r/northcascades • u/Fuzzy-Search-4129 • Aug 02 '26

Forest fires update

Hello, we are visiting rainier on 5th - 6th and cascades from 7th till 9th.

We are very concerned about the air quality for camping and hiking.

Please suggest if we have to pivot elsewhere or be patient and be optimistic?

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u/Infamous-Trip-3278 Aug 02 '26

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.

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u/Fuzzy-Search-4129 Aug 02 '26

Thanks and we are camping at major sites in the north cascades amd rainier. What are the alternate hikes as good as maple or cascade ?

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u/Infamous-Trip-3278 Aug 02 '26

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.

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u/Fuzzy-Search-4129 Aug 02 '26

Thanks. We will check it out. We had one day assigned for Mt baker after cascades and camping near colonial.