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CONTRIBUTORS
SPRING | 2014 Volume 9. Issue 1
Javier Acosta is an award-winning, nationally published nature photographer whose work has appeared in Outdoor Photographer, Popular Photography, American Photo, Tahoe Weekly, Digital Camera World and many others. His goal is to promote and share the beauty of nature. When he’s not exploring nature’s elements, he’s spending time with his number one passion - his family. Visit his website at www. javieracostaphotography.com Amanda Baltazar is a freelance writer based in Anacortes. Her adventures have taken her across the globe, including six months tramping around Australia and New Zealand. These days she explores the Pacific Northwest with her husband and daughter. Amanda writes for a variety of publications including Parents and Restaurant Business. Sue Cottrell was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. Photography is one of the ways she shows her appreciation of this wondrous corner of the world in which we live. Other interests include the study and research of raptors, any activity that will get her outdoors, and her newest passion, her 11-month old granddaughter. Jennifer Johnson often yearns for some peace and quiet in her life as a home-schooling mama of two curious and insatiable kids. She’s also known as The Hiker Mama and blogs about her adventures with her family at thehikermama.com. Lisa McShane is an oil painter focused on capturing light, land and water. Her paintings are in collections throughout the Northwest and one of her paintings is on loan to the US Embassy in Yemen. She lives in Bellingham with her husband Dan; a geologist, and they travel to see geology and to paint.
A bicyclist, backpacker, kayaker, and regular contributor to Adventures NW, Laural Ringler has published almost 80 articles. Her bike touring has ranged from double overnights on San Juan Island or the Sunshine Coast, to six weeks riding from Eugene to San Diego with kids and husband. An avid cyclist, Spokane-based outdoors writer Aaron Theisen has spent many an hour riding into the wind in eastern Washington. He’s currently working on Day Hiking Mt. St. Helens for Mountaineers Books. Dave Tucker is a director of the Mount Baker Volcano Research Center and also a research associate in the geology department at Western Washington University. Dave studies Baker geology, in particular the distribution of volcanic ash. He gives many public presentations about the geology of northwest Washington. His book, Geology Underfoot in Western Washington, a “people’s field guide”, will be published in Fall 2014. He lives in Bellingham.
COVER PHOTO: Shi-Shi Beach, Olympic National Park by John D’Onofrio
A Look Ahead: Our Summer Issue Overnight Paddling Trips Trails and Brews
Cami Ostman is the author of Second Wind: One Woman’s Midlife Quest to Run Seven Marathons on Seven Continents (Seal Press) and is a longstanding member of the Greater Bellingham Running Club. She is a writing coach, family therapist, and the co-director of the Wind Horse Half Marathon. She lives in Bellingham, Washington.
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INSPIRATIONS IN THIS ISSUE
When Mt. Baker Erupts
Dave Tucker
10
Laural Ringler
16
Hiking the Olympic Coast
John D’Onofrio
20
A Celebration of Wonder
Sue Cottrell
26
Gordon Hempton’s Quest for Quiet
Jennifer Johnson
28
The Art of Falling
Cami Ostman
32
Amanda Baltazar
36
Aaron Theisen
38
A Cautionary Tale
Short and Sweet Overnight Bike Trips
Walking on the Edge
Chasing Silence
Up in the Air Discovering Your Inner Ninja
Ride Like the Wind Cycling the Palouse
“If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.” - Erica Jong
Out & About eARTh: The Art of Nature Cascadia Gear Race | Play | Experience Calendar Advertiser Index Next Adventure
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DESTINATIONS
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ADVENTURES nw > 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 all REI locations in Washington and Oregon as well as at numerous locations in the Vancouver, BC metro area and through races and events and at area visitor centers. > SUBSCRIBE Receive Adventures NW
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SPRING | 2014 Volume 9. Issue 1
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Risk Management S
ome years ago, I had an amazing experience. I was in Indonesia on the island of Bali, travelling with my family. We had been exploring the landscapes and culture of this amazing island, completely spellbound by the unfamiliar. We heard talk about some islands off the coast of Lombok (the next island in the Indonesian archipelago), the Gili Islands. From what we heard, the Gilis sounded remarkable. Tropical white sand beaches and a kaleidoscope of off-shore reefs. No cars (transportation was provided by horse-drawn wagons). Intermittent electricity. Bamboo huts with thatched roofs. It sounded like a vision of paradise, a place forgotten by the modern world. We were determined to go. And so it was that we found ourselves crossing the Lombok Strait in outrigger fishing canoes, each captained by a snaggle-toothed Balinese fisherman. Tattered blue tarps for sails. No radio, PFD’s, or navigational equipment. Our gear was wrapped in tarps as waves broke over the bow at regular intervals. The voyage took us across the Wallace Line, the demarcation between Asia and Australasia and home to some of the strongest currents in that part of the world. Out in the middle of the strait, no land could be seen in any direction. It was like being in the middle of the Java Sea. We were really out there. Of course, if anything went wrong, we would be in serious trouble. The weather was unpredictable and the waters were full of sharks. But, after four hours on the tiny boats we arrived on the bucolic beach of Gili Trawangan, safe and sound - and inspired! The week we spent visiting these islands was a highlight of my life and the joy of being there was greatly enhanced by that remarkable voyage across the sea. I was reminded of this experience while reading Cami Ostman’s wonderful meditation on risk, The Art of Falling in this issue. “Careful just isn’t any fun,” she says. “And it doesn’t teach us anything about ourselves.” Risk is truly a great teacher. When we put ourselves in positions where we could fail spectacularly, something extraordinary happens. Our awareness is heightened and senses sharpened. We experience the world without being on autopilot, which, for most of us, is how we spend much of our time on this green spinning planet. stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
When we succeed, we are strengthened and exhilarated by the accomplishment. When we fail, we gain insight and knowledge that would otherwise be unavailable to us. Hopefully, we don’t get eaten by sharks. This is not to say that we should throw caution to the winds. We are, of course, wise to be prepared for the challenges that we take on and mindful of whatever risks exist. But embracing risk as part of the landscape opens up new possibilities. Sadly, our modern world has become a place where risk is to be avoided at all costs. Sure, this keeps us safe, in a fashion. But it also keeps us small. Taking risks allows us to deepen our experiences, and expand our sense of being alive. And, for people who are interested in living life to the fullest - as Cami says - it’s really the only choice.
