ADVENTURES NW >>> SPRING 2018
SPRINGTIME ON THE SALISH SEA PLANET ORCAS FOXES OF SAN JUAN
GLACIER BAY WINGS OVER WATER GREAT HIKES FOR SPRING
NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK AT 50
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CREATING A NATIONAL PARK NOCA’S 10 GREATEST HIKES
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CONTRIBUTORS
Volume 13. Issue 1
Anita K. Boyle is a poet, artist, and lifelong resident of Northwest Washington. She is a member of the Northwest Designer Craftsmen, and had a literary residency in August 2018 at Playa in Summer Lake, Oregon. Her art is made at Egress Studio, which is on the Whatcom Studio Tour. Long ago, Kathy and Craig Copeland rearranged their lives to make hiking the white-hot molten core of their shared identity. They built their livelihood on a unique ability to express the wonder, joy, and exhilaration they feel in wild places. They’re now Canada’s most prolific hiking-and-camping guidebook authors. Visit hikingcamping.com to see their titles and peruse their blog. Shannon Finch is a writer and aspiring photographer. She especially enjoys photographing birds, wildlife and landscapes. She lives with her husband on a small farm in Stanwood, WA, with many rescue animals. Kenneth Kearney is a nature and concert photographer who lives in Bellingham, WA. He has traveled extensively, pursuing rare and unique shots that foster wildlife conservation. You can see more of his work at Whatcom Art Market in Fairhaven or at kennethkearney.com. Sarah Laing is a nutritionist, author and creator of the blog, Planetary Cuisine, which explores the connection between cultural food and health and is the topic of her upcoming second book. Canadian-born, she and her husband now live in Bellingham, WA and own S&J Natural Products which offers CBD-infused products for healthy lifestyles.
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Kenni Merritt is an attorney who became a serious photography student when she and her husband, Tom Barrett, moved to their adopted hometown of Bellingham, WA in 2000. With her camera and tripod always at the ready, they can be found running, hiking, snowshoeing and kayaking in the glorious Pacific Northwest. Lawrence Millman wears many hats. He is a mycologist, an Arctic explorer, a travel writer, an ethnographer, and a bona fide neo-Luddite. His 16 books include such titles as Last Places, A Kayak Full of Ghosts, Our Like Will Not Be There Again, Fascinating Fungi of New England, and—most recently—At the End of the World. He lives in Cambridge, MA, but is thinking of emigrating to Orcas Island. Craig Romano is an award winning guidebook author. He has written and co-written 20 books; and has hiked more than 20,000 miles in Washington. His Day Hiking North Cascades (Mountaineers Books) is the to-go book for hiking the region. It has detailed information for 125 hikes. Visit him at CraigRomano.com. Ted Rosen is a member of the Bellingham Greenways Advisory Committee and has been a champion of land conservation since his youth in the industrial wastelands of northern New Jersey. He enjoys writing, day hikes, photography, guitar, and the occasional pale ale. Lorraine Wilde has been a freelance writer since 1998, having published more than 200 pieces in blogs, magazines and books. Over the last 25 years she’s also been a teacher, actor, filmmaker, environmental scientist, mother and owner of the publicity business, Wilde World Communications. Learn more at wildeworldcomm.com.
A Look Ahead:
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Our Summer Issue Wild and Scenic Nooksack North Cascades National Park Summer Adventures in British Columbia
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SPRING | 2018
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INSPIRATIONS
IN THIS ISSUE
The Foxes of San Juan Island
Lorraine Wilde & Kenneth Kearney
Welcome to Planet Orcas Lawrence Millman An Enduring Promise:
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North Cascades National Park at 50
Ted Rosen
20
Olympic Coast Magic
Kenni Merritt
26
The Best Hikes in North Cascades National Park
Craig Romano
28
Dreaming in Glacier Bay John D’Onofrio
36
Glacier Bay: The Big Picture
40
Shannon Finch
Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment. -Ellis Peters
Lessons Learned? Out & About Letters to the Editor 3 Great Hikes ... for Spring eARTh: The Art of Nature Outside In Vital Signs Field Trip: Paria Canyon Bright Lines Cascadia Gear Race | Play | Experience Calendar Next Adventure
6 8 8 9 14 39 40 43 44 44 45 50
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COVER PHOTO by Lance Ekhart
Photo by Kenneth Kearney
DESTINATIONS
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LESSONS LEARNED?
I
t’s a strange mixture of celebration and trepidation.
2018 marks the 50th anniversary of North Cascades National Park (NCNP), certainly a cause for celebration. This magnificent wilderness is a miracle: its creation story is a tale of intrigue, skullduggery and perseverance. It is truly a promise kept, a place where solitude and grandeur are yours for the asking. We’ll be celebrating this amazing national icon in all four issues of Adventures NW this year. In turbulent times such as those we find ourselves in now, the North Cascades represent a success story—a mostly-harmonious blending of the mandates for preservation and recreation. This balance, never easily achieved, is the essence of our National Park system. But in contrast to this story of determined activism and enlightened compromise that NCNP represents is the recently proposed entrance fee increase at 17 of our country’s most popular national parks. The current administration has proposed hiking these fees to $70, more than twice the current fee, a move it has asserted is “necessary” to address immense budgetary shortfalls. The National Park system finds itself in a deep hole with more than $11 billion needed to simply maintain existing facilities. With an annual budget of only $3 billion (less than one tenth of one percent of the federal budget), the National Park Service is being starved. But it seems clear that the result of such a massive increase in user fees will be to diminish Americans’ opportunities to enjoy their iconic places. Former Director of the National Park Service (and former NCNP superintendent) Jon Jarvis has described this effort as “incredibly stupid.”
Volume 13. Issue 1
The Interior Department estimates that the increased fees could result in an additional $70 million in revenue, a drop in the bucket of the $11 billion shortfall. I’m not sure that “stupid” is the right word. It is not hard to imagine that this proposed fee increase is part of an over-arching strategy to disconnect us from our public lands. This connection is a threat to the forces that seek to privatize our public lands and thus, represents an obstacle to a barely-concealed agenda of exploitation. A public that loves its parklands will fight to keep them. Last year the Department of the Interior launched a full-on attack on our public lands— starting in Utah—by reducing the Bears Ears National Monument from 1.4 million acres to 220,000 acres (a reduction of 85 percent!) and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from 1.9 million acres to about 1 million acres. The administration is currently seeking to lease these pristine lands to extraction companies seeking oil, natural gas and uranium. And so it is that we celebrate the 50th anniversary of North Cascades Park with a mixture of gratitude and outrage. The complicated creation story of NCNP (see An Enduring Promise in this issue) should serve as a reminder of the power that the millions of people who treasure our natural resources can wield when organized, energized and determined.
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Out&About
Wings Over Water: Blaine, Birch Bay are for the Birds Celebrating its 16th year, the Wings Over Water Birding Festival returns to Blaine, Birch Bay and Semiahmoo March 16-18. Over the years the festival has grown from a small gathering of local bird aficionados into a major birding event that attracts avid birdwatchers from across the United States. It is the staggering variety of migratory birds that defines the area as a birder’s paradise, what noted writerphotographer Joe Meche describes as “a rich tapestry” of bird life, including a wide variety of waterfowl such as Pacific black brant and three species of loons. As many as 650 loons have been counted here in a single day. Also found in great numbers are Dunlin, Great Blue Herons, Red-breasted
Mergansers, Bufflehead, Mallards, Ducks, Grebes—all doing their best to escape the attention of resident Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons. Over the years, Wings Over Water has established itself as one of the premier birding events in the Pacific Northwest, thanks to the variety— both in terms of bird species and the dazzling array of experiences available to attendees. Activities range from guided field trips; cruises on the Salish Sea and M/V Plover; a birding expo; art shows (this year’s featured artist is Annie Moorehead); live raptor presentations; a photography workshop; kids activities and more. Saturday night features a presentation by keynote speaker Dr. Robert DeCandido,
Photo by Lance Ekhart
somewhat of a birding superstar. Known as “Birding Bob”, DeCandido is famous for the bird walks that he has led in New York’s Central Park since 1992. Whether you are a life-long birder, a curious newcomer to the world of feathers and flight, or are just looking for a unique way to enjoy a special corner of the Pacific Northwest on a spring weekend, Wings Over Water might be just the uplifting experience you need after a long Cascadian winter.
Letters to the Editor Share your thoughts!
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DEEP CONNECTIONS
Your deep connection with the wilderness, love of nature, and poetic soul expression through beautiful words cause me to look forward to each publication. Your writings take me clearly to places I’ll most likely see only in visions. And... stir something deep in ancient memory. Thank you for sharing so much peace, grandeur and light. L.S. Bellingham, WA.
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New Rules for Ski to Sea
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This year, when May 27 rolls around, tradition will be the order of the day as the community celebrates one of our most iconic events—the epic relay race known as Ski to Sea. Since its debut way back in 1973, Ski to Sea has consisted of seven legs: cross country skiing, downhill skiing/snowboarding, running, road biking, canoeing, cyclocross biking, and sea kayaking. Each team consisted of eight racers, one for each leg (two for the canoe leg). But for 2018, the tradition has been tweaked. New this year,
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Heliotrope Hotel to Partner with Baker Mountain Guides When the Heliotrope Hotel opened last May, the contemporary Pacific Northwest-style lodging was something new for Bellingham: an overnight accommodation that celebrated Cascadia’s great outdoors. It has quickly established itself as a favorite of visiting cyclists, hikers, and other recreationalists. Guests enjoy free secure indoor bike storage, a bike wash station and boot driers and have the option to gather around both indoor and outdoor fires in the evening to swap adventure tales. The hotel’s office (the “Hub”) sells local hiking guides and recreation maps as well as an assortment of books on local flora, fauna and history. The staff also prides itself on helping out-of-town visitors discover local favorites when it comes to restaurants, brew pubs, bike shops, etc. The Heliotrope’s owners are connected to the Photo courtesy of Heliotrope Hotel community that they serve and have partnered with local recreation-based companies to offer discounts for clients of guide services, adventure cruising companies and the like. A new partnership with Baker Mountain Guides will take these connections to a new level this spring as hotel guests will be able to avail themselves of guided day hikes led by the Bellingham-based company. These hikes will offer information about the ecology and botany of alpine ecosystems, glaciers, geology, navigation, wilderness preparedness, wildlife, mountain weather systems and human and natural history. Destinations will include Baker Lake, Park Butte, Skyline Divide and, of course, Heliotrope Ridge. “One of the things we love best about living here in Bellingham is its easy access to rivers, trails, mountains, and the Salish Sea,” explains Peter Frasier, one of the Heliotrope’s owners. “We wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to enjoy themselves in our beautiful ecosystem and then clean up and relax at the Heliotrope. Thus, the boot driers, the locked bike storage, bike wash, and the fire pit. Being next to two great breweries means that you can do all this and then walk two blocks for beer and dinner.”
