When the Smoke Lifted

      When the smoke lifted, even slightly, last week, I immediately left for a quick hike on the Stein Butte trail. I didn't have time to go to the top of the mountain, but I did have three and a half hours, enough time to jam to the top of the ridge and back. From there, I could look onto the Siskiyou Crest and see whether the smoke had lifted enough to hike in the Red Buttes yet.

Still smoky in the Red Buttes, but the smoke cleared several days later.

       In my hurry to get on the trail I didn't think about bug repellent. To my regret. The trail was plagued with tiny flies that bombard the eyes. I was constantly having to bat at them, slapping them against my face, which was slick with sweat but not quite as wet as on an even hotter day a few years ago, when the flies I slapped against my face probably died not from the blow but from drowning. It was awkward, now, dragging both hiking poles from one hand while I swatted flies with the other. Then I would walk normally until the flies started swarming into my eyes again and I had to start swatting again.

      I was hiking in a short summer dress, just what I happened to have on when I dashed from the house. There was no one else on the trail; I was certainly alone in the woods. Maybe, I thought, if I could make a hood over my face, I could keep the flies out.

      It worked. I could see a score of flies in front of my face, but they wouldn't enter the tent. The disadvantage was that I had to keep my head bowed to keep the hood in place, so I couldn't see much around me. But there were more advantages than disadvantages. Mainly, of course, I was keeping the flies out of my eyes. Hiking only in my underwear, I was cooler. Because vision is a factor in the perception of steepness, I wasn't aware of how hard I was climbing. Because I couldn't see familiar landmarks, I couldn't estimate how much farther I had to go and was at the top before I knew it.

      The air was still smoky over the Red Buttes that day, but a few days later it cleared enough that  I set off for a hike in the wilderness with Mike. We had a fabulous hike, 10 miles to a sweet little lake, one of the jewels of the Siskiyous, where I had a couple of delicious swims and was able to hug one of my favorite trees.

      While the air has been clear, I have worked in the garden and taken hikes. I have taken walks around my house again. I ate lunch on the deck (until the yellow jackets drove me inside). I saw Love's Labour's Lost at the outdoor Elizabethan theater in Ashland. I breathed deeply and grew drunk on blue skies. Today the smoke has returned, but like everyone else in southern Oregon, I have gone around with enormous gratitude in my heart for a few days of breathable air and a well exercised body.