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Out&About
Get Ready to ‘Rock’ in the Chuckanuts
and giant boulders near the Cyrus Gates Overlook,” Wilcox continues, “we realized that a new trail here would not only create a couple of great hiking loops with some high-end scenery, but also improve access to Lost Lake for both the public and Larrabee State Park staff whose charge it is
Almost 20 years in the works, The Rock Trail, a new trail in the Chuckanuts is ready for prime time. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, April 26 at 10 a.m. at the Cyrus Gates Overlook (at the end of Cleator/ Highline Rd.) in Larrabee State Park. The new route, which connects the overlook with Lost Lake is a marvel of trail engineering. From the trailhead it descends a steep slope on a succession of staircases beside mossand fern-draped overhanging rock outcroppings, arriving at Lost Lake in only 1.2 miles. The idea for the trail was first formulated in the mid-90’s, as part of an ambitious trail planning effort for the Chuckanut Range. A steering committee consisting of a number of agencies, groups and volunteers and led by Whatcom County Parks envisioned a direct link to Lost Lake from the end of Cleator Rd. Other routes to the lake follow notably circuitous routes. The Rock Trail The trail had its genesis in “a year Photo by John Palmer of lively meetings and many miles of traipsing and brush-bashing across to manage and steward this remote area.” the Chuckanut Realm,” explains trail Years went by. Other trails were built, activist-consultant-guidebook author including the Raptor Ridge and Hemlock Ken Wilcox, who was involved from the Trails, both now among the most popular very beginning. “We sorted through the in the Chuckanuts. options for boots, wheels and hooves, Fast forward to 2010. Wilcox was then settled on a final plan. back up on Chuckanut Ridge, exploring “It truly was an exciting vision for potential routes. By the end of that sumhow to enjoy and preserve a place people mer he had developed a detailed proposal deeply care about,” he says. “It was a little for the new trail and presented it to Scott like romance.” Chalfant, Park Manager at Larrabee State The idea for the Rock Trail emerged Park. A site visit was scheduled, and in from this trail-based love affair. “After exJanuary, 2011 the trail was approved. ploring a gorgeous corridor of cliff bands Fourteen years after it was envisioned, the 8
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Rock Trail was finally going to become a reality. The following spring, several work parties were scheduled and construction began in earnest. The Bellingham REI store came forward with a $4,000 grant to the Chuckanut Conservancy to help pay for tools, materials and some professional stairway design and construction assistance from Acme-based trail-building expert Russ Pfieffer-Hoyt. These stairways proved to be the key to making the trail possible - seventeen stairways with more than 100 steps were constructed to facilitate access down the series of towering cliffs and massive boulders. This work was undertaken by scores of volunteers, led by Arlen Bogaards, Northwest Regional Manager of the Washington Trails Association (WTA). Bogaards had been with the WTA since 2004 and became the organization’s Mt. Baker crew lead in 2007. The WTA supplied more than 2,000 volunteer hours working on the Rock Trail. “ This trail has been an amazing collaboration of local groups coming together to build the most amazing trail in the Larrabee trails network,” Bogaards says. “After seeing the rock formations and cliff bands I knew that others should be able to admire these natural phenomena in our back yard.” Organizations like the WTA have become vital in building and maintaining trails in Washington State. “With shrinking budgets on a State and Federal level, land agencies are just not able to fund simple maintenance - let alone construction of new trails,” Bogaards explains. “Without the help of volunteers, our >>> Go to AdventuresNW.com
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Parks and Public Lands would fall into a state of severe disrepair.” Funding for State Parks has declined dramatically in recent years from $94.5 million to a current level of $8.5 million. Additional volunteers from the Mount Baker Club and the Chuckanut Conservancy pitched in. All told, more than 100 individuals helped in the construction. On April 26, when the trail is officially opened, local hikers will be able to enjoy one of the most spectacular routes in the Chuckanuts, thanks to the wealth of volunteerism and community spirit that - despite constantly diminishing funding - is alive and well in the Chuckanuts. ANW Visit AdventuresNW.com for complete listings of Outdoor events.
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When Mount Baker Erupts A Cautionary Tale Story by Dave Tucker
I
t started gradually.
