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The Signpost Blog
Thank You, Volunteers!
WTA will likely break 80,000 volunteer trail work hours again this year, which is a fantastic accomplishment!
To all who lent a hand swinging Pulaskis, trimming brush, and moving stones, thank you.
I was recently at the Seattle Volunteer Appreciation event at REI, and it was so inspiring and fun to see that room jam-packed with happy volunteers. They were treated to food, raffle prizes, and some humor from our local WTA comedian (and crew leader) Mike Owens. More than a few land managers from the Forest Service, National Park Service, Washington State Parks, and King County all expressed their gratitude for a job well done.
Our volunteers do outstanding work. Thanks!
The Seattle event is just the first of three Volunteer Appreciation events. We'll also be thanking all who volunteered on the Olympic Peninsula and in Southwest Washington....please join us!
Join us in Vancouver at 5 p.m. Sat. Nov. 22 at the Marshall Community Center. Find more info and RSVP here.
Or join us in Quilcene at 1 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Quilcene Community Center. More info and RSVP here.
Hope to see you out working on our trails again in 2009!
Climate, Flooding and Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier National Park is still closed at the Nisqually and Carbon River entrances and will be closed until at least Friday Nov. 21. Flooding due to rains and warm temperatures last week has damaged the Nisqually and Carbon River Roads. Park officials are working to repair the Nisqually Road, which was under at least 8 inches of water from swollen Kautz Creek. The Pierce County road into the Carbon River entrance is closed 2 miles outside the park boundary. Highway 410 inside the park remains open. You can find up-to-date road status information at this web page.
While the damage is likely nowhere near what hit the park in in 2006, it does remind us that flooding events continue to frequently wash down the valleys of the Cascades. While there's some debate over whether the recent storms can be attributed to climate change, there's no denying that in the past five years we've had some serious weather events in our mountains.
For more on how weather is shaping our national parks check out two short films on the video podcast web site Terra. Titled Cascading Effects," this two-part documentary explores how climate and weather have an impact on national parks in the Pacific Northwest. You can find part one here and part two here. The film touches on storms at Mount Rainier (including some amazing footage of a Kautz Creek debris flow during the 2006 flood) as well as issues of receding glaciers and decreasing snow pack in North Cascades National Park. It's worth a watch.
Meanwhile, the News Tribune reports that alpine meadows in Mount Rainier National Park are disappearing. Scientists have found that, since 1930, new forests have been encroaching on the spectacular wildflower meadows (which make up about 23 percent of the park's land area). The culprits? Climate change, decreasing snow pack, and lack of wildfires all play a role.
Get Ready for Snow!
It's time to start thinking about winter recreation! Whether you like to cross-country ski, snowshoe, sled, or hike in winter, it's time to plan for mountain snow. There's not a heck of a lot of snow up there yet--the recent storms that blew across Western Washington included warming temperatures, so a lot of rain dumped on the mountains.
Reportedly, there's a couple of feet of snow at Paradise in Mount Rainier National Park, but since flooding on the Nisqually Road is still keeping the park closed, that's not an option at this point.
Want to start getting ready for winter rec? Here are some ideas.
- Sno-Park permits go on sale this weekend. A one-day permit is $10, while a season pass is a bargain at $30. A groomed trail add-on costs an additional $30. You can purchase passes online starting Nov. 15 or buy one from one of 125 retail locations. Read some tips on getting the most out of your Sno-Park permit in this article in Washington Trails magazine. The Kitsap Sun also has some good suggestions.
- Help support the Mount Tahoma Trails Association by attending a fundraiser at the Seattle REI store
this Saturday Nov. 15 from 2-6 p.m. One of the MTTA's winter huts burned down
this year, and MTTA needs your
help to rebuild.
- Start keeping an eye on snow levels at the Snotel site. Check weather forecasts. Bookmark the Northwest Avalanche Center website for up-to-date avalanche forecasts. And keep an eye on mountain pass conditions at the Washington State Department of Transportation website.
- Assemble a winter car safety kit, and make sure your chains are in working order.
- Shop for snowshoes. REI has some tips here.
- Familiarize yourself with winter safety tips before you head out.
Mount Rainier Closed by Flooding
According to KING-5 News and the News Tribune, Mount Rainier National Park has closed at the Nisqually entrance due to flooding of Kautz Creek. Park officials report that flows over the Nisqually Road are more than 6 inches, making travel unsafe.
