The Signpost Blog
Saul to Receive Conservation Award
Not too many people can say they helped to stop a highway from being built across a volcano.
Or, that they helped to name a Roadless Area.
Susan Saul, an environmental advocate from Vancouver, Washington, can put a check in each of these boxes and a few more, too.
This weekend, the Mazamas, a Portland-based climbing club, will honor WTA advisory board member Susan Saul with a Richard Ward Montague Mazama Conservation Award. Their selection of Saul for this award was based on her significant efforts to establish the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, expand two wilderness areas and create four new ones during the Washington Wilderness Act of 1984, found the Gifford Pinchot Task Force, lead the Washington Trails Association advocacy program, champion protection of the Dark Divide Roadless Area, and stop the construction of a cross-monument highway.
According to John Rettig, on the Mazamas Conservation Committee, Saul’s most recent efforts looking at the long-term plan for Mount St. Helens helped the Mazamas to “get on board with this project very quickly.”
The award is named after Dick Montague, president of the Mazamas in the early 1920s and remarkable because he had lost one lung to pneumonia in the 1880s.
Saul will receive the award during an award ceremony and banquet on November 21, 2009.
Openings on the NRTP Advisory Committee
The Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO), which administers NRTP, is seeking people with specific skills and expertise in recreation trails and planning to fill positions on the committee.
- NRTP dollars help fund WTA's Volunteer Vacation program, including trips like this one at Sawtooth Ridge. Photo courtesy of WTA.
We've been talking about the National Recreation Trails Program (NRTP) a lot lately. NRTP funds critical recreation opportunities statewide, and we're concerned about its future. The link above will help you take action to preserve the program.
There are other opportunities to get involved with NRTP brewing right now. The program could not do its job at the state level without an experienced and knowledgeable advisory committee charged with reviewing and ranking grants. The Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO), which administers NRTP, is seeking people with specific skills and expertise in recreation trails and planning to fill positions on the committee. RCO is looking for:
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One candidate with public policy or land-use planning experience related to trails and recreation,
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A representative from the mountain biking community, and
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A water-trail user.
RCO is also filling advisory committee slots for the Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the Farmland Preservation Trust, which is part of the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program. These are all worthy programs, and you should consider contacting RCO if you're interested in any of them. If you have the time and inclination, we encourage you to apply for one of the NRTP slots. I served on the NOVA Advisory Committee for many years and it was a very rewarding experience. The deadline for applications is December 4.
Of course, we also encourage you to take a moment, click on the link to our NRTP alert and make a quick call to Senator Murray. Let her know how important NRTP is to the mix of recreation funds in our state, and thank her for all her hard work to make sure that our trails and lands are healthy and well-funded.
More Foul Weather Friends
In the Nov/Dec 2009 Washington Trails Magazine, I reviewed three jackets that are designed to keep you warm and dry in most any weather. Among those are the Patagonia Ascensionist, the Outdoor Research Mithrill, and REI's Kulshan (for women) and Shuksan (for men) jacket.
Now here are two more rain jackets that will take you from the Boulder River trail to Crystal Springs Recreation Area with a stop in North Bend for a hot chocolate in between.
Cloudveil Bear Claw Jacket
$250, 16 oz., men’s/women’s
The Bear Claw is primarily designed for backcountry skiing, but that should not stop you from taking it hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing. A sleek cut won’t bunch up under your pack, welded seams in key areas keep you drier. (Welded seams eliminate the need for thread, and sewn seams tend to dry out more slowly.) The softshell is a proprietary fabric, but I can tell you that it’s kept me bone-dry through the miserable wet that is November in Seattle. The hood is quite a good shape and stays put with multiple adjustment points, and there’s a nice soft lining fabric up at the top of the zipper by your chin. Pit zips are a plus if you tend to run hot. One minor nit: where’s the MP3 player port?
Rab Drillium
$285, 13 oz., men’s/women’s
This spectacular offering from relative U.S. market newcomer Rab is the minimalist’s dream: light weight, extremely waterproof, thoughtfully designed. The rollaway hood has a nice fit, and features a wire brim that you can mold. This hardshell is constructed from Event fabric, in my mind the very best waterproof/breathable textile on the market today. High handwarmer pockets are easily accessed while wearing a pack or harness. If I had to complain about the Drillium, it would have to be about how the chest is cut on the women’sjacket. This is not a jacket made for women of any particular bustiness. It also lacks an MP3 port, but this jacket’s a little too serious for that.