In late May, four little earthquakes were detected on two consecutive days beneath Mount Baker by the one working seismometer on the volcano’s flanks (the second, damaged by winter storms, had not been repaired due to budget cuts). Just little earthquakes, you’d never feel them. Two days later there were a dozen more, and the telemetered signals caused scientists at the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network and Cascade Volcano Observatory to sit up. By the end of the week swarms of tremors were detected; the largest was magnitude 1.2. Multiple instruments would be needed to help locate the depth of the tremors. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) convinced the Forest Service to short circuit the permitting process so a Western Washington University (WWU) geology professor could imme10
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diately install two of her instruments with student attendants at road heads. Her instruments couldn’t send data via modem link, but could be downloaded daily to laptops. On June 4, there were hundreds of earthquakes. The largest had a magnitude of 3.5, by far the largest earthquake ever recorded at Baker and depths were estimated at 3.5 miles. More seismometers from USGS and WWU were installed. Two weeks after the first earthquakes a large, discolored steam plume rose several thousand feet above Sherman Crater. The next day the plume was larger, very visible from the lowlands and mini-earthquakes occurred many times a day, two miles below the surface. Similar precursory activity had occurred at other volcanoes that had erupted over the past few decades: Mount St. Helens in 1980 and 2004, Redoubt and Spurr in Alaska, and now it was happening at Mount Baker. Recent geologic studies of Baker’s
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and built the terrace where Deming sits. past eruption deposits indicated ash could These flows originated in rock weakened erupt. There was an outside chance of lava by acidic sulfurous gases rising from flows. A monstrous explosive blast like St. magma into the mountain. The chemiHelens in 1980 wasn’t expected because the chemistry and behavior of the magma at the two Vigorous fumarole activity inside the Sherman Crater attests to the presence of hot magma below the volcano volcanoes was different. The Photo by John Scurlock principal hazards preserved in Baker’s geologic record were gigantic landslides from the volcano’s upper slopes which transformed in river valleys to form lahars. These thick flows of mud, boulders, trees and ice had swept repeatedly down the volcano into adjacent valleys, inundating Park, Boulder, Rocky, and Sulphur creeks. The largest lahar occurred around 6800 years ago. It swept down the cal alteration turns solid rock into clay, Middle Fork of the Nooksack River and lubricates layers between solidified lava left over 30 feet of mud, boulders and logs flows, and makes great thicknesses of the at the modern site of Nugent’s Corner
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volcano susceptible to gravity-induced sliding - and no eruption required! Baker had briefly sputtered in 1975, when heat output increased substantially. A hole had melted through the 100-foot-thick ice in Sherman Crater, 1000 feet below the summit on the volcano’s south flank, revealing a muddy, bubbling lake. Dirty clouds of rotten-egg smelling steam rose much higher than usual. A dozen volcanologists kept watch and tested new instruments. No seismicity was detected, but then no seismometers were installed until after the main events had occurred. Magma was probably injected into the mountain’s depths and heated saturated rock in the volcano but never reached the surface. The blasting steam had only reamed old
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lah ar
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rock off the sides of the crater’s fumarole was closed at Glacier. Residents of this vents. Monitoring methods perfected at valley town feared the economic pinch as Baker proved useful five years later at St. hikers and die-hard back-country skiers Helens. no longer came up the valley. But they Now, 40 years later, seismicity inwere replaced by hordes come to watch creased almost Grant Peak N daily. The combiand summit Roman nation of so many plateau ridge of Wall seismic signals and altered ndslid increased heat at - la lava the crater indicated that toothpasteerm an Crater thick andesitic Day 24magma was maknew crater ing its way upward by fracturing rock Deming below the volcano. Pooch Peak Glacier The operators of the Upper Baker Dam on Baker Lake lowered the Easton Glacier reservoir level to accommodate possible lahars, as Likely site of the new crater and Lahar path they had done in Photo by John Scurlock, Illustration by Dave Tucker 1975. The mountain was closed to climbers, to the dismay of fully-booked the volcano and buy souvenir t-shirts, guiding companies. The Middle Fork even if you couldn’t see much from the Nooksack and Baker Lake roads were north side. closed at road blocks and patrolled by The upper slope of the the Whatcom and Skagit County mountain was now noticeably Sheriff’s Departments. The dark even from the lowlands, Mount Baker Highway no longer mantled in pristine snow. Flown in by helicopter, nervous scientists sampled the dark material at the west crater rim, but found it was, like 1975, not fresh ash. Several GPS instruments sending data in real time were placed high on the mountain by
USGS scientists and Mount Baker Volcano Research Center (MBVRC) volunteers to determine if the mountain was swelling outward from intruding magma. An aircraft with gas-detecting sensors flew around Sherman Crater when weather permitted, sniffing for changing chemiSherman Peak cal compositions, which might give more clues about the nature of the possible eruption. Dirty plumes fumed upward daily. The ice in Sherman Crater began to fracture; fumaroles multiplied and grew larger. The lake reappeared through a hole melted in the ice. Twenty four days after the first little earthquakes and on the first evening of clear weather in a week, pilot John Scurlock photographed a gaping 450-foot-wide pit in the glacier just outside the west rim of Sherman Crater. The pit undercut the base of the Roman Wall and the 500-foot cliff of acid-altered lava flows on its eastern margin. Vigorous outbursts of dark steam roared out and fractured ice ringed the rim. Ten-foot high rock blocks on the mud-spattered glacier around the pit spoke of the force
Another day at the office. Dave Tucker in the Sherman Crater Photo by John Scurlock
