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You've been hearing for many years about the negative effects modern living has had on the ozone layer in our atmosphere and what this means for our air quality. You may also have heard something about ground level ozone and how it is bad for us. So, I thought it might be helpful to sort out the fact...
I had an experience about a year ago with what I suspect was ozone induced congestion. We had a family get together at Big Bear in California. It is at about 5000 feet in altitude. It is also downwind (40 t0 50 miles east) of Los Angeles. The weather was warm and clear with no apparent pollution. I and several others (mostly the older folks) complained about chest congestion and some difficulty breathing. My son lives in Colorado Springs at around 6000 feet and I never have that experience when visiting him. There have been news stories about the "smog" killing the trees in the Big Bear area so I'm sure it would affect an asthmatic.
Your conclusions make a lot of sense to me! Seems unfair that you could be in the "great outdoors" and still subject to poor air quality. Of course, in the West, summer forest fires can also be a huge issue for those of us with asthma.