22. Smoke, Fog, and Haze: Write about not being able to see ahead of you.
California fires produced multiple problems to our state and mental/physical state. The Thomas Fire in 2017 started in Ventura and we thought, “oh it’s so far away, we’ll be fine.” The fire began creeping north, creating the classic orange sky and gag reflex when trying to breathe. As the fire got closer, anxiety rose as the ash falls on cars and walkways. Progressing more, we started listing things we need to evacuate. Donning N95 masks, we are able to go outside. We already had plane tickets to Bangkok so we weren’t there for our evacuations or the anxiety that the fire was a mile from our home.
Let’s just admit that 2020 was the worst year in our personal history. Covid along with summer/fall fires challenged my mental well-being. I coped with covid by hiking but the fires made the air quality so bad that even hiking with a mask was hard. We hiked the first two miles on the Mt. Whitney trail and we thought it would be high enough so the air wouldn’t be affected. Nope. Looking at the cloud mapping, it was hard to find anywhere that wasn’t affected. We escaped to Flagstaff for a week so we could be outside and breathe.
In 2021 the fires once again raged in the state necessitating the closure of trails as fire precaution. This was the final straw on my mental health and I spiraled into depression. The constant anxiety of safety, the challenges of breathing, the inability to exercise, the watching of nature devastation was more than I could handle.
The orange sky of smoke is dread.
