So far I have not delivered on my promise, made in early summer, to leave the inland Northwest in late summer, typically its season of heat, fire, and smoke. Why suffer needlessly?
I avoided this decision because May and June were so wet that the fire and smoke season was postponed -- until the first of September. In fact I have only started this week to use a cooled 8-liter water bladder as a pillow for sleeping.
 |
Gotten to by doing internet search for "airnow.gov" |
This screenshot pretty much sums up the problem: late summer in the inland Northwest is about as awful as the Southwest in early summer.
So what can be done? Go to the Southwest? After all, it has had a good monsoon season this summer.
I'd rather not. Remember that North America becomes drastically smaller in the winter, for campers. Thus the camping-areas in the Southwest become well known and over-used. So, unless you like camping around noisy neighbors, it is best to minimize your stay in the Southwest. Besides, I just get tired of the same ol' places in the campable Southwest.
So my best chance is to escape to the intermediate latitudes, such as Nevada or Wyoming. (Especially the non-touristy areas.) Too far south and warm? Not really. There are high altitudes there. Of course I prey on high plateaus or ridgelines rather than excessively vertical mountains or canyon bottoms.
It is a shame to flip too rapidly from all-the-way north to all-the-way south in just a few weeks in (greater) October. So if the smoke and fire season in the inland Northwest drive me into intermediate latitudes, it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
Comments