Unfortunately today we walked past our first wildfire. It was barely a quarter mile off trail which was very concerning, however we decided it was safe to walk past given its size (small), direction of growth (wind blowing it away from us), position (higher than us, and wildfires climb), and inability to grow (it was surrounded by rock fields and open planes). We think we made the right choice.

We also had friends spot another new fire many miles away south of us, that’s the other smoke plume. Overall, we’re not loving Oregon’s proclivity to burn.

We did get a little reprieve from the trail today though at Elk Resort where we decided to hike off trail to for burgers. A+ food and drinks!