individual racers will be permitted to participate in up to three legs. The new rule makes it easier for teams to deal with lastminute injuries and also meets the needs of those uber-athletes who want to maximize their participation. Response to the rule change has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Race Director Anna Rankin, proving that after 45 years, even tradition can change. stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
3Great Hikes for W int er Chanterelle Trail
This new trail, part of the massive Lake Whatcom County Park created in 2014, offers up a fine forest hike (or mountain bike excursion) that climbs the slopes of Stewart Mountain to an overlook with broad views of Lake Whatcom and the surrounding area. It’s a round-trip of 4.8 miles with an elevation gain of about 1,000 feet. The grade is easy and the small pleasures encountered along the way are numerous: mossy, fern-filled enclaves and yes, lots of mushrooms. Trailhead: Lake Whatcom Trailhead #1 on Northshore Drive in Bellingham
North Olympic Coast Traverse Here’s an epic adventure along the wild Olympic Coast. The 15.5 miles that separate Lake Ozette from Shi-Shi Beach are filled with extravagant joys, beautiful beaches and perhaps some heartbreak as well. The beauty is obvious: towering sea stacks, bejeweled tide pools, gleaming sandy beaches and mossy coastal forests. The heartbreak? Sections of slippery seaweed-covered boulders that test one’s ability to stay upright. Awareness of the tides is of paramount importance here. Numerous places are impassable when the tide is high. Starting from Ozette Lake, take the well-maintained and largely boardwalked trail to Cape Alava then turn north up the beach. The ford of the Ozette River can be dicey (or impossible) depending on recent rains. Definitely plan on crossing at low tide. Great places to pitch At the mouth of the Ozette River a tent can be found at the Ozette Photo by John D’Onofrio River, Seafield Creek and Point of Arches (Shi-Shi Beach). Except for the last stretch beyond Shi-Shi, the entire route is within Olympic National Park. Permits and hardsided food storage containers are required. Trailhead: Lake Ozette Ranger Station, end of Lake Ozette Road, Olympic National Park
Chelan Lakeshore Trail A 17-mile point-to-point route along the beautiful east shoreline of magnificent Lake Chelan, this adventure is ideal in spring when the temperatures at the lake are mild and the high country on all sides is buried by snow. Take the Lady of the Lake passenger ferry from Chelan to Prince Creek where the trail begins. You’ll gain (and lose) some 4,000 feet of elevation along the way as the trail meanders up and down beside the deep blue lake. Numerous campsites along the way allow you to take your time and savor the spring sunshine. Trailhead: Take the Lady of the Lake from Chelan and disembark at Prince Creek.
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The Foxes of San Story by Lorraine Wilde
Photos by Kenneth Kearney
V
isitors to San Juan Island expect idyllic beaches, pastoral landscapes dotted with picturesque farms, and forests of kaleidoscopic green. What visitors might not expect are the foxes.
The red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) of San Juan Island are a classic example of how tenuous and complex the relationships between humans and wildlife can be. Wildlife managers are trying to balance the needs of the foxes and the food web that has evolved around them, while also considering the desires of tourists, island residents, government agencies and the local economy. Although the red foxes roam widely, they are most often spotted on the southern end of the island in San Juan Island National Historic Park’s (SJINHP) American Camp, South Beach and Cattle Point. Although they are called “red” fox, visitors are often surprised to discover that they can be orange, silver, black, or multi-colored. Black foxes are rare in most parts of the world, but they are quite common on San Juan Island. The smallest of the Canidae family of dog-like mammals, red fox weigh just 10 to 20 pounds, have a white tip on their bushy tail and black-tipped ears.
Red Fox History on San Juan Island The presence of foxes on San Juan Island can be traced back to a rabbit problem. European rabbits were first documented on San Juan Island in 1929, but are thought to have been introduced much earlier, between 1875 and 1895, as a traditional food source
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Juan Island for lighthouse keepers. Without many natural predators, rabbit populations boomed. “There were accounts that the rabbit populations were so high in the 1950s and 60s that hunters had pick-up truck loads of them,” explains Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) District Biologist Ruth Milner. The exact history of the red fox in North America, the Pacific Northwest and on San Juan Island is rather murky. Genetic studies throughout the U.S. indicate that red fox were not native to western Washington lowlands but descended from a mixture of populations. “The Cascade red fox (Vulpes vulpes cascadensis)—which is native to Washington—is a high elevation fox not found on the islands,” according to Milner. “The foxes in the San Juans are a lowland species that are probably from a variety of sources, including introduction via fox farms which bred them for their fur, brought from the eastern U.S. Others may have been in-
troduced for sport hunting. “The likely history is that the foxes were brought in to the islands to control the rabbit populations, Milner explains.” Rumors collected from old-timers say there were intentional or accidental introductions since at least the 1930s up through the 60s.” Where written history fails, genetics may hold answers. Scientists like Greg Green of Owl Ridge Natural Resource Consultants are studying red fox in Washington and Oregon. San Juan fox scat samples collected by SJINHP scientists and sent to Green will further clarify red fox ancestry on the island. Over the decades, the red foxes have become an integral part of San Juan Island culture. Photos, paintings and sculptures appear in every Friday Harbor gift shop and gallery. Many residents see them as mascots or wild pets. As a result, it’s likely that both the rabbits and the foxes will remain an element of the local experience and economy for generations to come.
Conservation Ecology Though non-native, both the rabbits and the foxes have had clear impacts. “No one has done a specific study of red fox impacts to native wildlife, but you can pretty much assume they have [had an impact],” notes Milner. “For example, the Oregon vesper sparrow, a groundnesting bird once found on the Redoubt [in SJINHP] is now likely extinct there. Between the destruction that the rabbits impose and predation by the foxes, any species like that doesn’t stand a chance.” The rabbits vociferously denude the surrounding native vegetation. The extensive tunnel systems of their warrens, and of the fox dens alter rainwater absorption, runoff, retention, and evaporation rates, as well as exacerbating soil susceptibility to wind and water erosion. The WDFW views the rabbits as ‘feral domestic animals’ so there is no restriction on hunting them. However, SJINHP has a ‘no hunting’ policy, so aside from natural predation by the
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foxes and other predators, the rabbit populations are limited only by available food sources and habitat. The rabbits impact wildlife like the native Western meadowlark that nests in grasslands. They also devastate stands of the hookedspur violet, which is an important host plant for the valley silverspot butterfly. Only a few select species of plants can withstand the rabbit herbivory, meaning many of the delicate species of wild flowers are no longer found on the island. Foxes are omnivores, so their impact is greatest on their other food sources: voles, insects, birds, snakes, nuts, berries and other fruits. Yet a diverse array of wildlife can be observed living side by side with the
rabbits and foxes of the island. In a single trip to the open plain, one might observe quail, swallows, black-bellied plover, American kestrel, turkey vultures, osprey and bald eagles. SJINHP biologist Jenny Shrum studies the endangered island marble butterflies (Euchloe ausonides insulanus) of San Juan Island, including how changes in habitat effect the population. “The park is pretty much home to the entire population that exists on the planet,” explains Shrum. “The rabbits significantly affect the vegetation and so the foxes have an indirect effect on the butterfly populations there.” Although hunting and trapping of foxes is legally allowed outside NHP property, hunting is not common on the island.
Ethical Viewing For decades, island residents and visitors have fed the wild red foxes. That has made the population less fearful, more tolerant and tame in comparison to red fox in other regions, drawing tourists and photographers from around the world in droves. But wildlife managers agree that feeding them is a bad idea. “WDFW policy is that there is no scenario where feeding wildlife is a good idea,” explains Milner. “However there is no law prohibiting feeding. It’s just a terrible idea for a whole bunch of reasons and the park heavily discourages it for the safety of the animals.” Those reasons include upsetting the delicate balance of nature. Fed foxes
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become habituated to humans and dependent on hand outs and garbage. Individual foxes learn to approach tourists, endangering themselves around motor vehicles. When the tourists have gone, habituated foxes may not survive the winters when food is scarce.
Red foxes also produce large litters of up to ten kits, resulting in an increase in demand for rabbits. That can cause a crash in the rabbit population, meaning many kits may starve to death the following spring. As a result, SJINHP recommends
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The art of nature
eARTh Great Horned Owl
Barred Owl
Anita K. Boyle’s Birds of Prey The two owls and the hawk were residents at the Sardis Raptor Center in Ferndale. I took some photos of them a while back, and decided to do linoleum block prints of them based on the photos. The Great Horned Owl is turned to the side, so only one eye shows, but he really did have just the one eye, which is mainly why he was a lifer there. The Barred Owl also had an eye injury, which was barely detectable. I’m not sure, but the Swainson’s Hawk may have been reintroduced to the wild. That’s my hope anyway. I’m currently working on a new set of linoleum block prints that include three northwest themes: Mount Baker, a cat and a good cup of coffee.
a minimum 75-foot buffer from humans to keep the foxes wild. But lenses needed to take high quality photos at that distance are expensive. Although signs are posted throughout the park, due to limited staff, SJINHP has difficulty monitoring and enforcing the buffer. As might be expected, the attitudes of photographers and tourists are varied. Some feel entitled while others share a deep reverence for the animals and a desire to keep them wild for their own long-term safety. To see or photograph them, one must be willing to wait and pay attention—activities don’t last long. The patient viewer can see kits play, nurse, or fight for a kill brought by an adult fox. Photographers furiously snap photos of the activity for less than 30 seconds before they return to their waiting.