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behind the steam blasts that reamed out of this new crater. On the next day, Scurlock watched from a distance as a series of steam blasts blew out the east rim of this new crater in a shower of mud and rocks as it merged with Sherman Crater. At dawn on Day 26 a gigantic landslide carried away a 200-foot-thick slice of the Roman Wall and the overhanging lava cliffs, including the overlying icy mantle. The landslide, several hundred feet across, roared down the Deming Glacier, plugged the pit, entrained saturated snow, ripped up more glacier ice at ice falls and transformed into a concretelike slurry of mud with huge slabs of rock. The 75-foot-deep lahar pitched off the terminus of the Deming Glacier to enter the Middle Fork Nooksack River. The lahar grew larger as it added more clay, sand and boulders from the river channel and the collapsing steep moraine walls lining the valley. Garage-sized boulders were carried in the steep-fronted slug of sodden sediment as it raced at 30 miles per
hour beyond the Elbow Lake trail ford. Three yahoos from a national outdoor magazine snuck into the valley via gated roads in the Twin Sisters Range and were camped at the river’s edge. They were engulfed and never seen again. Though the lahar thinned to only 10 feet, the low-slung bridge crossing the river towards the Twin Sisters and the olivine mine was smashed by surging logs. The lahar finally ran out of momentum 14 miles beyond its starting point, dropping the last of its load of boulders and cobbles. Dense muddy water continued downstream beyond the City of Bellingham’s water diversion tunnel to Lake Whatcom. The log-choked river overwhelmed the diversion dam, battered down the sluice gates and filled the tunnel with gritty mud, rendering it unusable. Thus ended the decades-long dispute with the Nooksack Tribe over the effect of the city’s water diversion on tribal fishing rights. The muddy torrent joined the North
Fork at Welcome and raised river levels all the way to the delta. The lahar’s rumbling was detected far up the valley by a series of telemetered acoustic monitors installed by the USGS to provide a warning that a lahar was on the way. Four weeks into the renewed activity, gas-rich magma burst through the landslide debris in the new crater. For four hours, Baker’s new crater erupted repeatedly with dark roiling bursts of ash rising 3.5 miles into the atmosphere. Blocks of hot rock fell onto the volcano’s upper slopes, punching craters in the snow. The prevailing wind carried sandy ash to the north and east, showering four inches on Artist Point, an inch at Marblemount, and a half inch at Newhalem and Hope, B.C. – more than enough to damage gasoline engines, short out transformers and raise clouds of dust from passing cars. Highway 20 was gated at Sedro Woolley and Winthrop. The Trans-Canada Highway 1, Highway 3, the Coquihalla, and the railroad through the Fraser Gorge
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Roman Wall landslide
summit
m ing
De
Cle a
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Gla cier
tain was re-opened to climbers the next summer. The longest-lasting effect resulted from the huge slug of sediment filling the upper Middle Fork Valley. After the lahar, the upper valley was coated in N mud and carpeted with fallen trees in the thousands. For decades this great volume of sediment was flushed down the river sack River k o o N rk to the Nooksack Delta. In the meantime, le Fo M id d 2 miles the river was choked with sediment, and Elbow Lake trailhead Mosquito Lake Rd bridge overflowed its banks with much greater Devastation on the Middle Fork: The lahar’s path Illustration by Dave Tucker regularity than before the eruption. Lawsuits over land use and flood control SeaTac, Bellingham and Vancouver closed for three days from Chilliwack to mired farmers, tribal governments, the International closed as a precaution for Princeton and Merritt, stifling all transCounty and the State. Tribal fisheries only a few hours, though many departing continental traffic. That night, the mounwere reduced for years by the suffocating flights were canceled because their flight tain erupted again. The ash column was effects of Mount paths would have lit by lightning from the static charges beBaker mud on traversed the plume. tween rock fragments. No ash fell outside salmon runs. Mount Baker’s the north-east directed plume from the Two years first magmatic eruptions, and the Nooksack communilater, new sanderuption in 6600 ties were spared altogether. A cloud of ash bars below Marine years was over. Gas particles a fraction of an inch across were Drive diverted the and steam activity carried east in a thin, dispersed cloud over Nooksack and deremained high in the next two days, closing air travel from stroyed Marietta, the new crater for Omaha to Chicago and Toronto, strand63 river miles from another decade. ing hundreds of thousands. Ironically, Mount Baker, The region dodged bringing about a bullet, as the only the community’s lahar was small and final evacuation. did not reach the Hundreds of thouNooksack lowlands sands of cubic yards or enter the Skagit Climbers ascend out of Sherman of sand and mud valley. Only the Crater after collecting fumarole gases Mount Baker Volcano Research Center Photo by Dave Tucker entered Bellingham three journalists at (MBVRC) is a Bellingham-based all-volunBay, discoloring the teer nonprofit dedicated to raising public Ridley Creek lost awareness about Mount Baker eruption water and extending the delta by several their lives. A couple of smart-aleck climbhazards. MBVRC raises funds to support hundred yards on its east side. This nearly ers who slipped in via the Glacier Creek scientific research on the volcano by plugged the west entrance to Squalicum Road were camped high on the Coleman selling Mount Baker t-shirts and offering Harbor, which would require repeated geology-oriented field trips to the public. Glacier and narrowly missed being killed dredging. For a few years, the road up The MBVRC website includes an eruptive by falling blocks in the first eruption; history of the volcano based on the latest the Middle Fork was crowded with tourtheir camp was crushed. Summer rain geologic studies, videos inside active ists, come to see the lahar’s effects. Shops made short work of the gritty ash accuSherman Crater, and links to animated throughout northwest Washington and eruption simulations based on each day’s mulated on roads and houses from Hope southern British Columbia sold bottles of wind patterns. E-mail subscribers receive to Marblemount. Lift equipment at the first dibs on the ever-popular guided geolash and commemorative t-shirts. There ski area was cleaned in time for the next ogy field trips. Speakers can be arranged was a bright side: Most of the new moniski season, though many a skier on Pan for presentations about Baker eruption toring systems installed during the crisis Dome glanced warily at Baker, steaming history and hazards. To learn more, visit remained in place and finally brought www.mbvrc.wordpress.com. Donate to furiously in the distance, and the possibilMBVRC via the blog, or contact MBVRC Mount Baker monitoring nearly to the ity of more eruptions kept many people directly at research@mbvrc.wwu.edu. recommended levels. ANW away, while attracting others. The moun-