- Allison Woods, WTA Gear Editor
Resolve to Hike in 2010
Eat more vegetables. Stop procrastinating. Lose weight.
These are your standard New Year's Resolutions. Bo-o-o-ring! When do you ever meet them anyway? Inevitably, you've slipped up by January 10 and completely forgotten it by February. Resolution research conducted by Quirkology found that only 12% of the 3,000 participants in their study actually achieved their goals.
May I humbly suggest making a new sort of resolution? One that you might actually want to fulfill?
Make a hiking resolution for 2010. As the folks conducting the resolution study suggest, "Don’t run with the crowd and go with the usual resolutions. Instead think about what you really want out of life."
Your resolution could be about places you want to go, people you want to go with, or the number of miles you want to cover. Here are a few sample resolution from WTA staff members:
Susan Elderkin, Web Content Manager: "In 2010, I will take my children into the wilderness once a month."
Ryan Ojerio, SW Washington Regional Cordinator: "This year, I really will climb Mt. Adams."
Spend an hour dreaming about Washington's mountains, the forests, and the coast. Then, tell me what your goal is! Leave it as a comment to this post. Or, send an email to editor@wta.org with "resolution" in the subject line. Take up to 200 words to tells us about your hiking goal and how you will achieve it. We'll run as many resolutions as we can fit in the next issue of Washington Trails.
Need incentive to share your resolution? Quirkology's study found that women were 10% more likely to reach their goal if they shared it with someone else. Telling Washington's hiking community should count.
DNR Charts New Management Direction for Reiter Foothills
The Reiter Forest, a patch of State land managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) that borders both the Wild Sky Wilderness and Wallace Falls State Park, has been for many years a lost landscape. Reiter has been unmanaged, and in the absence of planning and on-the-ground agency presence, renegade motorized use has taken hold.
As a consequence, it’s laced with a network of roads, damaged trails, and cross-country routes pioneered by so-called “tube buggies”—large, independent suspension jeeps that can ride nearly anywhere. On a recent trip to Reiter, I saw a second-growth forest that has the potential to be a lovely hiking destination. But bootleg routes have torn deep gouges in the forest floor, jeeps have damaged the trunks of trees while squeezing between them, and silt has run into streams, degrading fish habitat.
The eastern end of the Reiter Forest adjoins Forks of the Sky State Park and the top of the Index Town Wall, with sweeping views of the Wild Sky peaks, the Skykomish River valley and Mt. Index. In his Footsore guidebooks, Harvey Manning described the scenic “Vertigo Rim” hiking trail that winds along the top of the Town Wall.
Over the past two years, DNR has stepped up to the task of planning for recreation in the Reiter Forest. The process has had its peaks and valleys. The original Advisory Committee chosen to examine the planning process was heavily weighted toward the motorized community. After an outcry by non-motorized and conservation oriented people, the makeup of the Advisory Committee changed and was balanced by representatives from the conservation community and hiking enthusiasts.
On November 10, DNR released its draft Reiter Foothills Forest Recreation Plan. DNR is to be commended for taking a principled stand on behalf of the wildlife and non-motorized recreationists who value this area so highly. They propose shrinking the motorized-access footprint of Reiter from 4,000 acres to about 1,000 acres. The proposed motorized area runs through an aquifer recharge zone that supplies water to the town of Index. DNR proposes to minimize motorized trail development in the recharge area. Most importantly — provided that the agency can procure funding — DNR will restore heavily damaged areas both inside and outside the motorized use are, and will close user-built routes.
But one crucial detail needs to be completed. The area between Wild Sky Wilderness, May Creek and Wallace Falls has been proposed for addition to DNR’s Natural Resource Conservation Area (NRCA) inventory, as the Wild Wallace NRCA. This area is a critical recreation resource that should be protected. Adding it to the NRCA system would prevent DNR from logging it, or opening the area administratively to motorized recreation in the future. Please ask DNR to study the merits of the proposed Wild Wallace NRCA.
DNR is collecting public comment on the draft Reiter plan
until December 4. You can comment at the
above web link, or get your voice heard by attending a public
meeting on November 18 from 6:30
to 8 p.m. at The Commons at Monroe High
School—17001 Tester Road, Monroe.
Volunteer Appreciation re-cap
Nearly 200 WTA volunteers filled Seattle REI’s upstairs meeting room on Friday evening for a look back at their great accomplishments in 2009.
As a prelude to the program, volunteers enjoyed some light food and mingled with fellow volunteers as a slide show of pictures from trips in 2009 flashed across the big screen (compiled by volunteers Dick Axon and Greg Friend).
