On a clear summer day in July or August, Andy Walker normally sees crowds of campers and hikers lounging by Ross Lake within the North Cascade mountains. But this year, with portions of the lake and boat-in campgrounds closed due to smoke and wildfires, that number was close to zero.
For the past five years, Walker has dealt with a wildfire every summer while operating his resort on the lake. Ross Lake Resort, which has 15 floating cabins accessible via hiking or boat, has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue this year, Walker said.
“The money we make from that group of folks … just completely collapsed in August with the wildfires,” said Walker, adding that several guests had canceled bookings due to health concerns.
Many seasonal businesses like Ross Lake Resort rely on revenue generated during the summer to make it through the colder, darker months. But their pockets have been stretched thin by the second worst wildfire season on record in Washington state, where more than 1,400 square miles — an area larger than Rhode Island — have burned across the state so far.
With the fall season starting, some destinations, particularly in Central and Eastern Washington, hope to offset lost revenue by attracting more tourists in the coming months, said Michelle McKenzie, director of marketing at State of Washington Tourism.
“A lot of the destinations are places that are really beautiful to experience in the fall, like Spokane and the Green Bluff, or North Central Washington and apple orchards,” McKenzie said.
Fires and other climate-related impacts have, by extension, redirected visitors’ travel plans: In August, the Border 2 fire near the Canadian border closed campsites and trails in the North Cascades. Meanwhile, Spokane-area wildfires displaced thousands of residents and damaged over 900 structures. And businesses around Lake Chelan, a tourist destination, have reported low profits and fewer crowds since the Little Giant fire blazed through more than 230 square miles and at least 35 structures as of late August. By Tuesday, the fire had grown to nearly 270 square miles.
The risk of wildfires on the West Coast are further exacerbated by climate change, wherein snow melts earlier, and forests stay drier for longer, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology. Climate experts report that the fire season, which runs from about May to November, is getting more volatile and destructive.
“We’re anticipating, with the wildfire seasons becoming more intense and longer, that this is becoming part of what we have to plan for,” Walker said.
‘A steady decline, but nothing like this’
Businesses in Leavenworth took a hit in August — usually the town’s second busiest month of the year behind December — as foot traffic through the Bavarian village in Chelan County fell by 35% due to smoke, said Troy Campbell, the executive director of the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce.
“I think most destinations have seen a steady decline, but nothing like this,” Campbell said. “This is definitely climate-(related).”
Extreme weather events have threatened the town’s busiest tourist months in the past year, including September wildfire smoke that lingered leading up to the 2025 Oktoberfest and catastrophic floods that caused power outages and damaged Highway 2 to Leavenworth last December, Campbell said. Leavenworth has since revamped its website to include real-time updates on travel conditions and air quality and live webcams around town, Campbell said.
But things are starting to look up. Visitations during Labor Day weekend this year were on par with those of 2024, one of the town’s busiest years, Campbell said. Business in Leavenworth is largely seasonal, but unlike other tourist destinations that heavily depend on the summer months, the town hosts a series of large events during the fall and winter, such as the Autumn Leaf Festival in late September, Oktoberfest and its famous Christmastown that glows from Thanksgiving through February. Campbell said some hotels have reported being fully booked during all three weekends of this year’s Oktoberfest.
“We have built events and festivals throughout the year,” Campbell said. “So if we take a hit in one month, we have something to hang our hat on in the future.”
‘You can never get August back’
A number of backpackers who planned to hike Mount Rainier and the North Cascades in late July and August altered their trips to destinations farther west to get away from poor air quality, said Kyle LaCrosse, a senior operations coordinator at the Wildland Trekking company, a backpacking and hiking tour operator headquartered in Arizona.
LaCrosse said he’s no stranger to wildfires, but “the biggest change is really the unpredictability of each season,” including weather patterns. This season, he’s had to reroute eight backpacking trips, or roughly 100 guests, to places such as Olympic National Park. Intrepid Travel, a tour operator that partners with organizations including Wildland Trekking, reported in August that the 2026 wildfire season had impacted about 2,000 of its travelers.
“Historically, if a trail is open, you look at that and you say, ‘OK, we can do this,’” LaCrosse said. “But nowadays, we really have to look at multiple different aspects of it, AQI (air quality index), where the fires are at.”
Towns in Central Washington likewise have to grapple with unpredictable fire seasons, which have torched their most lucrative months. In Chelan, most businesses have a scant “85 days a year to make money”; they operate in the red for a good portion of the year, said Anthony Anton, president and CEO of the Washington Hospitality Association. This August, the hotel occupancy rate in Chelan County was 73.1%, compared with 78% in August 2025, Anton said. Revenue per available room in August was down 13.4% (not adjusted for inflation), compared with a year ago.
Tom Campbell, vice president and co-owner of Campbell's Resort on Lake Chelan, experienced that firsthand when the Little Giant fire burned about 40 miles from his resort, resulting in the business seeing its August occupancy rates cut in half. With empty guest rooms and clouds of smoke shrouding the skies, the resort felt like an eerie ghost town, he said.
“When these folks are canceling their reservation or looking to cancel their vacation with us, that's a week or 10 days in some cases that these folks won't be here to enjoy the lake … and support the Chelan retail economy,” Campbell said.
Campbell feels fortunate the resort has a conference center to fall back on for income, but hopes more tourists will visit Lake Chelan in the coming months. Sunny days and blue skies, he said, returned this September.
“We're optimistic that the fall will be a good fall for us, but you can never get August back,” Campbell said. “Those summer vacation days with all the families here, when the kids are out of school, you just never get those days back. … It’s unfortunate that an entire month gets erased.”
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