The Mount Baker Volcano Research Center
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Short and Sweet Overnight Bike Trips in Cascadia
Story by Laural Ringler Photos by Tom Caldwell
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here can you bicycle if you only have today and tomorrow? My range depends on which month of summer, as my comfort level with thirty, fifty, or seventy miles of riding increases with proximity to autumn. Then there are people like my husband who ride 100-mile days for three solid weeks in June, as he did from our home in Bellingham, Washington to our hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Yet bicycle touring is not only a multi-week 3000-mile epic. On a weekend, cyclists can put gear in the panniers and adventure overnight within range of home. In terms of equipment, think lightweight: One set of layered clothes for after cycling and food that packs into one smallish pannier. If you’re a do-it-yourself camper, put a lightweight sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and backpacking stove/ cook pot in the other pannier. Bungee a lightweight tent onto your rack and you’re done. Resist the urge to take more. I once invited friends who had never bike toured on a two-night trip in the San Juan Islands. Even though I gave them a packing list, one showed up towing a bike trailer like you’d haul two children in. And it was completely stuffed. While you are sorting or borrowing gear, determine your range and pick a destination. I think “camping” when bicycle 16
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touring, but perhaps you have a friend’s home or other lodging you’d prefer. To extend your network of friends, join Warmshowers online (http://www.warmshowers.org), a hospitality exchange for touring bicyclists. Or perhaps your style is more what is known as “credit card touring,” which describes skipping the camping stuff, sleeping in a real bed, and eating out along the way. With that option, you could leave the panniers behind and put your change of clothes into a handlebar bag or CamelBak. For camping destinations from my home in Bellingham, and within a distance of 50 miles or so, I can pick Silver Lake, Silver Fir campground out on the Mt. Baker Highway, Birch Bay, or even Point Roberts.
Silver Lake: 40 miles Bicycle touring is about the journey, and I find routes with fewer cars to be a better journey. After the mapquest route comes up for my destination, I click on the options button to check “no highways” or drag the friendly blue travel line onto much smaller roads. To get to Silver Lake from Bellingham, I would follow along the north shore of Lake Whatcom and cut north on Agate Bay Lane or the Y Road to go around Squalicum Mountain to the east. Working the back roads north, cross the Nooksack River using Highway 542 or go through Everson, to find South Pass Road. A wonderful country road with roll
ing hills, for me South Pass evokes years of Ski to Sea. When I did the road bike leg, the route came down from Mt. Baker and used South Pass to reach Everson and the hand-off to the canoe leg. Between Black Mountain and Red Mountain, Silver Lake offers forested camping. Plan your overnight in a window of sunny weather or be ready for mist. Make friends with other Loop One campers, because you won’t be the one bringing the firewood.
Silver Fir: 50 miles Silver Fir Campground puts you on the banks of the north fork of the Nooksack River, but there’s no alternative to Highway 542 most of the way. On a nice day much of the traffic will be early to hike the Mt. Baker area, so aim for a slightly later start time and hope for a lull. Set up your tent under the silver fir, western red cedar, and western hemlock trees, and then amble down to the gravel bar by the river for sunshine. Soak your legs in the cold water, or build Andrew Goldsworthy-inspired natural sculptures. Check out the film Rivers and Tides before you go, if you need an introduction to his work.
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to Birch Bay. After you set up camp, you can hop on unloaded bikes for a meal in Birch Bay or even Blaine. The next day you could make it a north county tour by returning home via Lynden. In an early family bike tour on a tandem bicycle, with our then one-yearold on the bike seat behind me, we did a two-night bike tour staying at Birch Bay and then Berthusen Park (no longer open to overnighting). I felt the Lynden-area farmers looking at us questioningly as we rode by, but we enjoyed going local and seeing the blueberry farms and dairy cows.
came out of his booth and looked us over skeptically. Then he started into the stock border questions, but caught us off guard with “Are you carrying any firearms?” I looked at my little panniers and wondered
Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts: 60 miles If you’ve got the legs to go further, you can add a border crossing, a wander through the southern British Columbia towns of White Rock, Surrey and Delta, and then back into the USA to camp on the geographical anomaly that is Point Roberts. I think I would borrow part of the RSVP (Ride Seattle to Vancouver and Party) route and cross into Canada at Lynden/Aldergrove, then head to Surrey. I’ve always thought borders were fascinating. We humans create lines on maps that denote counties or states or countries, arbitrarily dividing the geography into this and that. The first time I bicycled into Canada, on a tour circumnavigating Lake Superior, we rolled up to the border crossing near Thunder Bay, Ontario. The border patrol officer
what he was implying – that bike riding through his country was that dangerous or that we seemed like the type to be carrying? I shook my head, as did my companion, and we pedaled off musing about the likelihood of mix-
ing guns and bicycles. Many days and many miles back-toback make for life-changing bike tours, but bike overnights are within reach for everyone. You could even extend your range by hopping on a train or bus. When our family was bicycling the Pacific Coast to San Diego, we camped next to a couple out for just the night. They had used public transportation to get them to the far edge of San Francisco, and then started pedaling. That addition increased their range, and, in one day, got them from urban living to camping in the Point Reyes National Seashore. So assemble those key pieces of gear if you don’t already own or have access to panniers and lightweight camping equipment. Find a friend if you’d like company and chose a destination for your bike overnight. Browse bikeovernights.org if you need more inspiration, but get out there and discover what adventures can happen when you only have today and ANW tomorrow.