Explore Anita K. Boyle’s work at egressstudio.com
Swainson’s Hawk
Yet the hundreds of photographers that flock to San Juan Island each year significantly contribute to the local economy. Disagreement about the disadvantages and value of the rabbits and foxes on San Juan Island mean that their presence and management are likely to remain controversial. Whether visiting beautiful San Juan Island for a day trip, an overnight, or for several weeks, tourists will find the influence of the red fox at every turn—in the art, landscape and parks of the area. Their presence will continue to shape the local ecology, economy, culture and people there for generations to come. ANW
Your guide to the islands
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Story and photo by Lawrence Millman
Welcome to Planet Orcas W
ith the great out-of-doors, as with cuisine, there’s no disputing matters of taste. One person’s caviar is another’s soggy dumpling. For myself, I’ve always preferred a good healthy slog through an ancient forest to the more easeful charms of a beach. So it was that, shortly after I arrived on Orcas Island, I began hiking along the Cold Spring Trail. At one point, I encountered two naked back packers, a man and a woman in their sixties. Both of them stared at my fully - clothed self as if I was some sort of oddity…
Orcas is the largest and most idiosyncratic of the San Juan Islands. It was named not for the toothed whale that belongs to the dolphin family, but for an 18th century viceroy of Mexico who possessed thirteen names, one of which was Horcasitas. Locals call the island Planet Orcas because it isn’t at all like the rest of the country. Taking the ferry to the mainland, they say, “Unfortunately, I’m going to America…” “This is as far as you can go in selfexile,” one of my guides, a former resident of Los Angeles, told me. He added that the reason he lives here is not so much because of what the horseshoe-shaped
island has, but because of what it doesn’t have—traffic lights, big condo developments, Kentucky Fried Chickens, Burger Kings, and a McDonalds. What Orcas does have is an abundance of lakes, mountains, and mosscovered habitats. Not surprisingly, it has an abundance of wildlife, too. You’ll often see an eagle flying off with the corpse of a small mammal in its beak. Or you’ll see an otter crossing a river, then posing on the opposite side for your camera. And every time I looked out the window of my room at the aptly named Outlook Inn, I could see fleets of bufflehead ducks, geese, loons, and gulls.
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The island probably owes its naturalness to environmentalist John Muir, who traveled (in his words) “anywhere that is wild.” In 1879, Muir met a man named Robert Moran when the two of them were heading up to Alaska on a boat called the California, and they spent quite a bit of time hobnobbing. This meeting seems to have made a strong impression on Moran, later a wealthy shipbuilder as well as mayor of Seattle, for when he took up residence on Orcas, he purchased, then donated, more than 5,200 acres to the state. The most prominent feature in what is now called Moran State Park is 2,499 foot Mt. Constitution, which was named not for our country’s sometimes suspect supreme law, but for the wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate that played such a significant role in the War of 1812. From the mountain’s summit, I could see a panorama that included Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, and the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula, but not a single mall or superhighway. This view gave me what locals refer to as “an orcasm.” On another day, I was hiking along the Obstruction Pass Trail, and the surrounding world was so utterly quiet that it brought a slight whistling to my ears. Suddenly a raven seated on the branch of a Doug fir made an expostulating croak that seemed to ask me, “Hey! You seen any lemmings or mice lately?” The island’s natural bounty doesn’t mean it lacks ameni-
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ties, however. The number of good restaurants is remarkable for a place that has only 4,894 year-round residents. Being a shellfish addict, I sampled oysters at a number of these restaurants. Here I should mention that all the oysters I ate were local. Let me repeat that word. Local. For a restaurant on Orcas would no more serve oysters from elsewhere than it would serve Kentucky Fried Chicken. At Doe Bay Resort, formerly an institute for holistic health, I had a cabin whose chief amenity was not so much its comfort as the fact that it didn’t have a TV. Nor do any of Doe Bay’s cabins, yurts, or rooms have a TV. But the Resort does have a popular clothing optional hot tub in which I found myself seated next to a professor from Seattle who was reading a very moist copy of Anna Karenina. “Poor Anna!” he said to me. “She would have been much happier on Orcas than she was in Russia…” Other island amenities include: Darville’s, a splendid independent book-store; a natural history museum full of Native American artifacts; and a 40-mph speed limit. Then there’s the ghost who sometimes appears at the desk of the Outlook Inn. Reputedly, this ghost has a soft, lovely voice and a very cheerful disposition. How could she be anything but cheerful on Orcas Island? ANW
An Enduring North Cascades National Park at 50
Story by Ted Rosen
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it set a precedent for setting aside public lands in perpetuity. It solidified the belief that America was defined by its land as well as its law. A new understanding of what America meant swept across the culture. In 1890, Sequoia National Park was established despite the obvious value of its timber. It was quickly followed by Yosemite, Mount Rainier, and Crater Lake. The American people had decided that places of outstanding natural beauty were as much a part of our national heritage as the Liberty Bell and The creation (or perhaps evolution) of the NCNP is more deserved similar respect. It was presidential outdoorsman Teddy than a historical example of public land use legislation. It also Roosevelt who really got the ball rolling in creating national provides great insight into the early environmentalism moveparks. But that ball rolls slowly and it wasn’t ment. Dwarfed by the post-war American inuntil Woodrow Wilson’s administration that dustrial juggernaut, a small group of outdoor Bob Marshall we formally adopted national parks in the enthusiasts and academics faced opposition Rocky Mountains, Hawaii, Denali, Acadia, that would make weaker Americans shrug in Zion, and the Grand Canyon. defeat and find something else—something The 1920’s and 1930’s saw even more easier—to champion. But these men and lands set aside for preservation, from women felt that the North Cascades were so Bryce Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns to important and so beautiful that the battle to Shenandoah and the Everglades and many protect them was paramount. They would more in between. Preserving America’s not back down and they would not waver. places of outstanding natural beauty was a The events that led up to the establishpatriotic duty. America was framed as a place ment of the NCNP have been exhausof kind-hearted people and economic opportively detailed in the new book Crown Jewel tunity, and filled with natural wonders. Each Wilderness by writer and outdoor enthusiast aspect complemented the other. Lauren Danner. Published just in time for the In the wake of World War II, America 50th anniversary of the park’s creation, her Courtesy of Forest History Society, Durham, NC found itself the supreme global superpower. book is a brilliant bit of historic journalism. With this surety came an unprecedented It’s a big park and a big story, and Danner industrial explosion. The 1950’s were an era of unmitigated covers it with meticulous detail and a sympathetic tone for the American confidence. With her social woes swept under the rug people involved. It’s not a breezy afternoon read, but if you’re a of economic prosperity, a new American sense of self emerged. policy junkie like me, this book is as good as it gets. This was an America of superhighways and skyscrapers. It was Big stories need the stage set, and for this one we can set the an America of smog-belching factories and a galaxy of successwayback machine to the late-19th century. As people settled in ful small businesses. the American West, they became enamored with its wild places. It was in this America that the first murmurings of creating The most notable of these places were deemed worthy of presera North Cascades National Park began. Washingtonians were vation, and in 1872 president Ulysses S. Grant signed into law understandably proud of the North Cascades. Visitors were said the creation of Yellowstone National Park. The first of its kind,
ike most tales of land use policy, the creation of the North Cascades National Park (NCNP) was a long, bitter battle between opposing social forces. Government agencies, extraction industry companies, and the conservationist movement had their own ideas about how we should administer this vast and sublime landscape. A clash was sure to follow.
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Promise to have lauded the mountains of the North Cascades as “greater than Switzerland’s”, an apt compliment that should have stuck in the minds of local and national legislators alike. Nonetheless, all petitions to set aside the area in perpetuity had failed. Then, there came a champion—and he would be followed by more champions.
Bob Marshall’s Dream In 1939, a man named Bob Marshall hiked the challenging trails and snowy slopes of the North Cascades and was captivated. Bob wasn’t just any hiker, though. He was the Director of Recreation and Lands for the US Forest Service and a life-long advocate for wilderness. And what he saw convinced him that the North Cascades needed to be protected. And the way he figured, he was exactly the person to do it. Marshall began putting wheels in motion, but shortly after his visit he died unexpectedly of heart failure. He was only 38 years old. Marshall’s dream lived on among some US Forest staff, but in the booming 1950’s a national push emerged to reclassify protected areas for mixed use—forestry, mining, and maybe some recreation if it could be fit in. With hundreds of thousands of acres of mature forest recently locked away by the creation of Olympic National Park, timber companies were eyeing easy pickings nearby. And Glacier Peak was nearby. The US Forest Service was planning to reclassify vast swaths of the area around Glacier Peak for commercial use. In order to appease the outdoorsmen, mountaineers and aesthetes, the Forest Service decided that all the areas above (usable) tree line would be protected. Everything else in the areas they outlined could be harvested. Recreational visitors (hunters, fishers, climbers, and hikers) balked. Who wants to fish or hunt in a clear-cut? And who wants to climb to the summit of a federally protected mountain just to look down upon a denuded moonscape? They argued that the area should be protected in all its aspects, that the lush forests that roll between the peaks like a mighty green river are as intrinsically a part of the landscape as the icy granite cliffs that rise above. To sacrifice one is to lose them both. Among the parties interested in reclassifying Glacier Peak for timber extraction was the Chelan Box Manufacturing Company. stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
They manufactured wooden fruit baskets: the type used to harvest apples and display them at markets. Manufacturing fine fruit baskets was good business, but it was even better if you could verticalize the market, so Chelan Box wanted to harvest their own timber and process it in their own mills. Not only would their cost of goods plummet, but they could also contract out any excess resources. This made perfect sense, but like every other market verticalization, it tended to cause unwanted results in the world at large. In this case, verticalization caused Chelan Box to lean on the US Forest Service about reclassifying Glacier Peak and devastating the area around Stehekin. Chelan Box needed timber, and Glacier Peak was blanketed with it. The US Forest Service is charged with managing public lands to their “most appropriate” use. Among those uses are recreation, fishing, wildlife protection, water, and wilderness—