More rain is expected across the Cascades and Olympics today, and a flood warning is in effect for most of Western Washington.
High waters along the Skykomish River caused evacuations of homes near Sultan and Gold Bar. Flooding on the Puyallup and Carbon Rivers resulted in evacuations there as well, and the Carbon River entrance to Mount Rainier National Park is also closed and evacuations in that region are underway. The Tolt and Snoqualmie Rivers are also at flood stage.
Obviously, you should restrict travel and avoid trying to get to mountain hikes today. Try an urban walk or a place like Ebey's Landing if you need get out for a hike today. (FYI, Ebey's Landing is celebrating its 30th anniversary this week).
White Chuck Bridge Repaired
An important forest road bridge that provides access to the Glacier Peak region was fixed last week.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: This post was rewritten substantially because I incorrectly reported that the bridge is part of FR 23, the White Chuck River Road. Instead, the bridge crosses the Sauk River and leads to the White Chuck Bench Trail.]
At a damp ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new White Chuck Bridge, a small crowd and officials from the Forest Service, the city of Darrington, and Rep. Rick Larsen's office celebrated the completion of the new bridge. The completed bridge, which washed out in 2003, provides access to the White Chuck Bench Trail.
WTA member Kim Brown wrote about the spectacular trails in this corner of the Cascades (and her difficulties getting there) in the June 2008 issue of Washington Trails.
The bridge is one of many repairs planned in the White Chuck River area, including repairs to the White Chuck River Road (FR 23) to its intersection with FR 27. The Forest Service plans to convert the remaining 5 miles of FR 23 to trail. You can read more about the White Chuck project here.
According a Forest Service press release, district ranger Peter Forbes was surprised by the turnout at the event in spite of the miserable weather. “It shows how much people appreciate the national forest," he said. "They want to come out and enjoy all of this beauty, and now it is accessible for all.”
Help Us Build Trails in the Gorge
The Columbia Gorge is a great place to hike in the off-season. Trails are at lower elevations, and the scenery is fantastic. You can read Sean Patrick Hill's great article in this month's Washington Trails magazine about fantastic year-round-hikes on either side of the Gorge.
One of the highlights of the Gorge is Beacon Rock State Park. Not only does it offer a chance to climb up one of the largest monolithic rocks in the world, but the park itself is filled with a great network of hiking trails with superb views.
WTA will be doing important trail work at Beacon Rock this weekend. If you've been meaning to do some trail work and want to explore the Gorge at the same time, why not join us? This coming weekend WTA offers trail work trips on both Saturday and Sunday Nov. 15-16. You can pick either day, or do a two-day trip and camp the night at the park and and join us for a potluck BBQ dinner! Or why not make it a trail work and B&B getaway and stay at the Inn of the White Salmon, or any number of other places along the Gorge? We'll also be working here the weekend of Dec. 13-14.
WTA volunteers will be building new connector trails within the state park. It's always exciting and challenging to build new trail, so please come out and join us! No experience is required, and it should be a fun project. To sign up and find more info, click here.
NOVA Dollars fund Cle Elum District, Snoqualmie Trail Maintenance
Each fall, I get the opportunity to sit in a darkened room with other trail and non-trail recreationists, land managers and agency staff to watch dozens of PowerPoint presentations on important recreation projects. The NOVA Advisory Committee, which funds a huge variety of trails, trailheads, campgrounds and other facilities, listens intently to those who survive the preliminary application process, then scores grants accordingly. This year, the non-motorized category of the NOVA Program had just shy of $500,000 to allocate to more than $1.7 million in grant requests. When the need outstrips the available cash so dramatically, it means we have to make very difficult calls. Still, the results of our reviews this year benefited several very important proposals.
We funded desperately needed trail maintenance work in the Department of Natural Resource's (DNR) Snoqualmie District, which is visited by hundreds of thousands of hikers annually. Receiving $100,000--matched by $102,000 in DNR funds--this projects will repair trail tread, clear blowdowns and rebuild drainage at Mount Si, Rattlesnake Lake and Tiger Mountain, among other recreation areas in the Snoqualmie District.
The Cle Elum District was awarded $35,000 to work on non-wilderness, non-motorized trails. Those dollars will be spent repairing signage, fixing trails that are beginning to slough and dealing with the constant encroachment of the District's famous brush. The District also received $30,000 to maintain trails in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness such as Waptus River, Pete Lake, Rachel Lake, Deception Pass, and Pacific Crest.
