The daily freeway commute is far more risky than mountain travel. But I've personally lived thru four major forest fires, fought em, etc. So I'm rather sensitized to wood smoke. Can't even tolerate a fireplace in the house without sneezing. But early during this particular fire there was an incredible ordeal. The smoke has risen way up into the backcountry and a lady about 35 miles back from the trailhead managed to get disoriented in the haze, took a wrong turn, and somehow crossed over into an adjacent basin where she fell and broke both legs. She heard water in a creek, but had to crawl on her stomach for two days to get to it. Meanwhile, neither aircraft nor drones were having much luck searching for her due to the visibility issues from all the smoke. The fire itself was a long ways away, so not a direct hazard. The only alternative was lots of feet on the ground, way back there, searching section by section. She had a whistle and started tweeting when she heard voices in the distance, nine days of later, if I recall correctly. So they found her alive and she'll apparently recover from her injuries over time. Quite a story, though she has refused any kind of interview and just wants to recover in peace and quiet.
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