[pimaCanyon]

Hello NW Hikers! Used to be, you could get in a pre-bug hike on the east slopes of the North Cascades (Pasayten, Chelan-Sawtooth) by hitting those areas when there's still snow on the ground in patches in the high meadows. However, we would wait to hike the Crest or west slopes until at 3 or 4 weeks after snowmelt to lower the bug factor because we'd found that hiking those areas right after snowmelt would have horrendous bugs. Now that the mountains in Washington and other parts of the Pacific NW have a fire season, have any of you switched your hiking and backpacking to much earlier in the season in order to avoid having to cancel trips due to fires or just to avoid dealing with smoke? What kind of bug factor are you dealing with if you go into the high country of the Glacier Peak Wilderness, for example, just as the snow in the meadows is melting out? Thanks in advance!