Mountain Named for Ira Spring

According to a story in yesterday's Seattle Times, Ira Spring now officially has a mountain named after him.

One of the co-founders of WTA, Ira was a prolific outdoor photographer, guidebook author and advocate for trails. It's fitting that the peak, which is near Mount Pugh in the Darrington area, will forever honor someone who worked so tirelessly to promote and protect trails and wild country in Washington.

His memory serves as an inspiration to all of us here at WTA, and the naming of the peak is another way to recognize the debt hikers owe him (and so many others no longer with us who fought to protect our mountains, including Louise Marshall, Greg Ball, and Harvey Manning).

Ira Spring Mountain joins the Ira Spring Trail to Mason Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness as memorials in his honor. There is currently no trail up Ira Spring Mountain, but it's reportedly a moderate scramble in summer.

Ira passed away in 2003 at the age of 84. Before he died, he set up the Spring Trust for Trails, a nonprofit  organization that funds trail building and maintenance project throughout the state. In 2008, the trust funded work on the North Fork Skokomish, Dutch Miller Gap, Icicle River, Lower Fork Skokomish, and Bogachiel Rain Forest Trails, as well as trail work in the Salmo-Priest Wilderness area. You can read more about Ira's life and work in June 2003 issue of Washington Trails.

As you hike in the Darrington area (and on many other trails in the Northwest) I hope you'll take a moment to think about Ira's legacy and how we all can answer his call to do our part so that hikers of future generations can enjoy the grand majesty our our mountains.

Photos: Ira Spring near the town of Grindelwald, Switzerland (photographer unkown). View of Ira Spring Mountain made using Google Earth.