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Walking the Edge Explorations on the Wildest Coastline in America
Story and photos by John D’Onofrio The towering headlands, crowned with mist, Their feet among the billows, know That Ocean is a mighty harmonist - William Wordsworth
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here’s something about spending days and nights beside the sea. Maybe it’s the invigorating wind that blows across it, unhindered for 5,000 miles. Perhaps it’s the rhythm of the waves, like a heartbeat, slowing the pulse and deepening one’s breathing. It is intoxicating.
For backpackers with a yen for the sea, the Olympic Wilderness Beach is paradise found. The 48-mile stretch from the Hoh River to Shi-Shi Beach is without equal in the contiguous U.S., with enough splendor and satori to last a lifetime. I’ve been fortunate enough to hike almost this entire coast. A lot of miles of sand, seaweed-slippery rocks, headlands climbed on sand ladders and ropes. A lot of bright moments. Hiking here presents a unique set of challenges, different from those of the mountains. First and foremost is the all-important business of tides - it is unfeasible (and seriously dangerous) to hike this coast without a tide table and a map that indicates the tidal heights when various points and headlands are roundable. Many only permit passage when the tide is low and getting caught by an incoming tide would certainly be problematic - and potentially fatal. Also, camp sites have to be situated above the reach of the highest high tide during your stay. Waking up in the 20
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sea is not a good way to start the day. Although the elevation gain is obviously small compared to treks in the mountains, it generally comes in the form of near-vertical scrambles, aided by sand ladders (steel cables bridged by wooden steps) or, in some cases, simply ropes. Although they look daunting, they don’t pose an undue problem for most people. If they freak you out, go back. These bits are often muddy, so prepare to get righteously slathered. Bring gloves - they make climbing the ropes much more comfortable. Stream crossings are another issue. After a heavy rain, some creeks are un-fordable. Crossings near the ocean are greatly affected by tides (good thing you have that tide table). Some, like the Ozette River, require both a low tide and a relative dry spell to get across. Trekking poles are de rigueur. You will also encounter (generally short) stretches of boulder-hopping on slick, slimy rocks. Progress in these stretches is slow and strenuous. Before one trip from Ozette to Shi-Shi, the ranger at the Wilderness Info Center told us, “you’ll be on all fours,” with a not-altogether wholesome chuckle. He was right. This epic coastline can be hiked in three separate traverses. From south to north they are: Hoh River to Third Beach, Rialto Beach to Cape Alava, and Cape Alava to Shi-Shi Beach. With some logistical heroics you could do the whole thing in one glorious shot.
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But I’ll treat them as three separate hikes, listed in order of easiest to most difficult.
Ozette (Cape Alava) - Rialto Beach: 22 Miles The walk from Lake Ozette to Rialto Beach at the mouth of the Quillayute River is the longest point-to-point hike on the coast, but it is also the most straight-forward and user-friendly. Only one small point cannot be rounded at low tide (and it’s an easy one to climb over) and the creek crossings are generally not a problem. The key is to synchronize your walking with the retreating tide. From Ozette Lake, access the coast via either the Cape Alava or Sand Point trails (these diverge at a fork just up the trail from the lake). Although the Sand Point shortcut shaves three miles from the total, the beach between Alava and Sand Point is spectacular and shouldn’t be missed. The trail, mostly boardwalk (slippery when wet - which is almost always) winds through verdant coastal rainforest, reaching the beach at Cape Alava in three miles. For those of you keeping score, this is the western-most point in the contiguous United States. Lots of campsites here, if you’ve gotten a late start or stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
want to wait out a high tide. Heading south from the Cape, you’ll pass the Wedding Rocks (rocks containing ancient Makah petroglyphs) in a mile and arrive at Sand Point after two more miles of beach walking. You’ll reach Yellow Banks (named for the yellowish clay cliffs above the beach) two miles farther south. Campfires are prohibited between Wedding Rocks and Yellow Banks. 2.5 miles south of Yellow Banks is a point that must be rounded at low tide. Another two miles will bring you to Kayostla Beach and the Norwegian Memorial, a memorial to 18 Norwegian sailors who lost their lives in 1903 when the Prince Arthur was smashed on the rocks offshore. They are buried here, wrapped in a sail from their ship. The beach is exquisite, with a reliable creek and sublime camping spots. The next four miles offer cobbles and sandy beach with a few points to round and only one small point that cannot be rounded at any tide (a short, easy climb over the top). At 18.5 miles you encounter Cape Johnson and the going is slow as you’ll be doing a lot of rock-hopping until you reach Hole-in-the-Wall at mile 20.5. If the tide is accommodating, you can slip through the “hole” and enjoy an easy stroll on Rialto Beach to the trailhead at its southern end (Ellen race | play | experience
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Creek will need to be forded or climbed across on logs).