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particularly smitten with the National politics is as old as George Washington, Parks Service, either. They admitted and Chelan Box was just one in a long that keeping Glacier Peak completely line of extraction industries that lobwild meant visitors had to work hard to bied the Forest Service with clockwork explore this magnificent area, but the regularity. stunning vistas were worth the effort There was another option, of course. and were worth fighting for. Glacier Peak could be set aside by the National Park Service. Even the most ardent conservationists agreed that allowing the NPS to manage the lands was better than letting the Forest Service do it––but only marginally so. By the 1950’s, America’s National Parks had become vastly popular among vacationing Americans. And the majority of those Americans came by car. To get President Lynden B. Johnson presents the pen used to sign the legislation creating North Cascades National Park to Americans to their National Parks, Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson. courtesy North Cascades NPS Complex Museum Collection the NPS paved thousands of miles Photo (NOCA 16997) 419 Hemmi Rd. of roads, erected hundreds of faciliLynden, WA. 98264 ties and carved out untold thousands of The Grand Compromise parking spaces on America’s most specAnd so the players took the stage. tacular landscapes. If the NPS took over The US Forest Service and their friends 360.410.0328 Glacier Peak, its wilderness would surely in the timber and mining industries be compromised. faced off against the National Park So believed Service and the tenacious conservation a growing group groups that had sprung up to defend the of local conservamountains. The Forest Service (as well as FAMILY DENTISTRY tionists, including local timber companies and regional govPreventative and Restorative the Seattle-based ernment leaders) insisted on preserving Implant Crowns Mou nt a i ne e r s . Crowns and Bridges the industries and jobs that they argued While they were Teeth Whitening were in peril if too much public forest Treatment for Bad Breath wholly opposed land remained locked away. to Forest Service In the center of Barkley Village next to Haggen The conservationists began their Kurt Swanson, D.D.S. Jessica Rogers, D.D.S. multiple-use own efforts, which involved a cohesive 360-733-1334 plans for Glacier public awareness campaign. Intrepid Peak, they weren’t barkleyvillagefamilydentistry.com photographers (including Ansel Adams)
as well as forestry, dams, and mining. It wasn’t hard to fathom why the Forest Service might be swayed to find clearcutting some public lands “most appropriate”. Corporate influence in American
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took to the hills to show everyone what was at stake. Citizen committees were formed to counter industry claims about the timber employment issues and the potential recreation revenue that might replace it. The North Cascades, they argued, was as valuable and as fragile as the Grand Canyon or any of the other national parks, and they contended it was patriotic to protect them. As the years rolled on, assessors from the Forest Service and National Parks created their own maps of the entire region, from the Mount Baker Wilderness in the north to Stehekin in the south. The battle for Glacier Peak had suddenly expanded to include the whole of the North Cascades. The maps changed with regularity as the tides of war shifted between the various interests. In the early 1960’s, the conservation movement started becoming the environmental movement, with an agenda to not only preserve wild places but to curb pollution and reduce our impact on habitat. They had a sympathetic ear in the new president, and when John F. Kennedy learned about plans to preserve the North Cascades he took a long hard look at the maps. Kennedy was vividly aware of the rivalry between the US Forest Service and the National Park Service. He knew the rivalry would continue unabated unless he acted, so he acted. He directed the creation of a comprehensive inter-departmental study that went way beyond what the USFS, the NPS, or the 86th and 87th Congress had tried. After years of research, meetings, and political wrangling, the report recommended 14 actions: 1. Establish four new Wilderness areas—Alpine Lakes, Okanogan, Enchantment, and Mount Aix— totaling 720,000 acres; 2. Enlarge the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area by 39,000 acres; 3. Establish a North Cascades National Park totaling 698,000 acres; 4. Enlarge Mount Rainier National Park by 7,000 acres and provide for coordinated management between the park and surrounding National Forest lands; 5. Declassify three limited areas— Alpine Lakes, Cougar Lake, and Monte Cristo Peak; 6. Provide for an increase of 228,000 acres of National Forest lands to be placed under normal multipleuse administration by the Forest Service; stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
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7. Increase the available commercial forest land by 56,000 acres and increase the available commercial sawtimber by 1.5 billion board feet, thus providing a net benefit to the timber industry despite the creation of new Wilderness areas and a new National Park; 8. Provide for a 900-mile system of scenic roads and several thousand miles of trails; 9. Establish a Wild River in the Skagit Basin; 10. Provide for adequate camping, picnicking, winter sports, boating and other recreation facilities, including fishing and hunting opportunities, in anticipation of much greater population pressure and use; 11. Provide for timber management and needed research that will minimize erosion, land scarring, adverse effects on the natural beauty of the landscape, and accomplish prompt regeneration; 12. Involve no removal of lands from the tax rolls, no acquisition costs, no change in distribution of National Forest receipts, no impairment of operations of Seattle City Light on the Skagit River, and no significant adverse effects on the livestock industry, on commercial or sport fishing. There would be some adverse effects on hunting, and there could be on mining if significant future discoveries occur in the area proposed for a National Park; 13. Provide substantial net economic
advantages from creation of a North Cascades National Park through increases in tourism and the expenditures, wages, and employment generated thereby, and by capital outlays to develop the National Park, with resulting employment and wages; and 14. Provide substantial economic benefits through the construction, development costs, maintenance, and employment required to establish the recommended scenic road system, and from the expenditures and employment generated by increased driving for pleasure. It reads like a compromise, but it was an enormous win for the conservation cause and the National Park Service. Glacier Peak and the rest of the North Cascades would be protected from wholesale commercial exploitation in perpetuity. The plan stitches together vast swaths of the North Cascades into national parks and wilderness areas. While national park status meant some road building and visitor infrastructure, the results were amenable to visitors and conservationists alike. And the enormous new wilderness areas meant that huge sections of the North Cascades would remain untouched by roads or commercial exploitation. The Wilderness Act of 1964 (which passed the House with a vote of 374-1!) framed how these Wilderness Areas would be administered. It was a bold statement: “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works
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dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” This unequivocal recognition of the value of wilderness was the grease on which the North Cascades National Park Act rolled into fruition on October 2, 1968. There were many people and many organizations that worked for nearly two decades to make it happen. Danner’s book details all the colorful characters who stood up and stared down the might of American corporate interests to create what we now recognize as the “Crown Jewel” of the Pacific Northwest. There is far too much to recount here in detail, so I recommend you read the book to learn more. In the end, the dream that Bob Marshall had after those many Cascade hikes in the 1930’s came true. His vision is shared by everyone who visits this magnificent mountain range. Long may it reign. ANW
stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
Crown Jewel Wilderness by Lauren Danner Lauren Danner’s newly published account of the creation story of North Cascades National Park, Crown Jewel Wilderness comes at an interesting time. The obvious synergy is the 50th anniversary of the park, the less obvious—but equally compelling—synergy is the current wholesale ransacking of our public lands at the hands of our current administration. The story of the park’s creation has much to teach us about foresight, compromise and determined activism. Danner does a masterful job of weaving the complicated threads of historical shifts, political chess moves and an enormous cast of characters into a narrative that puts the complex story into perspective. If you love the North Cascades or are interested in how the ‘sausage factory’ of interagency politics works, this book will resonate.
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Magic Hours on the Olympic Coast By Kenni Merritt My husband and I venture out to the wild and lonely Olympic Coast as often as we can. I’m always amazed by the quality and the angle of the light at the ocean’s edge. The sun often rises and sets through thick, opaque mist. Then the fog clears, revealing the drama of waves relentlessly pounding the sea stacks and islands. Ever-changing light and shadows continually transform the shore, highlighting the power and the allure of nature. Atmospherics create the mood and tell a story. In making these photographs, I want to share not just what I see, but what I feel when we’re all alone on the coast. Clockwise from below: Crying Lady Rock at Dawn, La Push, Crying Lady Rock, Quileute Tidelines, Ruby Beach, Rialto Beach Driftwood
Visit AdventuresNW.com to view an extended gallery of Kenni Merritt’s photography.
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stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
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The Best Hikes in North Cascades National Park Ten Trails That You’ll Never Forget Story by Craig Romano
S
tunning views, towering summits, prolific wildlife, primeval forests, glistening glaciers, resplendent wildflowers, and one of the largest wilderness areas in the Lower 48: celebrate the North Cascades National Park’s 50th anniversary with a
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hike. Here are ten of my absolute favorites—from easy day hikes to challenging backpacking trips in the North Cascades National Park complex. Happy hiking!
Cascade Pass- Sahale Arm Roundtrip: 12.0 miles
Elevation Gain: 4,000 feet Notes: Dogs prohibited Access via the Cascade River Road The only trailhead within the 684,000-acre North Cascades National Park proper that you can drive to (the Park is divided into a North and South Unit bisected by the Ross Lake
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National Recreation Area through which the North Cascades Highway passes), Cascade Pass is the most popular hike within the park. From a lofty start beneath the icy face of 8200-foot Johannesburg Mountain, follow a route once used by Native Americans, explorers, prospectors, and surveyors to reach Lake Chelan. Then go beyond the pass trudging up a lofty ridge of alpine tundra and dazzling wildflowers all the way to the Sahale Glacier at 7600 feet. It’s pure alpine bliss.
Copper Ridge Round trip: 20.4 miles Elevation Gain: 5,485 feet Notes: Dogs prohibited, Northwest Forest Pass required; National Park backcountry permit required for camping. Access: Via SR 542 Hike up a glacier-carved valley polished by avalanches and decorated with glorious wildflowers. Follow a churning creek fed by a procession of
cascading tributaries to Hannegan Pass—a portal into the deep wilderness of the North Cascades National Park. Then begin your alpine odyssey across Copper Ridge to a fire lookout perched on a 6,200-foot knob. Gaze out at more sky-probing rock and ice, including massive 8,236-foot Mount Challenger with its extensive glacial system.
ledge-top view of Lake Chelan and the Stehekin Valley.
Sourdough Mountain Lookout Roundtrip: 11.0 miles Elevation Gain: 5,100 feet Notes: dogs prohibited Access: Via SR 20
Rainbow Loop Roundtrip: 4.4 miles Elevation Gain: 1,000 feet Notes: dogs permitted on leash. Access Via seaplane or boat to Steheken then walk or shuttle 4.8 miles to trailhead A Stehekin Valley Classic, this loop takes you through mature forest, across rushing mountain creeks and to sunny ledges providing an eagle’s eye view of Lake Chelan. Southern slopes mean that the trail usually melts out by the first day of spring. But when snow blankets the loop, it’s a lovely snowshoe route. The real treat is the knockout
Ascending Sourdough Mountain. Photo by Bob Kandiko
One of the most challenging trails in the North Cascades, the arduous haul to the historic 1933-built lookout cabin atop Sourdough Mountain climbs one vertical mile within 5.5 miles of trail.
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But, sprawling flowering meadows and a panorama of craggy, spiraling, glaciercloaked, cloud-piercing peaks is the payoff! Even among all these wonders, it’s Diablo Lake’s turquoise waters sparkling one mile directly below that’ll really blow you away.
Hozomeen Lake Roundtrip: 7.4 miles Elevation Gain: 1,200 feet Notes: Vehicle access to trailhead is via British Columbia, Canada. Access: via Silver-Skagit Road If it wasn’t such an expedition to
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get here, this hike would be one of the busiest in the North Cascades. Enjoy a fairly easy hike to a large placid body of water within the shadows of one of the fiercest looking landmarks in the North Cascades. Stare at the twin sheer-vertical spires of Hozomeen Peak reflecting in the lake of same name. And let the eerie cry of the lake’s resident loons enchant you.
