Hiking In The Coronavirus Era

Simple adjustments for public and personal health...

My wife and I do a lot of hiking. When the pandemic began, we were like most people, wearing masks when we went inside a store or the post office and not wearing masks out on the trail. I was more resistant to wearing masks outside than she was. I reasoned that outdoor air represented so little threat that there was no comparison between hiking and shopping for groceries.

However, as the situation worsened, I realized that for everyone's comfort, it is best to wear a mask when you encounter people, even when outdoors in the mountains. Now, it is the law in many places.

Of course, hiking up a trail, breathing hard in the high-altitude air, a mask can be very frustrating. So I've developed a simple approach that has become second nature. If it's cold enough that I'm wearing a knit cap, and no one is in the area, I unhook one ear from the mask and let it dangle from the other ear. My knit cap holds the remaining ear string in place As soon as I sense someone approaching on the trail, I rehook the mask on both ears.

If I'm not wearing a knit cap, I simply carry my mask by one ear string. At the first sign of people, it's ready to go, and I can hook it into place in about one second. Yes, even describing this process feels uncomfortably prosaic, like I'm suggesting how to tie one's shoelaces. Yet, it has made my life easier. So I pass it on.

Let's hope that in the next year or so, we won't be having to think about it at all!