- WTA staff scoop ice cream
Twenty minutes before the program commenced, WTA staffers announced it was time for ice cream and proceeded to dish out nearly 200 scoops of locally made gourmet ice cream donated by Seattle’s Molly Moon’s.
Once the program portion of the evening began, so did the calisthenics: volunteers were asked to stand/sit in response to a series of questions designed to highlight the number of times they joined a work party in 2009 or where they volunteered across the state. Impressive it was! Land managers from the various agencies who oversee the trails we hike and maintain offered thanks and praise for the quality and quantity of work that volunteers contributed to trails in 2009. Many deserving volunteers walked away with a great donated raffle prize or door prize.
The highlight of the night was recognizing the volunteers who were inducted into one of WTA's Trail Maintenance Hall-of-Fame categories:
Crosscut Saw Club
Recognition of 500 or more volunteer days! WTA has the pleasure of having exceptionally dedicated volunteers. These volunteers have contributed 500 + days to trail maintenance across the state since they began volunteering with WTA!
Pete Dewell, Jim Knoke, Mike Owens, Bill Sunderland
Full Bench Club
Recognition of 250 or more volunteer days! A full bench is constructed by cutting the full width of the tread into the hillside. Full-bench construction requires more effort and time but will be more durable and require less maintenance over time.
Rose Alfred, Richard Axon, Bob Bliesner, Jim Boyce, Chad Creamer, Chris Bell.Pete Dewell, Laurie Hill, Joe Hofbeck, Jim Knoke, Janice O'Connor, Mike Owens, Steve Sallee, Bud Silliman, Jim Springberg, Gary Stock, Bill Sunderland, Ted Wendel, Gary Zink
Trail Crew Saw
These people were awarded a personalized hand saw for reaching 50 or more volunteer days!
Jane Baker, Shane Ballweg, Walter Dawson, Kara Chin, Rod Farlee, Dave Harrington, Sandra Hays, John Hultquist, David Kessler, Richard Mellon, Carol Miltimore, James Miltimore, Charles Minor, Richey Morgan, Robert Plaag, Bret Richmond, Sonya Rodgers, Jay Setzer
Trail Crew Vests
These people were awarded a WTA logo vest for reaching 25 or more volunteer days!
Tad Anderson, Denise Beardslee, Karen Behm, Clifford Clark, John Clark, Sally Davies, Jim Davis, Paul Dini, Barbara Eller, Philippe Enos, Cheli Evans, Geoff Filion, Tomoe Humphres, Carol Johnson, Gregory Kamer, Michaelene Kedzierski, Ted Klump, Patrick J. Koepsell, Steven Leifheit, Tom Mayernik, Max Miner, Ken Mondal, Mizuho Naka, Jonathan Papageorge, Bret Richmond, Alan Rither, Ed Rozmyn, Mia J Rozmyn, Virginia Sarver, Rik Scairpon, Paul Scheiner, Jim Scrafford, Jay Setzer, Daniel Weinstein
Thanks again to WTA's Funding Partners, Boeing and REI, for supporting WTA volunteers!
Forest Service proposes changes to Cape Horn Trail
The Cape Horn Trail is a 7 mile loop hike that features some of the best views in the Columbia River Gorge. Much of the route is a single track path built illegally by local hiking enthusiasts. Despite its status as a bootleg trail, it has rapidly gained popularity among hikers drawn to its rugged character, multiple scenic viewpoints and the fact that it passes beneath a beautiful waterfall.
- Cape Horn. Photo by Ryan Ojerio.
Recognizing the need to address demand for recreation and conserve the area’s natural resources, the Forest Service has embarked on a planning process to assess the environmental impacts of formalizing the trail and adding additional facilities, including parking, picnic sites, viewpoints, an ADA accessible segment, and two highway underpasses to allow safer access to the lower trail section.
The environmental assessment released earlier this month would not adopt the bootleg route, but rather re-route sections that would move the trail away from some of the cliff edge and out from behind the waterfall, and would close part of the trail for half the year. These changes are intended to increase hiker safety and minimize disturbance to sensitive flora and fauna.
The most controversial issue is the debate over the potential impacts to nesting Peregrine falcons. Advocates for the trail claim the once threatened species are making a comeback and that they are becoming accustomed to the presence of hikers below their nesting site. Although there are some falcon experts who share that view, others including the Forest Service’s own biologist and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, fear that an increase in hiking traffic could cause the abandonment of the site.
