I was crazy far younger than 56. What's the point? :)

I live at 3800 feet, but do most of my hiking above 7000. I try to hike to 10,000 feet at least once a year, but that's just a silly goal. I don't think elevation was as responsible for your relief as much as humidity, although my personal experience is that pressure changes (like a cold front moving in) has had more effect than temperature or humidity on their own. Both those are often factors with pressure changes, so who knows?

Good for you for hiking at high altitude If your home is at 4500 ft., you likely were able to adjust to the elevation change more easily than most.. My favorite hikes are at elevations between 6500 ft and 9000 ft. Anymore, 10,000 ft. means more miles than my feet want to deal with, but god willing, a good winter will mean snow and lots of snow shoe hikes, which make some of the higher hikes easier, if it's cold enough and the snow is consolidated.

I'm recovering from knee replacement surgery, but I expect to start getting some practice hikes soon, and I'm hoping for a robust winter.

Good luck.

Well, you could test this theory by buying a dehumidifier from Walmart or Walmart.com and run it in your house. See what happens. I'm sure other places sell them too... amazon, etc.

It would be an interesting experiment, just keep in mind your skin, lips, nose and eyes would be drier. Does this mean viruses are more likely to get in? I think I read dry air helps them spread, but don't quote me on that.

U got that right... linzsey... I am pretty crazy... LOL...
I think I'm looking for ANY excuse to get to move to the mountains. LOL.

Weather, humidity, don’t bother me. I lived in Vancouver when I first got RA, and in the winter, the humidity is around 100% and it rains for months. Then I moved to the Canadian prairies, which is very dry. I will admit I liked the dry better for my lungs, but it made no difference to my flares.

The only thing that makes a difference to me is being on good meds. However, if it helps, maybe it is something you want the think about-moving, that is!

I've just returned from a week in northern Ontario, where the humidity level is markedly lower than it is here in south central PA. I definitely had less pain there. Of course there were other factors that could have contributed. But it's a consistent, noticeable difference every year when I go there.

I am moving from MN to CO in about 2 weeks. I find that when I am in CO, I have nearly no symptoms - even under stressful conditions like job interviews - and I feel like my RA is much better controlled there. I am certain it is a combination of humidity (this Summer was absolutely brutal in MN) and the elevation that help. I cannot stand changes in humidity levels, or changes in pressure, as those almost always cause me to flare. I also almost always flare when I come back to MN from CO. So...the choice was easy. Move to CO and things should go better. Not looking back...

I've been watching the weather, barometric & humidity levels the past week. I've noticed some sensitivity lately & checked my flare up log I keep & I noticed the last one I had was almost exactly this time last year. Luckily I also jotted down what the weather was like & sure enough it was right before our first rainfall. I guess it could still all be a coincidence. But also weather related flare ups for me tend to affect the larger joints which are hardly ever noticeable during the year except for now. Smaller joints like fingers & toes, are completely normal, no pain, no swelling no redness. So activity in those joints appear very low.

I live about 72 miles inland from the Gulf Coast in SE AL. As they say on the weather channel, "Air you can wear". I may just be used to the humidity but it doesn't seem to bother me much but quick changes in the barometric pressure is a whole different ballgame.