Trappers Peak Roundtrip: 10.6 miles Elevation Gain: 3,300 feet Notes: Dogs prohibited Access: Via SR 20
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Atop Trappers Peak. Photo by Bob Kandiko
Access: via SR 20 Saunter up steep forested slopes before scrambling up a narDespite its name, Desolation Peak is alive in color—shroudrow rocky spine—then be mesmerized with in-your-face views ed in dazzling alpine flowers during the summer bloom. And the of the formidable jagged Pickett Range. Look straight down one view? Stand mouth agape staring at the cobalt waters of fjordvertical mile to the company town of Newhalem sitting along like Ross Lake cradled beneath glacier-covered serthe Skagit River. Then face rated summits. It was inspirational to Beatnik poet west and peer down to the Desolation Peak Lookout and Mt. Hozomeen Jack Kerouac when he staffed the historic 1932-built shimmering Thornton Lakes. lookout here in 1956—and you’ll be inspired as If you’ve got any energy rewell. Nearby 8,066-foot Mount Hozomeen captimaining, check out the lakes vated and mesmerized the poet, as it will you too. on your way back down.
Desolation Peak Roundtrip: 11.6 miles Elevation Gain: 5,100 feet Notes: Water taxi required; Dogs permitted on leash
stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
Photo by Bob Kandiko
Stiletto Peak Lookout Site
Roundtrip: 10.6 miles Elevation Gain: 3,700 feet Notes: NW Forest Pass required; dogs prohibited
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Cascade River House
Relaxation and Tranquility at the Gateway to North Cascades National Park.
Access: Via SR 20 When it comes to jaw-dropping, mouth-watering, eyewidening horizon-spanning North Cascades views, Stiletto Peak makes the cut. Follow the Pacific Crest Trail to a seldom used route leading up steep slopes, alpine meadows and a rocky ridge to an old lookout site at 7,223 feet. Stare out at Mount Goode, highest summit in the park and to a sea of serrated horizon-spanning ridges and summits. And savor the solitude you’re almost sure to get on this lonely summit.
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Hiker descending Easy Pass into Fisher Basin Photo by Craig Romano
Easy Pass Roundtrip: 7.4 miles Elevation Gain: 2,800 feet Notes: NW Forest Pass required; dogs permitted to national park boundary at pass Access: Via SR 20 Despite its name, this hike isn’t easy. But it’s easily one of the prettiest day hikes off of the North Cascades Highway. Follow an old prospectors’ route to a notch high on Ragged Ridge. Then savor spectacular views of glistening glaciers gracing massive 9,000’-plus Mount Logan. Intrepid souls can con(Continued on page 34)
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tinue down into U-shaped Fisher Basin, home to one of the most dense bear populations in the North Cascades. Come in fall for larch madness.
Take a water taxi ride up Ross Lake to begin this wilderness trek. Traipse Ancient forest, Big Beaver Valley Photo by Bob Kandiko
Big Beaver-Little Beaver Loop Round trip: 37.0 miles Elevation Gain: 3,100 feet Notes: Dogs prohibited; Water taxi required; National Park backcountry permit required for camping. Access: via SR 20
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Dreaming in Glacier Bay Story and photos by John D’Onofrio
I
had been thinking about Glacier Bay for a long time.
I’d done my fair share of poking around on—and in—glaciers in the North Cascades, Canadian Rockies and Alaska. The sensuous forms and sculptural grace of icescapes have always captured my imagination. For me, glacial landscapes offer up a visceral sense of nature’s drama laid bare, the shifting weight of eons, like witnessing Creation happen beneath your feet. Among galacial landscapes, Glacier Bay had long held an almostmystical place in my imagination, representing a kind of idealized stronghold of elemental forces, raw and inviting. :–: And so it is, that on a mist-shroud36
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ed morning in May, I find myself on the outskirts of Juneau, Alaska, hauling an oversized duffel bag onto the M/V David B , on my way to this place that had for so long, cast its spell on me. Could it possibly measure up to my fantasies? I’ve come with photographer Alan Sanders to lead a week-long photography workshop in the Bay. In addition to the David B’s adroit captain Jeffrey Smith and his multi-talented wife Christine, there are five workshop attendees aboard, every one of them brimming with anticipation and ready for enlightenment. :–: Christine casts off the lines and we pull away from the dock, leaving civilization (or what passes for it) behind. The Rhumba-rhythms of the David B’s
three-cylinder diesel engine hum as we cruise up Lynn Canal into Icy Strait. Our first night is spent in a quiet cove at Couverden Point, where we are welcomed by the chittering of eagles. The surface of the water is like glass and we bob gently among creamy sunset reflections that don’t fade into darkness until midnight. We are rocked to sleep by gentle waves. :–: We enter the mouth of Glacier Bay in pastel morning light. A humpback whale rises to starboard, exuberant tail slaps creating great fountains of seawater, sparkling in the sunshine. About the size of Connecticut, Glacier Bay National Park is almost completely devoid of human beings. But it’s teeming with the kind of animals that stir the imagination: brown >>> Go to AdventuresNW.com
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obscuring the peaks. This low ceiling bears, wolves, whales, lynx, wolverines, makes the vast spaces seem almost inmoose, eagles. timate. We find ourselves speaking in Aside from the park headquarters whispers. at Bartlett Cove there are no buildings We begin to encounter floating ice or roads. No trails, no signs. as we approach McBride Inlet, choked :–: We cruise up Muir Inlet, the southern arm, past mountains empty of trees, in the soft, shrouded light of a Chinese brush painting. Silhouettes and shadows, a dreamscape. Marble Island is covered with enormous sea lions lustily barking, belching and grunting in a discordant chorus, clamorous in the hush of the mist. Tufted Puffins appear, Dall Amorous Brown Bears, Muir Inlet Porpoise to port, a quartet of with the glacial outflow from the whales to starboard. Too many otters McBride Glacier. We drop anchor near to count. the inlet’s mouth and lower the skiff for As we move up the Inlet, the water a shore excursion. becomes more and more aquamarine: At low tide, the inlet is littered sea water the color of a glacial lake. The with stranded icebergs, some on dry clouds remain low, hanging above us,
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land, some partially submerged, doing a cacophonous bump and grind in the current of the river. We land the skiff on a sand bar and explore the icy shoreline. The beached icebergs are the luminous blue of renaissance paintings, the color once called sacre bleu, the holy hue of heaven. An oyster catcher guards her nest, her bill a flash of orange in the blue-grey landscape. An eagle watches us warily from a stunted, gnarled tree. :–: We return down the Muir Inlet and head up the west arm of the bay, overnighting beside the Reid Glacier. The Reid has retreated from tidewater status in recent years, leaving a new “beach” of rubble and glacial muck, which we explore like delirious children, captivated and enthralled by the byzantine architecture of the glacier: blue grottos, fluted
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The M/V David B The story of the Motor Vessel David B is a tale of inspiration, persistence and second chances. Built in 1929 at the Lake Washington Jeffrey and Christine Smith aboard the David B Shipyard in Houghton, Washington, this 65-foot long wooden boat spent 25 years plying the tempestuous waters of Bristol Bay, Alaska, where she was used to tow sail-powered fishing boats to the salmon fishing grounds, a work-around to a federal rule that prohibited engines in fishing boats. The David B would tow as many as fifteen boats to the fishery and then return to pick them up. In the 1950’s, the cannery closed down, and the David B was abandoned, high and dry on the beach. She sat there for decades. New owners eventually brought her by barge to Seattle and in 1998 she caught the eyes of Jeffrey and Christine Smith. The Smiths had big ideas. Northwest Navigation was born. They spent eight long years restoring the venerable boat, an epic project detailed in Christine Smith’s wonderful book, More Faster Backwards. Today they enjoy a life of adventure and beauty, leading small-group cruises in Alaska, the Inside Passage and the San Juan Islands aboard the David B. Learn more at: northwestnavigation.com
waterfalls, all of it changing before our eyes. Grizzlies on the shore, mountain goats on the precipices, gangly moose doing standup routines on the beach. It’s difficult to comprehend the scale: Ice sheets filling valleys, burying mountain ranges, in constant motion. In some cases, these gargantuan walls are moving eight feet a day. It’s almost impossible to imagine anything this gigantic moving at all. I have no vocabulary to describe this kind of power. :–: At the head of Tarr Inlet we drop anchor. To the north, the Grand Pacific Glacier forms a stupendous wall two miles wide. Next door, the Margerie Glacier rises from the water’s edge in monumental Stonehenge blocks and soaring blue spires. Behind it the massive Fairweather Range crowds the sky, culminating with Mt. Fairweather, at 15,325 feet the highest peak in British Columbia. The Margerie calves almost constantly, filling the water with floating ice and the air with thunder. Without warning, a humpback surfaces right next to the boat, it’s long sleek back
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• May 20- 27: Glacier Bay • May 30 - June 6: Inside Passage (Juneau to Petersburg)
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The heartbeat of Cascadia
shining in the sun for a precious few seconds before disappearing into the depths. Jeffrey pilots the skiff along the shoreline beneath soaring cliffs laced with waterfalls. The palisades are covered with the nests of black-legged kittiwakes, thousands upon thousands of birds. A circling eagle causes quite a commotion among the kittiwakes, and they rise in a deafening cloud to chase it away. Near the face of the Margerie, we maneuver through the brash ice, which hisses like a bromide, snapping and popping as air bubbles—trapped in the ice centuries ago—are released. Otters lounge on the larger floes, giving us the once-over as we pass. Up close, the glacier is a wonderland of seracs, pinnacles and monoliths. An ice arch frames a slender spire in an >>> Go to AdventuresNW.com
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with the most elemental of mixed media: ice, bedrock, lichen. We weigh anchor and return down Tarr Inlet in the almost-warm sun. Gradually small enclaves of trees, mostly willows, can be seen among the grey rock. As we continue down the inlet they organize themselves into thin forests, hopeful newcomers in this recently ice-bound landscape. After a sweet, clear evening in Blue Mouse Cove, a few puffing humpbacks bid us farewell as we motor out of Glacier Bay into Icy Strait. We drop anchor for the last time in the lee of a small island at Couverden Point. Midnight finds me on the aft deck, quietly enjoying the gentle lapping of the water when a wolf howl rises in the distance, soon answered from the darkness by another and then another. The chorale provides both a fitting coda for a week of soul-nourishing splendor and a catalyst for strange and wonderful ANW dreams. Kayaks below the Reid Glacier
aquamarine window. At regular intervals, great blocks crash down into the water with symphonic grandeur, creating rolling waves that rock the skiff and suggest unspeakable power. :–: In the morning we explore the
scoured beach; a barren expanse of rock and mud adorned with stranded bergy bits carved into fantastic, whimsical shapes. It’s a sculpture garden: delicately carved ice angels and demons; huge striped blocks, layered and striated like the work of a wild-eyed artist working
OUTSIDE IN Reflections on Wilderness Contemplation
by Kathy and Craig Copeland
Hiking isn’t merely a means. We walk toward a destination, but our goal is to find joy and beauty en route. And our roaming is as much mental as physical. We’re happy—doing what we love, in places we hold sacred. We’re free—far from niggling details and tedious responsibilities. We’re alert—relaxed yet stimulated. So this is our best thinking: creative, profound, invaluable. A truly adventurous life is contemplative as well as vigorous. Extracted from Heading Outdoors Eventually Leads Within by Kathy and Craig Copeland (hikingcamping.com)
stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
Photo by John D’Onofrio
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Glacier Bay: The Big Picture Story by Shannon Finch
Beached icebergs in Tarr Inlet Photo by John D’Onofrio
R
umbles and booms like a thunderstorm echo all night long in Tarr Inlet. It’s not a storm but our neighbor, the Margerie glacier, calving icebergs a mile away at the head of the inlet. Waves from the falling ice rock the boat, usually gently, but sometimes more vigorously, which I find a bit unnerving. The next morning, the glassy bay has become a wonderland of icebergs, some quite large, floating all around the boat. Some are blue, others are
pure white, and a couple have alternating white and black stripes like a zebra. Some are flat, and others look like the prow of a boat cutting through the water. One resembles a swan with an elegant, curving neck. A humpback whale effortlessly navigates the field of bergs, exhaling mist into the morning light. We take the skiff to the beach, where I track semipalmated plovers and an oystercatcher with my camera. Drag marks furrow the beach from icebergs as they advance and retreat with the tide. Gulls and kittiwakes gather on the flat bergs
just offshore, squawking at each other, jostling for space. The only other sounds are the rushing water from a creek that empties into the inlet and the steady drip of melting icebergs on the beach. I am gradually aware of a sound that doesn’t fit. “Is that music?” My husband Brian looks at me, perplexed. Not exactly. A cruise ship steams into Tarr Inlet with its public address system blaring, narrating the wilderness experience for its passengers. The only useful thing about the ship’s presence is
VITAL SIGNS The Seasonal Secret to Keeping Your Healthy Resolutions With January behind us and the holidays in the distant rear view, the New Year is in full swing as we do our best to bring our New Year’s resolutions to fruition—and for many of us, better health and weight loss goals top the coveted list. Gym memberships and green smoothies are common components of many of our resolutions, but for some of us, these commitments don’t last and we find ourselves returning to our old (and not 40
The heartbeat of Cascadia
necessarily healthy) habits. This is typically where our progress stops in its tracks… but here’s a secret to help ground you in your efforts. Seasonal produce such as Brussels sprouts, artichokes, kale, sweet potatoes and winter squash are in season now and some of the best sources of fiber available. Beyond increasing the “fullness factor” and preventing overeating, these veggie
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superfoods help keep you on track by lowering blood sugar and blood pressure levels, improving heart health, reducing “bad” cholesterol levels and preventing inflammation. Beyond their fiber content, onions, leeks and artichokes contain flavonoids that boost your immune system and battle infections, keeping you healthy and ready to achieve your next goal.
