Smoky Hornby Island

On Aug. 4 and 5, Hornby Island and much of mid-Vancouver Island was covered in smoke from forest fires. It was a weird scene. At the campground, I overheard a teenager talking on a cell phone saying "the sun is dead." Not quite, but certainly blunted, orangy red at 10 a.m. and still hot as can be. My lungs still feel it.
The ferry approaching.

My kids on the beach, south of Phipps Point, at about 6 p.m. You can see Denman Island in the distance. Vancouver Island, behind it, is obscured.

Good for the sunsets, bad for the lungs

NASA Earth Observatory has a revealing picture of smoke hanging over B.C. and Washington a couple of days ago.

Forest fire without firefighters in the North Cascades

Chattermarks has a post about the Panther Creek fire, now burning on a roadless hillside in Ross Lake National Recreation Area. The terrain is steep, the fire is small, and the ecosystem is fire-adapted, so the National Park Service is letting it burn for now. They have, however, taken some precautions, such as wrapping a trail bridge in old fire shelters.