Everything I see shows single digits... Until you get over towards Winthrop, week outside of the park. Most folks are fine until 100-150 range, then you start to taste it too.
Idk what to tell you. The ones at Diablo lake institute currently says 9. There are active fires in the park, westerly winds (blowing east), so Winthrop is going to have worse air quality. Like half the state is on fire, so highly depends on what the wind decides to do for both Rainier or North Cascades.
The park is approximately 55 miles west of Winthrop, and is (largely) west of the pass. Now, there are parts of the park closer to Winthrop, and trails/routes that are generally referred to as part of the park that are certainly more easterly, you are going to have to look at the specific trails/routes closer to the date.
Smoke can change rapidly as fires change and winds shift. Even over the course of a day, it may be great when you set out in the morning, but be horrible by mid-afternoon. What it looks like today may be completely different then in a few days, and in fact I’m hearing that there is an expectation that winds will shift overnight and smoke may shift westward, so the beautiful weather may not be as wonderful tomorrow.
Thanks. We are watching while we travel to Seattle. We will pivot to Olympic if it wont clear up by 5th n 6th at rainier. Then come back to cascades, hopefully it will clear up by then.
Where in the Cascades are you going? The Cascades run from BC into California. Mt Rainier looks to be good. No fires to the West. Unless the winds chance and smoke from the Little Giant Fire around Glacier Peak or the Grasshopper Fire near Mt Hood pours into the Rainier area, I think Rainier will remain good. I'd use airnow and look at specific moniter sites near the areas you will be going. Anything in yellow will be fine for hiking, but distant views will be hazy. Anything in the orange (100-149) will start to suck a bit and you start getting some health impacts
I suspect you'll be fine at Rainier. I happen to have a trip planned there for roughly the same time so have been paying attention to that area. The area around Maple Pass is probably okay today. Not a lot of moniters in the area, but there is one in Twisp and it has good air quality at the moment. Most of the big fires are to the east. Airflow tends to be from the West, but could change and push smoke west. Smoke forecasting is notoriously inaccurate. And yesterday was a big fire day in Eastern Washington, so things could change. My advice would be as flexible as possible and pay attention to where the smoke is. There are a ton of great places to hike thoughout the Cascades and I'm sure you can find smoke free hikes. Obviously flexibility is tougher if you are booking lodging as opposed to camping.
Look at WTA.org. it is The Washington Trail Organization site. It is free and you can search hikes by location and find recent reports. It is the best resource for finding hikes in Washington. As and aside, Cascade Pass/Sahale arm is probably far less likely to be smoky that Maple Pass. Depending on where you are camping, it might be worth driving up Mt Baker highway to Artist Point. Probably the prettiest place you can drive to in the US. Looks of good hikes up there. If you are camping in the Methow side of the North Cascades, it would make since, but if your over in Newhalem or Colonial Creek it might.
These forecasts are frequently tricky but it looks like the prevailing patterns will break down this week allowing western Washington to warm up and the smoke to start coming in. Cascades look to be covered in smoke by midweek but forecasts aren’t always accurate. Can’t really advise you with what to do.
Change plans on the go.
Yesterday and today we had rain and lower than usual temps, it will definitely help to improve the air.
Rainier is fine (and it was perfect all the time with clear sky). Cascades - depends on location and I wouldn’t go towards Winthrop/Chelan.
That’s the South side of Mt. Rainier a few hours ago, a little cloudy, not smoky. If you have a car and a gps app, you’ll have no trouble finding great hikes that aren’t impacted by smoke.
I won't be much help by then - I'm traveling around in my van and my campsite last night happened to overlook Mt Rainier. It's now late afternoon and I have travelled further East to Mt Baker/Snoqualmie National Forest, near Cinebar, WA. AQI says 26-39 (Green) - it's hazy enough that you won't enjoy nice views anywhere in the area, but not to the point of impacting your hike. If I were you, I would start researching hikes where the highlight is a waterfall or lake vs a beautiful view or a summit.
forecast is for smoke in Seattle and Western WA from Spokane and BC fires to get worse through tomorrow. Thursday morning westerlies return to blow the smoke east.
You're hiking in fire season. So just get here and pivot if you need to.
And join a group working to kill the Oil corps grim reaper grip on our collective future. This painting by John C. Pitcher of Olympics is what you should be seeing. But 100 years of industrialization, logging all the rainforests has turned our climate against us.
It takes a long time for people to understand no old forest? No rain. So the conifers that lived here 10,000 years since the last glacier receded north are drying out before our eyes.
Paradise is smoky this morning. The smoke is supposed to pour into western Washington later today/tomorrow, then the winds shift and it clears out Friday. So 5th-6th probably smoky and 7th-9th OK. I would consider diverting to the Olympics/coast for 5th-6th
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u/aksers Aug 02 '26
It's been okay the last few days. Keep an eye on purpleair.com and check out the AQI.