Third Beach - Hoh River: 17 Miles This stretch is a jaw-dropper. It’s the second-longest of the Near Kayostla Beach
the log jam that usually accumulates where the trail meets the sand. Turn left and head south on the broad beach. Ahead is a waterfall tumbling down from a headland (Taylor Point). A sand ladder provides access to the top of the point for a milelong - usually muddy - traverse across the top. Regain the beach near Scotts Bluff (roundable at low tide, otherwise climb over it) and continue south. Crossing Scotts Creek can be interesting at high tide when the creek is running high. There are excellent campsites in the vicinity of the creek. Continuing south, after rounding another smaller point (at high tide climb over) you’ll enjoy a long, beautiful stretch of smooth sailing. Round enchanting Strawberry Point 4.5 miles from the trailhead, another wonderful place to spend an evening. From here, another easy mile brings you to the aforementioned Toleak Point, yet another spectacular place to pitch a tent. Be careful to do so above the height of the anticipated high tide. A reliable creek is found just beyond the point. After a mile of
three sections and the second-most difficult. The highlight, Toleak Point is 6.4 miles from Third Beach and is a very special place, a sacred destination. Off-shore rocks perfectly complement the broad beach and wildlife is abundant: seals provide a raucous soundtrack and eagles gather overhead. This one is best hiked north to south, so start at Third Beach. The trailhead is 11 miles up the La Push Road which leaves U.S. 101 two miles north of Forks. Hike a mile and a half through enchanting moss-festooned forest to the beach and climb over 22
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Toleak Point
beach, the route climbs a steep headland for another traverse (1.25 miles) through lush forest (and probably lots and lots of mud). Two creeks in this section could pose problems if they’re running high: Falls Creek and beyond it the bigger Goodman Creek. Trekking poles will come in handy. Back on the sand, it’s easy beach walking until Mosquito Creek, 10 miles from the trailhead. Pick up the trail south of the creek and follow it for 3.5 miles through the forest (and you guessed it, mud) over Hoh Head. Back on the (rocky) beach you’ll also want a low tide for the last stretch of coastline to the Hoh River. Find the trail beside the river, which will take you to the Oil City trailhead.
Ozette (Cape Alava) - Shi-Shi Beach: 15.5 Miles This stretch - the Northern Traverse - is the wildest hike on the coast. Famous for its trials and tribulations as well as its unequaled scenic grandeur, this route should be done south to north, as the biggest variable - the fording of the Ozette River - is only five miles from the start. Sometimes the Ozette simply can’t be forded. The stretch north of Seafield Creek is the most challenging on the Olympic Coast. As with the Ozette - Rialto segment, the starting point is lovely Lake Ozette, 3 miles inland from the coast. Hike the Cape Alava trail and turn north when you reach the beach. Soon you’ll pass Tskawahyah Island, which is connected to the mainland at low tide. Hikers call this Cannonball Island, owing to the smooth round stones that surround it. It’s a sacred spot for the Makah Tribe and access is strictly forbidden. Continue north. If the tide is up,
you should expect some clambering over drift logs along the way. After two miles of beach walking, the Ozette River blocks passage. Fording the river can be ticklish - or impossible. You will need a low tide and even then, if it’s been raining, getting across is not a slam-dunk. Crossing as close to the ocean as possible is generally the best bet. You’ll definitely want trekking poles. There are campsites here, should you need to wait out the tide. You should be prepared to turn back if the river is too high. Once across the river, you’ll have 3.5 miles of beach walking, easy going in any but the highest tide. Then get ready for adventure. The next 2.5 miles are a spectacular obstacle course of seaweed-slick boulders punctuated with near-vertical rope ascents and descents over looming headlands. It will take a lot of time to navigate this stretch and you will absolutely need to time this with a low tide: the last point that you will need to round (Point of Arches) is only passable at low to medium tide.