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how it highlights scale and distance in this place, something I’ve been struggling to wrap my head around. With the mountain behind it, the cruise ship looks like a toy in a bathtub. The ship stays at the glacier for its allotted few minutes, then turns around and heads out of the inlet. Just as its stern goes out of sight there’s a huge boom from Margerie, the loudest we’ve heard yet. The newborn bergs must be huge; the waves that hit the beach about ten minutes later are larger than any we’ve seen today. The cruise ship was an intrusion, but I’m a little sorry for those passengers: they missed the show. I’m here to take photos, the more the better. But I also need a break from the 24-hour news cycle, constant screen time, and the political turmoil, all of which have me off balance. I just want to be quiet, immersing myself in the sights and sounds of wilderness. My therapy here in Alaska is mountain goat and moose, black and brown bear, whale and porpoise, tern and kittiwake. It is immense glaciers, no two alike, alive with thundering cracks and booms as they calve. It is the crackling hissing sound, like hot oil in a pan, that newly freed ice fragments make as they enter warmer water. It is storm clouds shot through with shafts of sunlight and flamboyant orange-pink sunsets. And then the porpoises show up. On our seventh day out, Brian calls down from the upper deck. “Porpoises!” When I reach the deck, I can see porpoises effortlessly riding the bow wave. The water on both sides of the boat is churning with leaping and splashing Dall Porpoises. There are so many I don’t know where to focus. I want to capture the porpoises as they arc out of the water, but they are so, so fast. In my urgency to get the shot, I barely register their grace and athleticism, how they jostle and ride up over each other to get to the prime spot on the wave. stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
I am like a hound chasing eight rabbits, frenetic and undisciplined. That mindset I wanted to escape—obsessive, rushing, wanting instant gratification— has reared its ugly head here in Glacier Bay. Porpoise rising
Photo by Shannon Finch
And then the porpoises vanish, the water suddenly calm, barely a ripple. It reminds me of kids being called in to dinner, scattering for home in the summer twilight. Such a mystery: how do they
communicate that it’s time to go? Who decides? Where do they go? I get a second chance when the porpoises return a few moments later. This time, I slow down and track one porpoise at a time. I take a few shots, and then put the camera down. Some things just aren’t camera moments. Sometimes, it’s about the bigger picture, the experience of being in the wilderness. Sometimes you have to put the camera down and just be. I stand at the bow, feeling the cold spray on my face as the boat chugs along. I hear the huffs of porpoise breath. Bubbles dot the surface of the water. Porpoises rise up from the depths, their bodies outlined in iridescence. They come together in twos and threes, slip into the bow stream, and then peel off, vanishing into opaque gray water. I have time to marvel at their elegance and speed. In a flash they are gone, this time ANW for good. The Chana Family Invites You to Experience Exceptional Indian Cuisine
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Glaciers 101 Captain Jeffrey pilots the skiff past towering cliffs that block out the sun. Over the motor we can hear the yammering and squawking of hundreds of kittiwakes and gulls fighting for space McBride Inlet on minuscule ledges. We are Photo by John D’Onofrio going to have a closer look at Margerie glacier and her neighbor Grand Pacific. Margerie and Grand Pacific are two of seven tidewater glaciers in Glacier Bay, meaning they end at the sea. As warmer seawater undercuts the glacier, ice breaks off from the face, or “calves,” and crashes into the water. While the glaciers are beautiful to look at in their own right, what we really want to see is calving, preferably in spectacular fashion. Margerie has the reputation of being “active,” meaning she calves regularly. Then there’s poor old Grand Pacific, which is barely active. Where Margerie is flamboyant, all electric blue and crisp white, Grand Pacific is Margerie’s country cousin, his coat drab brown and black debris. Margerie may be flashy, but Grand Pacific lives up to his name, an impressive two miles wide and nearly 35 miles in length, a good portion of which is in British Columbia. In 1992 the two glaciers had merged, but by 2004 they were again separate, as opposite as can be.
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Geology is usually measured in vast amounts of time, but with glaciers we can see geology in action. Changes can happen in the span of a couple hundred years, or even in a person’s lifetime. In 1750, Glacier Bay was all glacier and no bay. The native Tlingit called it Sít’ Tlein, “Big Glacier,” an understatement for sure. It was 4000’ thick and at least 20 miles wide, formed from many rivers of ice converging together and pushing clear out to Icy Strait. When George Vancouver sailed by in 1794, he noted a five-mile indentation in the ice. By the time naturalist John Muir arrived in 1879, the ice had retreated 48 miles up the inlet. Just 37 years later, in 1916, the terminus (end point) of Grand Pacific was at the head of Tarr inlet, as it is today. Margerie is not as large as Grand Pacific, but she’s not small at a mile wide, 250 feet high and 21 miles long. She unfolds before us as we motor along, all spires and columns of blue ice. She was born high in the mountains above, snowflakes piling upon snowflakes in a depression in the rock. Eventually, compressed by its own weight, the snow turned to ice. And then gravity took over, moving the whole mass downhill, shaping the land as she went until she reached the sea. The ice we see on Margerie’s face today is about two hundred years old. Icebergs form an ecosystem all their own. The animals that live here are completely at home in this world; many species of birds perch on the bergs, and otters and harbor seals haul out on flatter ones. The appearance of the bergs gives clues as to their origin and age. White ones are full of trapped air bubbles, while blue ones are dense, and probably recently calved. A greenish-black berg rests on the beach, likely calved from the bottom of a glacier. My favorite is a massive striped one that I name the Zebra because of its dark lines of rock rubble, picked up by its parent glacier as it moved downhill.
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The heartbeat of Cascadia
We watch the Margerie for a long time, skiff bobbing in the water as waves from ice falls reach us. It never gets old; each calving event is exhilarating. Trails of small pieces of ice hiss and pop, like a soda can being opened. This is “bergie seltzer,” and the sound is long-trapped air bubbles popping as the ice melts. The phenomenon isn’t as showy as calving glaciers, but it is just as mind-blowing, knowing that we are breathing in this exhalation of ancient air.
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Paria Canyon Story and photo by John D’Onofrio
S
pringtime is my favorite season to explore the wondrous canyon country of the American Southwest. Of particular interest are the remarkable landscapes that complicate the Utah/Arizona border. Here one finds a plethora of wild hallucinatory rockscapes, bowls of swirling stone waves, weird Insect God formations, deep and narrow canyons that probe the gates of Dante’s backyard. I’ve spent decades exploring this country. One place that I’ve come back to numerous times is Paria Canyon and it’s remarkable tributary, Buckskin Gulch. Buckskin is said to be the longest, deepest slot canyon in the world and when you’re in its majestic and mysterious depths, it’s easy enough to believe. I like to enter the canyon system at the Whitehouse Trailhead and walk down the Paria River. This ingress starts in a relatively wide section of the canyon which gradually restricts and deepens. I like the sense of building drama. Often, one is walking in the river, which is usually not more than shin-deep and easy enough. By the time you reach the confluence with Buckskin, you’re in another world, passing between towering walls that soar a thousand feet overhead, streaked with desert varnish, blocking out the sun. Replacing the direct sunlight is reflected light off the canyon walls, creating a luminous golden glow in the depths. It’s magical. Walking up Buckskin is like trastories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
Field Trip Adventures beyond the PNW
The Confluence: Paria Canyon and Buckskin Gulch
versing the halls of a great museum of geologic art. The walls are carved in intricate sculptural forms and painted with the patina of the Colorado Plateau: red, orange, purple, gold. Sometimes they are close enough together to allow touching both sides
with outstretched hands as you walk. I’ve spent many euphoric days in this canyon system. Every exploration is different, yielding new discoveries and esthetic delights. It’s become sort of a Rite of Spring for me, an opportunity, as they say, to dive deep. ANW The heartbeat of Cascadia
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Cascadia Gear:
Gear Spotlight: An Ultralight Sleep System
Essentials for your next Adventure
by Chris Gerston
Yep, I’m a weight geek. I may not drill holes in my toothbrush or cut straps off my pack, but playing the game of cutting grams in the right places helps me push through challenging trips as I get older. In general though, sleep is so important that my sleeping bag and pad warrant careful consideration.
