It was late August and my brothers and I set out on a planned camping trip to Lake Chelan in the Eastern side of the North Cascades in Washington State. It was a hot dry summer, and we were aware that there were several wildfires that were ignited by lightning in the mountains around our camping area on Lake Chelan. We decided to go anyway because we thought the fires were burning far enough away that they wouldn't cause any issues for us.
When we arrived at our campsite we were stoked to find beautiful weather and no signs of wildfires, besides a few scorched distant mountain sides we seen on the drive over. That night and the next day also showcased perfect weather conditions sunny, warm, and calm. However, to our surprise the weather changed on our second evening bringing a strong north wind. As we stayed up late drinking and talking we started to smell smoke. Then soon after midnight we could see a far off mountain slope glowing with fire from a open viewing location. We became concerned. We wondered how far the burning slope was away from us. Also we wondered if the wind (which was blowing from the glowing slopes to our general direction) would keep pushing the fire our way. We discussed leaving immediately, but determined to leave at sunrise which was a few hours away. When daylight broke it was very hazy and smoky with limited visibility. We hit the road driving slow as it continued to be hazy and smoky almost consistently for over an hour. We noticed that the vegetation or fuel in the area was sparse down low by the highway, so we were hoping we would be alright if we encountered any sign of fire. We finally made it home with no problems. However, we vowed that the next time we went camping we would research current wildfires and upcoming weather to make a more informed decision before we venture out.
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