Wildfire smoke is seriously unhealthy and managing air pollution risk is a highly personal endeavor. Public lands generally aren’t going to close because of poor air quality. You will be on your own to decide your path forward. If you are on the PCT and air quality declines, should you leave? Wear a mask? Stay put and hope for resolution? Do nothing? These will be choices for you to make. What you decide may affect your health for the rest of your life. During the types of exercise that are typical on the Pacific Crest Trail, people can increase their air intake as much as 10 to 20 times over their resting level. These increased breathing rates bring more pollution deep into the lungs.

Decision-making in terms of air quality is complicated by quickly shifting conditions that are often hard to identify and information likely coming from monitoring stations that are many miles away. To be clear, we’re writing about managing smoke from a fire that’s far away. If the smoke is extremely dense or nearby, perhaps dropping embers, you’re managing a wildfire encounter, and it’s probably time to flee.

How PCTA programs manage smoke

The Pacific Crest Trail Association has guidelines for staff and volunteers working on the trail that you might be interested in following as well. Like hikers, trail workers maintain high levels of physical exertion for prolonged periods of time, increasing their exposure to whatever is in the air. Some trail folks spend years and years working and living outside, putting their potential for accumulated risk even higher than the typical hiker. Key points in the PCTA’s air quality-related guidelines include: • Crew leaders should recognize hazardous conditions and decide when mitigation or evacuation are prudent. • If they can reschedule trail work to avoid unhealthy conditions, they should. • We monitor and refer to the AirNow Air Quality Index (AQI). Prolonged periods in moderate categories (yellow) advise consideration of evacuation. Any amount of time in unhealthy categories (red) constitutes evacuation criteria. If the AQI is above 150, leave the field as soon as possible.

Masks, Hiking-Through and Other Choices

The tiny particles in wildfire smoke will pass through a bandana across your mouth because the fabric is too loose to capture them. For adults, NIOSH N95 or P100 masks, when worn correctly, have been shown to filter particles and improve the quality of the air being inhaled. It may be prudent to keep these in your bag in case you encounter smoky conditions. However, this is only a single mitigation measure and should not be thought to render dangerous conditions safe. Do not rely on masks alone for protection. Thru-hiking is hard. The wildfire crisis makes it far harder. We’ve seen hikers in recent years skip ahead when the smoke is thick. We’ve also seen people hike through conditions we would balk at. It’s up to them, but gosh, is it worth it? Is a hike worth lung damage or worse? Or can we savor, instead, the joy in getting to return in some future year to see the trail again how it should be: with blue skies, in a rain cloud, blasted by the wind, heck, anything other than in smoke? Of course, it stinks to throw in the towel prematurely. Resting in town is often a good move. As with most risk management, gather as much information as you can. What’s the weather forecast? Will it rain? Will a wind turn widespread smoke into a discrete column that can be avoided, or blow smoke far away from the trail? Will the fire be short-lived or is it a whole series of fires that will burn until the snow comes? It’s a travesty that smoke has become part of our lives and decision-making. PCTA staff have had to change too many trips ourselves, leaving the backcountry mid-trip. But it's the reality we’re living in, and we should be real about it.

Where is the smoke?

Where is the smoke? We’ve added various layers to our interactive map. There, you can see AQI levels, smoke forecasts, real time sensor data, live satellite imagery, the location of fires, and more.

Signs and symptoms related to smoke exposure

Coughing • Trouble breathing normally • Stinging eyes • Scratchy throat • Runny nose • Irritated sinuses • Shortness of breath • Chest pain • Headaches • Asthma attack • Lingering fatigue • Fast heartbeat

Sensitive groups include

People with lung diseases (asthma, COPD, bronchitis, emphysema) • People with respiratory infections • People with existing heart or circulatory problems • People with a prior history of heart attack or stroke • Older adults (over age 65) • Infants and children under 18 • Pregnant women • People who smoke • People with diabetes • Persons with, or recovering from, COVID-19 Photo by Michael DeYoung.