San Juan Islands: A Boater’s Guidebook I’ve spent a lot of time poking around the San Juans and thus greeted the publication of San Juan Islands: A Boater’s Guidebook (Blue Latitude Press) with great expectations. I am happy to report that this 288-page volume has raised the bar on boating guides to these magical islands. The book is filled with highly-detailed and practical information including great maps and photos; and is written with an obvious passion for this stunning archipelago by authors Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer. The scope of the book is impressive, covering all the most popular anchorages as well as many off-the-beaten-path destinations, and includes more than 70 GPS accurate charts. A bonus: the book is spiral-bound to lay flat, a thoughtful and useful feature for use in the cockpit.
Perhaps the sleeping bag that I am most excited about this spring season is the Rab Neutrino SL Quilt for $260. This quilt uses hydrophobic, 800-fill power, European goose down and weighs less than 17 ounces. The temperature rating is approximately 30 degrees, but sleeping in a quilt with a foot-box is a bit draftier. I counter this by sleeping in layers that I have along with me since it makes no sense to take off perfectly good insulation to crawl into a big sleeping bag when you can combine clothing and a lighter bag to save weight and gain versatility. The other part of keeping warm while sleeping is dependent on the type of pad you use. All sleeping bags assume a pad as part of their warmth rating because without one the cold ground below will sap warmth regardless of how much insulation may be on top. Even during our summers, I highly recommend insulated pads over the lighter alternatives. The NEMO Tensor insulated 20R is three inches thick and weighs 15 ounces. By using a metalized fabric airframe and Primaloft insulation this 3-season pad is quiet and protects from bumpy ground intrusions.
More info: www.bluelatitudepress.com
ULA Circuit Backpack I’ve been working to lighten my backpacking load for some time. The last link in the chain has been the backpack itself. At a mere 41 ounces, the ULA Circuit is a full three pounds lighter than my old pack. So far it’s been the best combination of light weight, durability and comfort. I’m particularly impressed with the design of the hip belt. Each side has upper and lower straps. Cinching the upper straps tighter keeps the belt from sliding down your hips (like my old pack would do). It has plenty of room and carrying 30 pounds is quite comfortable. A bonus is that it’s lighter than my current day pack. It cinches down quite a bit for smaller loads, so is perfect for day hikes as well. The ULA Circuit, one pack to rule them all.
Chris Gerston owns Backcountry Essentials, an outdoor specialty shop located at 214 W. Holly in Bellingham, WA. Check out more of Chris’ gear reviews at AdventuresNW.com Sponsored review
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that as spring unfolds I watch the trees every day see the luster emerge like the varnish of angels days and weeks I walk in the quiet forest and yet suddenly one day all at once like a magic trick the world is green
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31 March - 12 May
Dates
MARCH >>>
RACE I PLAY I EXPERIENCE CALENDAR groomed trails. Gorgeous medals and chocolate finish area.
Saturday, 31 March RUN/WALK Spring Run for Fun–– Redmond Watershed Preserve, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm. Great novice race: easy trails over flat to gently-rolling terrain. 5mi, 10mi, Half, and Marathon.
APRIL >>> Saturday, 14 April RUN/WALK Spring Eagle Trail Run––Soaring Eagle Regional Park, 8:30 am – 4:00 pm. Fun, twisting single-track trails over flat to gentlyrolling terrain. 5mi, 10mi, Half, 20mi, and Marathon. RUN/WALK Mud and Chocolate Trail Runs Spring Weekend–– Redmond Watershed Preserve, 9:00 am – 11:00 am. 4.5 Mile run on groomed trails with chocolate finish area.
Sunday, 15 April RUN/WALK Mud and Chocolate Trail Runs Spring Weekend–– Redmond Watershed Preserve, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm. Half marathon on
Saturday, 21 April SPECIAL Boating Safety Classes––Squalicum Yacht Club, Bellingham, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm. Boating Safely classes offered on April 21, June 9, or July 21. This class qualifies you to get a Washington State Boating Education Card which is required to operate a powered boat in Washington. Learn or review many aspects of safe boating. Learn about required safety items, rules of the road, navigation signs and sound and more.
Saturday, 28 April CYCLING 15th Annual Tour de Lopez––Lopez Center for Community and the Arts, 8:30 am – 3:00 pm. Experience the 15th Annual “Tour de Lopez”. This ride is a non-competitive rural road tour with a variety of route lengths, through the scenic landscape of Lopez. Come enjoy Lopez Island in the spring. A great family event. Besides the
ride, BBQ and music on Saturday, you can enjoy the 5th Annual Bite of Lopez and other local activities on Friday. Be sure to register early as this is a sell-out event with limited registration.
Tuesday, 8 May
RUN/WALK Rattlesnake Ridge Run––Rattlesnake Lake Recreation Area, 8:30 am – 2:00 pm. Point-topoint trail Half Marathon over iconic Rattlesnake Ridge. 5-mile on fast and wide trails.
SPECIAL Skagit Spring Classic–– Bayview Elementary School, 7:00 am – 4:00 pm. Starting point – Bayview Elementary School, Burlington, Washington. Ride opens at 07:00 am. Join us for the 28th edition of Skagit Bicycle Club’s Spring Classic. Our fully supported bicycle ride through northern Skagit and southern Whatcom counties features splendid rural, forest, and marine views, plus homemade cookies at our well-stocked rest stops. Four courses to choose from – 25, 45, 62, and 100 mile.
Sunday, 29 April SPECIAL Street Scramble Capitol Hill––Capitol Hill Neighborhood, 9:30 am – 2:00 pm. Run, walk, or ride solo or with friends to find checkpoints marked on a map.
MAY >>> Sunday, 6 May RUN/WALK Lake Hills 50k Relay –– Lake Hills Greenbelt, start at Shoesn-Feet, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm. Teams of 2-5 race 10x 5k laps through Lake Hills Greenbelt. Also, solo 5k, 50k.
RUN/WALK Woodland Park Zoom––Woodland Park, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm. 5k and 10k race over grass and lightly-wooded trails. Well-marked course, timing, snacks.
Saturday, 12 May
RUN/WALK Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series #1––Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. 5.1-mile and 10.8-mile races on beautiful trails raise money for King County Parks.
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1317 Commercial St. #203 • Bellingham, WA
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19 May - 3 June
BELLINGHAM
TRAVERSE
Saturday, 19 May RUN/WALK Tiger Mountain Trail Run––Tiger Mountain State Forest, 8:30 am – 5:30 pm. 5k, 12k, Half, and 50k races on well-marked trails. Aid, timing, snacks, and prizes.
Sunday, 20 May RUN/WALK Rhody Run #40––Fort Worden State Park, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm. 12k & 6k run/walk starting & finishing at Fort Worden State Park.
Tuesday, 22 May RUN/WALK Wilburton Hillbilly Trail Run––Wilburton Hill Park, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm. 4k, 8k, and 12k trail runs over well-marked park trails. Timing, snacks, and prizes.
Saturday, 26 May SPECIAL Street Scramble Gig Harbor––Donkey Creek Park, 9:30 am – 2:00 pm. Run, walk, or ride solo or with friends to find fun checkpoints. FREE.
Sunday, 27 May
September 15th
SPECIAL Ski to Sea ––Mt. Baker to Bellingham Bay, 7:30 am – 7:00 pm. America’s largest multi-sport relay race happens right here in your own backyard! Ski to Sea is a 93-mile course from
Mount Baker to Marine Park in Fairhaven and features seven sports; Cross County skiing, Downhill Skiing/Snowboarding, Running, Road Biking, Canoeing, Cyclocross Biking and Sea Kayaking. Teams are comprised of 3-8 racers and there are 15 divisions to choose from. Whether you race, volunteer or spectate, we hope you’ll join us for the 46th annual Race!
JUNE >>> Saturday, 2 June SPECIAL The Teanaway Navigation Race––Teanaway Community Forest, 9:00 am – 6:30 pm. Find as many checkpoints as you can in 2, 4, or 8 hours. Free intro. RUN/WALK Girls on the Run 5k––Lake Padden, 9:00 am – 11:00 am. Community Fun Run celebrating confident, strong, hard-working youth. Open to everyone!
Sunday, 3 June SPECIAL Bellingham SwimRun ––Lake Padden Park, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. Bellingham SwimRun is the Northwest’s original SwimRun. Utilizing Lake Padden and the beautiful forested trails that surround the lake, participants are treated to
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RACE | PLAY | EXPERIENCE
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3 June (cont.) - 26 June an inspiring and challenging course. You have your choice of the 15 km sprint length event (yes in the world of SwimRun, 15 km is a sprint), or the beginner friendly 5 km super sprint. Come see why so many people are talking about SwimRun. RUN/WALK The Teanaway Trail Run––Teanaway Community Forest, 8:00 am – 3:30 pm. 5k, 10k, Half, and Marathon on the sunny side of the Cascades. Wildflowers, snacks, prizes.
Wednesday, 6 June RUN/WALK The Big Run–– Interlaken Park, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm. 5k on mix of flat pavement and hilly trails. Fun evening with Fleet Feet Sports.
Friday-Saturday, 8-9 June RUN/WALK Ross Lake Rally–– North Cascades, June 8, 4:00 pm – June 9, 9:00 pm. 50K and 25K runs along the East Bank Trail in the North Cascades National Park.
Saturday, 9 June RUN/WALK Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series #2––Cougar Mountain
Regional Wildland Park, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm. 5k, 8.2mi, and 14.5mi races on beautiful trails raise money for King County Parks.
Tuesday, 12 June RUN/WALK Ravenna Run the Ravine––Ravenna Park, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm. 4k, 8k, and 12k trail runs over well-marked park trails. Timing, snacks, and prizes.
Saturday, 16 June RUN/WALK St. Edward Sunset Trail Run––St. Edward State Park, 8:00 pm – 10:30 pm. Race the sunset in this beautiful 4-mile and 8-mile forest run. Timing, snacks, and prizes.