While I'm always a little pained to spend what are invariably the last few beautiful days of the year poring over grant requests and watching PowerPoints, I'm always very pleased by the quality of the applications. The NOVA Program is critically important to recreation in Washington State, and the requesting agencies deserve every second of the time that Advisory Committee Members spend with their proposals. Since the reforms that the committee collaborated on in 2003 and 2004, the program has worked particularly well, and our committee has become even more tightly knit. Next year, we'll be reviewing grants requesting 70% of available NOVA dollars--rather than the 50% per biennium that has been typical--in an effort to keep less money on the table on a yearly cycle. We'll keep you updated on how that new process works.
What Will Obama Do For Public Lands?
Well, it's been a long and historic political campaign, and now that it's over, we'll all begin sorting out what it means for the future.
In terms of trails and wilderness, it's too early to speculate exactly what an Obama administration will mean for public lands. I've posted previously on the buzz about who might be the next Secretary of the Interior to succeed Dirk Kempthorne.
The Obama campaign did release a document on forest policy, which included support for ending the practice of borrowing from Forest Service budgets to pay for fire suppression efforts. You can read the campaign's fact sheet on wildfire management here. If they can follow through, that's good news for recreation budgets, which have been hammered by ballooning firefighting costs.
In addition, the FLAME Act, which would create a new, dedicated fund for fighting fires (outside of standard Forest Service budget) will probably keep its momentum next year, witha Democratic Congress and administration. The act, which was sponsored in part by Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA), would create a new funding source for dealing with catastrophic fires.
In other news, the race for Washington state public lands commissioner is still up in the air, with Peter Goldmark narrowly leading incumbent Doug Sutherland. The state's public lands commissioner manages the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which includes many places familiar to hikers, including Mount Si, Greider Lakes, and Gothic Basin. Hikers should keep a close eye on this race.
Raise a Glass to Trails
Hiking can be a great social activity--getting together with friends, spending hours walking and talking along the trails, getting to know folks. Now that the high country hiking season is winding down, that's no excuse not to meet with your fellow hikers. A great way to meet your fellow hikers is WTA's "Trails And Ales" gatherings. These informal get-togethers are a great way to socialize with other hikers, get to know WTA staff, and talk about the projects and issues WTA will be working on in the coming year.
If you live in the North Puget Sound area, plan to stop in on Wednesday Nov. 12 at the Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen in Bellingham and meet some of the gang on WTA staff, including Kindra, Krista, Tim, Arlen, and Kara. Find more info here. We'll provide the appetizers, and you'll treat yourself to a beverage... To RSVP, contact Kindra Ramos at (206) 965-8563 or by e-mail.
A "Twilight" Hike for Halloween
Happy Halloween!
Nothing like a dreary, late October hike in the rain forest to instill a spirit of creepy-crawliness. And, it turns out, that deep dark rainforest is suddenly becoming the thing for the gothic, dressed-all-in-black teenage demographic.
Simply put, Forks, Washington is becoming the epicenter of Halloween. How is this possible? One word: Twilight.
For those of you who don't know any 12-year-old girls, the Twilight series of young-adult vampire novels is a huge hit, and the first Twilight movie opens Nov. 21. The books regularly top bestseller lists. The atmospheric novels features a mortal teenager named Bella, who is in love with Edward, a handsome vampire. Bella is also friends with Jacob, a Native American werewolf who lives in La Push.You can read more on the author's website here.
Twilight is a big deal, and as a result, the town of Forks has seen its tourism numbers jumping off the charts. This past September was the first official Stephenie Meyer day (honoring the series' author) and several hundred fans descended on the town for tours, a Quileute Native American wolf dance, and plenty of blood-red punch. "Twilighters" have been making the pilgrimage to Forks in the thousands. More here.
So, how better to celebrate Halloween than going on a spooky hike along the Hoh River Trail not far from Forks? WTA's outreach coordinator, Kindra Ramos, who has read all four books, reports that the characters in Twilight do go for hikes in the deep forest, and the Hoh River Trail could be the perfect "Twilight" hike.
And, on top of that, the book Haunted Hikes reports that the Hoh River Trail is also an excellent place for Sasquatch spotting. Who knew? The book's author, Andrea Lankford, reports that bigfoot sightings in the Hoh and Soleduck Valley peaked in about 2000 or 2001, after a flurry of sightings caused the AP to headline one story "A Sasquatch Alert in the Hoh Rainforest."
Vampires and Sasquatch? Hike the Hoh River--if you dare!
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