I think it might be time to start wearing a face mask all the time even when I'm hiking outdoors. I went to a nearby state park for a walk over lunchtime - and it was a lot busier than normal. I don't tend to put a mask on unless I see a family approaching me - but when I don't, typically there are 2 extreme reactions of people when I encounter them on a trail. They either grapple for their own mask and scramble into the undergrowth to get as far away as they can from me. Alternatively, they don't change their path - not even going to the side of the trail - and brush past me. The first is ridiculous, the second is just plain infuriating. So I've just got some breathable masks for exercising, which I'm going to start using - and I don't want the hassle of taking the mask on and off all the time, especially considering the number of people I encountered today, so I might just keep it on no matter how stupid I look. Not sure why it was as busy as it was - perhaps because I hiked a bit later than normal, perhaps because we have a lot more rain in the forecast. I also wonder whether it was some kind of day out for a local loony bin - I encountered a lot of strange people: someone who was inexplicably carrying a lot of fern that they'd hacked from the forest floor, some guy who was in way too short shorts and some crazy lady who was wondering about way off the trail chattering to herself. Very odd. What was also frustrating was that I was walking the trails in the "correct" direction - i.e. following the signage. So almost all the people I encountered were walking the "wrong" way - I guess there is no way of enforcing this (though I know of at least one popular trail where they are doing this), but it's tempting just to make the trails 1-way to avoid this kind of contact. It's sad when even the most simple form of exercise - a walk - is so compromised nowadays.
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