The West is on Fire

I’m from the east coast, so I’ve never really had to even think about wildfires. Sure – every once in a while there would be a small forest fire in the Shenandoah but I never really had to think about it that much.

2017 has been one of the worst years on record for wildfires – from Western Montana to the Pacific Coast, and all the way up to the tip of BC and Alberta. The west is on fire – smoke is literally covering the entire upper western quadrant of the country.

As we sit here in Columbia Falls, MT the smoke is thick in the sky. There are mountains around here – but you can’t see them. It’s like the worst fog you’ve experienced combined with being in the perpetual smoke stream of a large campfire.

It is uncomfortable – my eyes and throat are scratchy, and the authorities are advising against really being outside any more than necessary.

There is a mountain up there somewhere…

It’s kind of frightening actually – being the planner that I am, I’m just not sure how to deal with this.  We aren’t in immediate fire danger – there is one fire fairly close by but not close enough to worry about.  But with the smoke being so bad – it just isn’t much fun here right now.

Probably the main reason why we chose to re-enter the US in Montana was to see Glacier National Park. Columbia Falls is about 15 miles from the western park entrance. Right now, the entire western section of the park is closed with a mandatory evacuation in place because of the wildfires.  We had hoped to spend quite a bit of time this week hiking and checking out the park.

It’s disappointing – of course, it could be worse – we could be in Southern Texas or South Florida right now. But it does present us with a quandary – our plan was to head down into Idaho, then over to Oregon and gradually make our way to Northern California. But the entire area is covered in fire and smoke right now – I’m not even sure we’ll be allowed in to some of the areas we were hoping to visit, and even if we are, will we be able to see anything?

So we sit, and look at maps, and try to figure out a Plan B. Stay tuned!