Last summer, I was walking along a stretch of the West Highland Way in Scotland. That day, I was on one of the most beautiful stretches of the trail, which skirts the eastern banks of Loch Lomond. The weather was warm and I was alternating between walking and running on the undulating trail and taking wild dips in the loch to cool off. About seven miles in, I encountered something that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before on a hike – a backpacker sitting on a stile with her backpack at her feet, smoking a cigarette. Speechless, I just said hello and kept going, but I’ve been thinking about it on and off ever since.
Hiking and smoking don’t strike me as activities that typically go together, since one basically requires having a strong respiratory system and the other degrades it. It’s certainly not common, but it’s also not totally unheard of, as I recently learned hiking in the French Alps. It all got me asking a few questions, such as, is smoking even allowed on a hike? And while I’m definitely averse to cigarette smoke (and butts and reefer smoke and vape fumes) on “my” trails, are there actually good reasons for not smoking on a hike, besides annoying people?