Friday-Sunday, 15-17 June RUN/WALK Desolation Duo–– North Cascades, Jun 15, 4:00 pm – Jun 17, 10:30 am. 50 Miler and Marathon, run Desolation Peak the East Bank Trail in the North Cascades.
Tuesday, 26 June RUN/WALK Sunshine Salutation Trail Run––Redmond Watershed Preserve, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm Great
Start a historic northwest adventure at seattle.gov/light/SkagitTours/ADNW
You can also sign up or learn more by visiting the Skagit Information Center in Newhalem (open 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Fridays and weekends in June, daily starting June 29), or by calling (360) 854-2589.
360.676.1977 • www.lithtexnw.com
event listings at AdventuresNW.com
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26 June (cont.) - 27 September novice 5mi or 10mi race: Easy trails, flat to gently-rolling terrain, snacks, and prizes.
JULY >>> Sunday, 8 July SPECIAL Street Scramble Bellingham––Whatcom Family YMCA, 10:00 am – 2:30 pm. Run, walk, or ride solo or with friends to find checkpoints marked on a map.
Tuesday, 10 July RUN/WALK Carkeek Warmer Trail Run––Carkeek Park, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm. 5k and 10k over well-marked trails along a salmon stream. Timing, snacks, and prizes.
Saturday, 14 July
tandem riders. Registration now open.
Chocolate at the finish!
RUN/WALK Lord Hill Pie High Trail Run––Lord Hill Regional Park, 9:30 am – 1:30 pm. 5k, 10k, and Half Marathon runs on hilly course. Pie and prizes at the finish.
Saturday, 18 August
Sunday, 22 July RUN/WALK Street Scramble Everett––Everett Family YMCA, 9:30 am – 2:00 pm. Run, walk, or ride solo or with friends to find checkpoints marked on a map.
Tuesday, 24 July RUN/WALK Seward Sizzler Trail Run––Seward Park, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm. 4.2mi and 10k runs over wellmarked trails in old growth forest. Timing, snacks, and prizes.
RUN/WALK Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series #3––Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, 9:00 am – 3:30 pm. 5k, 10.8mi, and 19.5mi races on beautiful trails raise money for King County Parks.
Saturday, 28 July
RUN/WALK Mud & Chocolate Bite Size Trail Run––Robinswood Park, 8:00 am – 10:00 am. 3 Mile trail run and half mile kids dash. Chocolate finish medals!
AUGUST >>>
Saturday, 21 July CYCLING Tour de Whatcom–– Boundary Bay Brewery, 7:00 am – 5:30 pm. The Northwest’s most beautiful ride! With four different rides ranging from 22 to 100 miles, we offer something for every member of the family. You’ll see Lake Whatcom, Mt Baker, valleys, rivers, farmland and beaches. This is a supported ride (not a race) with rest stops and a celebration at the Boundary Bay Beer Garden after the rides. Proceeds benefit WMBC and other local charities. Special rates for families and
TRIATHLON Whidbey Island Triathlon––South Whidbey Island, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm. Scenic course: .5 mile lake swim, 19.5 mile ride, 3.8 mile run with forest trails.
Tuesday, 7 August RUN/WALK Summer Eddy Trail Run––St. Edward State Park, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm. 4mi and 8mi runs over well-marked trails in beautiful forest. Timing, snacks, and prizes.
Saturday, 11 August RUN/WALK Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series #4––Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, 8:30 am – 3:30 pm. 5k, 14.5mi, and 26.2mi races on beautiful trails raise money for King County Parks.
Sunday, 12 August RUN/WALK Mud & Chocolate Trail Runs, Soaring Eagle––Soaring Eagle Park, 8:00 am – 12:00 pm. Half Marathon and 4.5 Mile trail runs.
Fun with the Fuzz 5K
RUN/WALK Summer Blast @ Redmond Watershed––Redmond Watershed Preserve, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm. Great novice race: easy trails over flat to gently-rolling terrain. 5mi, 10mi, Half, and Marathon.
Tuesday, 21 August RUN/WALK Interlaken Ice Cream Dash––Interlaken Park, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm. 5k and 10k on mix of flat pavement and hilly trails. Finish timing, snacks, prizes.
Sunday, 26 August CYCLING Chuckanut Classic–– Boundary Bay Brewery, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm. The Chuckanut Classic (formerly Chuckanut Century) is the Mount Baker Bicycle Club’s signature ride. Come join us and ride one of the most scenic rides in Washington. With many routes offered you can pick your distance ranging from 25, 38, 62, or the full century of 100 miles. If you’d rather bring your family on a shorter guided ride, join the family-friendly 10-mile jaunt with treats, entertainment, and other on-route stops and surprises for kids.
SEPTEMBER >>> Saturday, 8 September RUN/WALK Middle Fork Trail Run––Middle Fork Snoqualmie Trailhead, 8:00 am – 6:00 pm. 10k, Half, 22mi, and 50k races on well-marked trails in a breathtaking mountain valley.
Wednesday-Sunday, 12-16 September RUN/WALK North Cascades
Traill Running Festival and Symposium––Mt. Baker Lodge, Sep 12, 3:00 pm – Sep 16, 10:00 am. “Festival 542” is a 3 day trail running retreat hosted by Aspire Adventure Running. From a basecamp at the historic Mt. Baker Lodge set to a pristine fall backdrop this event invites runners to 3 days of running and exploring trails to glaciers, alpine summits, and remote ridges in the North Cascades National Park and Mt Baker Wilderness. Lodging and meals included along with evening seminar style presentations from local ethnobotanists, wildlife specialists, and athletes.
Friday-Sunday, 21-23 September RUN/WALK Whatcom Passage–– North Cascades, Sep 21, 4:00 pm – Sep 23, 12:00 pm. 50 Miler North Cascades Traverse from Ross Lake, over Whatcom and Hannegan Pass to Hwy-542.
Saturday, 22 September RUN/WALK Paradise Valley Trail Run––Paradise Valley Conservation Area, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm. 5k, 10k, and Half Marathon races on a forested plateau. Finish timing, snacks, and prizes.
Sunday, 23 September SPECIAL Street Scramble Fremont Oktoberfest––Fremont Neighborhood, N 35th St & Phinney Ave N, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. Run or walk, solo or with friends to find checkpoints marked on a map.
Thursday-Sunday, 27-30 September RUN/WALK Stehekin––Stehekin Valley Ranch, Sep 27, 9:00 am – Sep 30, 5:00 pm. Stehekin is the perfect late
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27 September (cont.) - 15 December summer running destination. This remote village sequestered along the shores of Lake Chelan, surrounded by the formidable peaks and crags of the North Cascades, is only accessed by boat, plane, OR, a network of trails through the national park. Join Aspire on a 3-day, 50 mile running retreat to this beautiful valley awash in fall foliage.
Saturday, 29 September RUN/WALK Run with the Kokanee––TBA,9:30 am – 12:00 pm. Flat and fast 5k and 10k races in Issaquah. Supports Trout Unlimited’s habitat recovery work.
OCTOBER >>> Saturday, 6 October RUN/WALK Moran Constitutional Relay––Moran State Park, 7:30 am – 7:30 pm. Epic 70 mile, 12-leg relay on breathtaking Orcas Island. Teams of 2-6 runners. Meals included.
Saturday, 20 October RUN/WALK Whidbey Woods Trail Run––Putney Woods, 9:30 am – 1:00 pm. 5k, 10k, and Half Marathon races
on beautiful forest trails. Finish timing, snacks, and prizes. SPECIAL Whidbey Woods Checkpoint Run––Putney Woods, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. Navigate to find checkpoints and finish as many loops as you can in 6 hours.
Sunday, 28 October RUN/WALK Cougar Mountain 50k Trail Run––Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm. 50k, 19.5mi and 7.6mi races on beautiful trails raise money for King County Parks.
NOVEMBER >>> Saturday, 3 November RUN/WALK Carkeek Cooler Trail Run––Carkeek Park, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm. 5k and 10k over well-marked trails along a salmon stream. Timing, snacks, and prizes.
Saturday, 17 November RUN/WALK Ravenna Refresher Trail Run––Ravenna Park, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm. 4k, 8k, and 12k trail runs over well-marked park trails. Timing, snacks, and prizes.
DECEMBER >>> Saturday, 1 December RUN/WALK Redmond Reindeer Romp Trail Run––Redmond Watershed Preserve, 9:30 am – 1:00 pm. Great novice race: easy trails over flat to gentlyrolling terrain. 5mi and Half Marathon.
Saturday, 8 December SPECIAL Street Scramble at the
Market––Pike Place Market, 9:30 am – 1:00 pm. Run or walk, solo or with friends to find checkpoints marked on a map.
Saturday, 15 December RUN/WALK Seward Solstice Trail Run––Seward Park, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm. 4.2mi and 10k runs over wellmarked trails in old growth forest. Timing, snacks, and prizes. ANW
FIND Adventures NW is available free at hundreds of locations region-wide: throughout Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, and Island counties, at select spots in Snohomish, King, and Pierce counties, and in Leavenworth, the Methow Valley, Spokane, and Wenatchee. The magazine is also available at REI locations across Washington and Oregon as well as at numerous locations in the Vancouver, BC metro area, at races and events, at area visitor centers. SUBSCRIBE Receive Adventures NW via mail anywhere in the US or Canada. Visit AdventuresNW.com/subscribe for subscription info. ADVERTISE Let Adventures NW magazine help you reach a diverse, receptive audience throughout the Pacific Northwest, and be part of one of the most valued and engaging publications in the region. Info is at AdventuresNW.com/advertise or by writing to ads @ AdventuresNW.com. CONTRIBUTE Adventures NW welcomes original article queries—including feature stories, expert advice, photo essays, the Next Adventure shot, etc. For information: AdventuresNW.com/contribute. EVENTS Have your outdoor-related event, race or public outing listed in the quarterly
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HELP GIRLS ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS Become a Girls on the Run Coach Contact Jen or Sharon, 360-255-0517 WHATCOM FAMILY YMCA event listings at AdventuresNW.com
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Cape Disappointment photo by KEVIN RUSSELL Hearing that there was a winter storm heading for the coast, a few friends and I headed for Cape Disappointment, a favorite place to photograph big waves. The incoming tide brought massive swells, one of which lifted a wall of driftwood and drove it to where we were standing. A couple of people were knocked over but nobody was hurt. After that it was too dangerous to stay around for more! The park rangers asked everyone to leave the area and helped people gather their gear and get back to their cars safely. We had come for massive waves—and we were definitely not disappointed! See more of Kevin Russell’s photography at krbackwoodsphotography.com
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