[kepler1]

Maybe I'm just being harsh, but after reading several times and figuring out what was going on, it's an instagrammer's slight inconvenience and detour being dramatized (or implied, given the photos and hour-by-hour narrative) into a life-or-death hike out, yet with "smoked salmon and mussels accompanied by biryani rice".

They had a weeklong backpacking trip planned, hiked to where they thought they would start it, encountered smoke and potential fire, and had to hike back out. Leisurely. Enough to get a solid 9 hours of sleep. Doesn't quite qualify as the life-in-jeopardy kind of event that the polish and presentation of the blog make you think you're in for.

I'm a little more interested to hear about the folks who were actually in danger and barely escaped.

[vegardx]

You're being a bit harsh.

There are some good lessons in what you shouldn't do, perhaps not intended so, but still interesting.

We don't have many forest fires here in Norway, but we do have very harsh winters. Every year a family or group of people are trapped in a blizzard and die. And most of it could have been avoided by following the "Norwegain Mountain Code"[1], which I imagine is similar all over the world. Turning back before it's too late, seeking shelter, and not exhausting yourself when you realize that you're in trouble. I'd be very worried if people in my group started getting nauseous. That's when you start making those deadly mistakes.

[1]: https://english.dnt.no/the-norwegian-mountain-code/

[hinkley]

> Turning back before it's too late,

Turning back the millisecond the danger is known.

There are certain warning signs that should not be ignored. Each group sport has them and over time you learn to follow some protocols or you have to find yourself some new friends.

For cycling in the Midwest, it's lightning strikes. There is no place to shelter and the storm can move faster than you can, so after the first strike, everyone is counting time to see if they're getting closer. If they are, you turn back for shelter, even if home is in front of you. Most of the time that's a foreshortened outing, but on one occasion we had to double back to the half-way point and wait it out. Even though that meant a lot more time out there and a longer route than we planned.

When they mentioned the black smoke and continuing forward, it made me angry. I had a sudden flash of the conversation that had us holing up, dripping wet, in a little town in the middle of nowhere. It was clear who was going to win the argument before we turned around, even though it wasn't what we wanted to hear. We all knew the rules, clearly these people don't.

(Over the years I've come to recognize how above average that group was in organization skills, but one should still aim for a solid grip of basic safety routines from inclement weather to common injuries and avoiding/treating heat stroke and exhaustion)

[nick_kline]

Probably getting sick was a combination of exhaustion, breathing smoke and anxiety.

[xiainx]

As a somewhat avid backpacker, I found it interesting. I was in a similar situation hiking near the SQF Complex earlier this summer. You're right that they weren't in immediate danger from the fire, but hindsight is 20-20. In the moment these events can be incredibly stressful, especially when your mouth, eyes, and head hurt from breathing in smoke, you don't know exactly where the fire is, can't see very far, and are limited to walking speed. While they were able to get a good night's sleep (I would have just hiked through the night), I wouldn't characterize this as a "leisurely" hike out.

[arethuza]

Yeah - I think you are being a bit harsh but it just appears to be a personal account of a trip that went a bit wrong.

[atarian]

I saw this story on the Chronicle and had the same takeaway, but that's probably because I knew there were people who barely escaped with their lives via helicopter (like you pointed out).

[starpilot]

Yeah, it's a little harsh for a story titled "Escape from x." The story pretty much ended when they decided to turn around from the fire, point 3 in their map: https://www.jmeshe.co/escape-from-creek-fire/photos/6959453. The trip got cut short, but it wasn't much of an escape.

Then again, wildfires can move 100 miles in a day, about 10x faster than a human. Like a viral pandemic, you have to make decisions before it feels dire. It sounded like though that they got enough information early on via satellite communicator to realize it wasn't an immediate threat. I think the author is guilty of mild over-dramatization.

[nick_kline]

That seems unfair. When I've been backpacking, there is not much info about anything like a sudden fire that could move randomly around you. That could easily kill you. Even with help there were 200+ people who were surrounded by fire. There weren't a lot of extra resources to help a small group.

[davidpaulyoung]

Correct.

[yread]

Yes, while complaining about 4000ft of elevation and 13 miles. I wonder what was their program for the rest of the week if that sounds like a lot

[arcticfox]

That is a lot for most people. Obviously the upper bound on what's possible is massively higher, but if you take a mildly fit person off the street and put them through 4k feet & 13 miles w/ a 45 lbs pack, they'll be feeling it. An out-of-shape person would be completely destroyed at that point.

[dredmorbius]

Add elevation to this. Reds Meadow is already at 7,500 ft. I believe the 4k ft mentioned is net climb for the hike, not necessarily a peak elevation of 11,500 ft., though passes in the region certainly rise above 10,000 feet, and peaks top 14,000 (Whitney).

With a full pack, unacclimated, making 10+ miles is a pretty good day. 13 miles outrunning a forest fire is respectable.

[kingkawn]

The Hiking Gatekeepers: Stop! Who would cross the Blogpost of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.

[xiainx]

Don't forget that they were also almost 9,000' above sea level, carrying heavy backpacks (probably at least 25 pounds), and breathing in wildfire smoke. The AQI in Mammoth was in the low 200s on Sunday.

Also, they had 7 days to complete the rest of their hike. I suspect the stats for the hike out weren't too difficult, but the cumulative effects were.

[jschwartzi]

A lot of the 8 to 10 thousand foot climbs around here are multi-day because lugging 60 pounds of gear up 4000 feet through 10 or 12 miles of approach is hard work.

[moultano]

That is objectively a lot.

[vondur]

4k feet of elevation gain is a bunch, and 13 miles is no joke. I mountain bike regularly, and most of my rides average around 1300ft of gain. 4k feet would be a long tiring ride.

[lucaswoj]

We started those miles at sunset, after a full day of hiking, and in thick smoke