint, and at least one of my photos* shows this.

I was almost feeling like I should share my GPS data as well, because the Wragg fire broke out just after I turned away from highway 128 and went down Pleasants Valley Road (the fire started further down 128), then the Rocky fire broke out while I was staying near Clear Lake and had actually visited a store just a mile from where the fire started only a couple hours before it broke out! Both my dad, and my cousin (who is a cop) where publicly asking me on Facebook if I was starting fires because they popped up so close in time and proximity to me! O.o



* Hard to tell because the safflowers are rich in color and texture, but this photo is extra yellow due to the smoke in the air.





And this one was also taken coming down Capay Valley, that isn't clouds or fog in the distance, that's the smoke I ended up riding through.

Needless to say, I'll probably be a little more cautious, even when smoke is the only concern, the next time I have to contend with forest fires. I suppose I should be looking at the prevailing winds and current fires for the upcoming High Pass Challenge here in Washington state.


I should also mention that the poison oak forest fire smoke did a short little number on my lungs. They were irritated with a light, unproductive cough for a couple of days afterward, but it only manifested itself a few times a day. I was glad that the next two days were rest days for me though, as I don't know how well my lungs would've performed if I had to take my loaded tourer up a mountain like I was doing to week before.

spinnaker

On a tour of the Oregon coast a few years back. Smoke in the air around and past the California border. That was not nearly as uncomfortable as seeing all of the emergency vehicles racing about.

On another tour rolled into Bonners Ferry. Lots of fire warning but we really never saw smoke.My buddy and I had a room booked with 2 beds. Not sure if i was the truth but we were told fire fighters got the room. If it was the truth then I didn't mind.

mtnbud

I've ridden near fires in years past. We were far enough away to be safe, but smoke filled the air. It stung the eyes and wasn't that pleasant to breathe.

More recently I've ended up cutting backpacking trips short due to fire. In one instance, we saw a large plume of smoke in the distance. Knowing the general location of the fire was about 20 miles away, we went ahead and prepared to camp, but kept set up to a minimum so we could pack up quickly. Around one or two in the morning smoke settled in around us and ash began falling. Stupidly, we waited in our bags for the wind to change direction but the ash kept falling. Around 5 we packed up and left. I both smelt and felt like a piece of beef jerky.

Earlier this summer, I hiked into a lake and unpacked and was just getting ready to take my raft out fishing when a guy walked through our camp saying he saw smoke. I went to investigate and the trees on the opposite side of the lake were in flames. There was no wind and the fire must've just took off. I watched the fire for a short while to see how quickly it was spreading. I decided I had enough time to pack up, but did so quickly and hightailed it out there. By the time I left helicopters were dipping water out of the lake to dump on the fire. I met two firecrews on the way in as I was hiking out. (Those guys can move)

staehpj1

I had a few trips that were impacted by forest fire smoke, including bike and backpacking trips. I found it to be a pretty major issue greatly impacting some trips. It isn't that easy to avoid even with the modern info sources for a couple reasons. First, the smoke can be pretty widespread and impossible to just go around. And second, changing winds can make even short term predictions unreliable.

rhm

This isn't entirely relevant, but since I have the photo....



In March 2014 @TimmyT and I rode a century down into the Pinelands of NJ and started to smell smoke. Then we found a large fire underway in the forest, right where we wanted to ride. We could go either to the right, or to the left; or we could go back. It was not clear we could escape the fire by doing any of these (but going back was generally away from the fire). A fire truck went by, and the men on it waved, but didn't stop to give directions. Eh, we decided... let's just go where we meant to go. So we went left; and soon found the center of operations, which was a controlled burn by the forest service. They waved us on.

I didn't get the smell of smoke out of my nose for many hours after that.

Here's more or less the same spot, a couple months later:

chrisx

Washington hwy 20 is closed because of fire.
Ranger told me to turn back and go to Ozette instead. I told the ranger I was on a bicycle and could get around his road block. Range put a 398 pound fat lady on the shoulder. I got frightened and went up a steep hill. After a couple of days I had to come down. The fat lady was waiting near the food.

I had food. I had to come down because I was choking on smoke.

spinnaker

A shame when people post while they are high.

chrisx

I went high onto a mountain to escape the fat lady.
Had to come down because I was choking on smoke from the fires on the other side of the lake.
Weed is legal in WA, I don't smoke.

chrisx

fires are serious, I retreated to an island, safe from the fire, fat lady is still out o control .

max5480

I rode through a pretty big fire last year while touring.
Not being visible to motorists was more disconcerting than inhaling the smoke.