At Beacon Rock and other locations with natural nesting
sites, recreational activities are restricted during the nesting season
typically from January through June.
WTA will co-host an informational meeting with Friends of
the Gorge to discuss the Cape Horn Plan. Details:
November 17th at 6:00 pm
Around the Table restaurant
16 NE Dallas St.
Camas, WA
If you'd like to weigh in on the issue, public comments are due November 30th and can be sent via email to: comments-pacificnorthwest-columbia-river-gorge-nsa@fs.fed.us.
Offbeat photos
We have all seen funny or interesting things while we are hiking. Sometimes these unique discoveries make a regular hike into one you won’t soon forget.
I remember one particular hike with my sister - the Miners Ridge Trail in the California Redwoods. We found a series of little toy trolls placed along the trail and this offbeat find became the highlight of that day. The first troll caught our eyes as he peered out the window of a service shed near the trailhead. About a quarter mile down trail, we glimpsed a second troll mooning us from a tree hollow. We began to search for more plastic trolls as we hiked along. Sure enough, we found another tuft of blue hair peering out from a fern just off the trail. We never did figure out why there was a trio of trolls on trail that day, but it is a hike we will never forget.
Sadly, my sister and I didn't have a camera with us that day, but many hikers have captured their offbeat hiking moments on film and submitted them to WTA’s Northwest Exposure photo contest.
We have narrowed it down to some of our favorites and hope you will help us choose the winners. Check out the top 10 Offbeat photos here and then vote for your favorite by marking the photo as one of your favorites (top left corner of the picture). Please note you must be signed in on Flickr to vote. The photo with the most votes by 5pm on November 19 will be the winner.
Fee Free Day & Road News
Fee-Free Day Nov. 11
It's a mid-week day in November, but if you're game, next Wednesday is a great day to head out to the woods to check the new-fallen snow.
The Forest Service and Park Service are celebrating our veterans and Veteran's Day by waiving all day use fees at parks and forests November 11th.
So leave your Northwest Forest Pass at home or gain free entry to Mount Rainier National Park, Olympic National Park or Mount St. Helen's.
Pass Closures
Three feet of snow have fallen on Chinook Pass since Friday, prompting the winter closure of the pass over SR 410 as well as Cayuse Pass on SR 123. The North Cascades Highway (SR 20) is currently temporarily closed, and with more winter weather in the forecast, it too could be closed for the season soon. All three passes typically close during the winter and reopen in the spring.
Cascade River Road Repaired
In other news to file away until the spring, the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest has completed repairs on the Cascade River Road. After two years of restricted access, the Hard Creek Bridge is finished and open for traffic. This is the road that provides access to the Mineral Park Campground and the popular Cascade Pass trailhead.
An avalanche in December 2007 damaged the bridge, and it has been closed or subject to weight limitations ever since.
Don't Get Hypothermia
Ironically, the closest I've come to getting hypothermia was during a Wilderness First Aid course.
I was playing the "victim" in a simulated accident scenario, lying still on the cold, damp ground in a pile of wet salal in the Issaquah Alps. It was a cold day in late fall and a steady drizzle fell as I awaited my rescuers. Perfect conditions for hypothermia, I thought, reflecting on the lessons we had been taught earlier that day.
When my rescuers found me, the food coloring that was supposed to indicate my wounds was running down my face in red rivulets and my teeth were chattering. Our instructors wanted the situation to feel "realistic" for the rescuers. I thought it was a little too realistic for the victim.
Hypothermia is a medical condition in which the victim's core body temperature drops to significantly below normal. Normal metabolism begins to be impaired when the core temperature drops below 95 degrees Fahrenheit. If body temperature falls into the 80s, the condition becomes critical and can even be fatal.
A bout of hypothermia will most certainly ruin any trip outdoors, but it's easy enough to avoid. As Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician Tom Milne writes in our recent issue of Washington Trails, "prevention is your first line of defense against hypothermia."
The avoid hypothermia, you need to pay attention to your body. Eat frequent snacks and stay hydrated. Wear a hat (remember that you lose most of your heat through your head) and layer your clothes so that you can adjust them as needed. Don't wear cotton or other fabrics that don't dry quickly. Instead, choose "wicking" layers.
You also need to remember to rest, but, instead of taking a lengthy nap like you might in summer, you should take frequent short breaks so your body doesn't cool down dramatically.
Winter is full of great recreation opportunities. Stay warm, stay dry and have fun out there!
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