Shi - Shi Beach and Point of Arches
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explore the wondrous Although this hike Fording the Ozette River tide pools around these is demanding, it is unsea stacks. Just past the questionably the scenic point, Shi-Shi Beach highlight of the Olympic offers superb campsites coast, arguably the grandest and is a place to linger. stretch of beach hiking in From here, it’s an easy the country. Sea stacks rear two miles of beach walkup from the wild Pacific ing to the clearly marked and the surf pounds the trail that heads steeply continent’s edge. Thanks to up into the woods and the arduous nature of the eventually leads to the hike, you are likely to have Makah trailhead in anit to yourself (at least until other 1.75 miles. ANW the last few miles) and the absence of company adds to the wild ambiance. The climax is reached at 11.75 Permits, maps and tide tables for hiking on the Olympic Wilderness Beach are available at the Olympic National Park Wilderness Information center in Port Angeles, the Olympic miles when you reach Point of Arches, National Park/Olympic National Forest Recreation Information Center in Forks, the a dramatic cacophony of off-shore fangs Quinault Wilderness Info Center at Lake Quinalt and the Staircase Ranger Station near that reach out into the tempestuous sea Hoodsport. On the web at nps.gov/olym. for nearly a mile. At low tide you can Washington Pass - the Best Alpine Rock destination in North America - Ian Nicholson, Author, Washington Pass Supertopo
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On Top of Whatcom County Chain Lakes Trail at Mt Baker
Lisa McShane: A Love for Wide-Open Spaces Bellingham-based painter Lisa McShane captures the sweeping landscapes of the American west with a focus on the places she loves best: the Palouse, coulees, eroded hills and roads of Eastern Washington and the cold lakes and rivers of Western Washington. Her deeply layered and glazed luminous oil paintings capture a profound love of the wideopen land. The abstracted, graphic and light-filled world she creates is exactly how she sees the world. An environmentalist, she doesn’t capture a romantic vision; she includes roads, lights, contrails and increasingly, storms. Lisa McShane is represented by the Lucia Douglas Gallery in Bellingham. You can see her work at lisamcshane.com Clockwise from top left: Mountains at Dusk, Forest at Night, Winter Pond, Towards the Islands, Jumpoff Road
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A Celebration of Wonder The Photography of Sue Cottrell I delight in using my camera in unusual ways to discover scenes in nature that may not stand out at first glance. I enjoy taking long exposures while moving my camera; discovering art that the ocean left behind; shooting from an unusual angle; or finding detail in a flower that when isolated from the whole, presents a little world unto itself. I am drawn to natural patterns and to contrasts in color or line. The natural world is so full of pattern and contrast that I will never tire of wandering with my camera. The name of my blog sums up why I keep making photographs - A Celebration of Wonder. Visit Sue Cottrell’s web site at 7cphotography.com and her blog at acelebrationofwonder.com Clockwise from bottom left: Skagit Tulips, Skunk Cabbage, Pacific Dogwood, Fiddlehead, Natural Beach Art, Aspen Abstract 1, Zinnia Close-Up. Center: Aspen Abstract 3
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Chasing Silence
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ast fall I experienced the quietest place I’ve ever been. My friend and I had hiked to a lake in the North Cascades to spend a night away from our children. As the sun set and the dayhikers headed home, the temperature plummeted. We were the only people camped at the lake. There was no breeze to stir the subalpine firs. No birds serenaded the fading light. Though we were only a mile or so from the highway, the terrain blocked any sounds from traffic. A million stars burned noiselessly in the sky above. It was so quiet that my ears strained to hear anything. The next morning, however, hikers jammed the trails, enjoying a bluebird day in peak larch season. Their voices and the clinking of their gear echoed off the cliffs surrounding the lake basin. Helicopters buzzed back and forth, bringing water to dump on a small forest fire nearby. The silence was gone. But I held onto my sensations and memories from the night before.
Story and photos by Jennifer Johnson
Silence is something more than just a pause; it is that enchanted place where space is cleared and time is stayed and the horizon itself expands. In silence, we often say, we can hear ourselves think; but what is truer to say is that in silence we can hear ourselves not think, and so sink below our selves into a place far deeper than mere thought allows… Pico Iyer, The Eloquent Sounds of Silence, from Time Magazine, January 25, 1993.
I’ve been thinking a lot since then about silence. Not the absence of noise (for nature is not always quiet), but the absence of the human cacophony we’ve manufactured in our modern lives. The absence of traffic and planes and the neighbor’s leaf blower and the droning hum of the computers in the main living areas of our home. I’ve been contemplating the reasons for my deep need to get out into nature – into true wilderness, far from the freeways that bring me to the woods, far from the gaspowered generators that plague the popular campgrounds, far from boom boxes and text message notifications and Facebook updates. This silence has to do with a search for the sacred, whatever one’s religion, and with the neglected human need to just be. To refresh and renew, or be blank-minded for a little while. To let those worldly concerns recede into the background, ready to be picked up again when I return with a changed and more grounded perspective.
In the Hoh Rain Forest
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One Square Inch Gordon Hempton has also done a lot of thinking about natural silence. “I call it the Think Tank of the Soul,” he told me in a recent interview, “but it can also be the birthplace of creativity.” Hempton has been an acoustic ecologist for over 30 years. He records sounds, mostly in nature. And he’s noticed that it’s harder than ever to record without human noise interference. Even in the depths of the Amazon rainforest, sounds of outboard motors drift into his microphone as he records the riot of a jungle morning. In our own temperate rainforest, Hempton has discovered some special locations that have Gordon Hempton unique acoustical qualities. In the Hoh Valley in Olympic National Park he has identified a place that he describes as “the quietest place in the United States”, and he is advocating for its protection in a campaign he calls “One Square Inch of Silence”. He figures if we can protect just one square inch of land from human noise intrusion, we’ll be protecting most of the park along with it. I recently visited the One Square Inch site (Hempton has marked the spot with a small red-colored stone placed atop a
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mossy log). It was a typical day in the rain forest – intermittent showers broken up by lighter grey clouds, with an occasional sun-break giving me false hope. Birdsong filtered down from the canopy, but otherwise there were few other sounds besides the rushing of the river and the quick passing of other hikers. When I reached the grove where the stone is located, I dropped my pack, pulled out my little foam mat, and sat gratefully down for a rest and a bite to eat. I had left many of my thoughts behind me, strewn along the trail as I hiked the morning away. But my mind was still buzzing with big ideas. Suddenly I heard a grouse drumming nearby. The strange noise is easy to overlook if you aren’t paying attention, and I wondered how long I had heard it without really hearing. I sat in a spot just off the trail and tried to let my mind settle, to let the thoughts fall to the bottom like silt in a quiet eddy. Rain showers passed through, and I huddled under my hiking umbrella, mesmerized by watching the drops fall from the tops of old growth cedars and spruces. In the hour-and-a-half I remained in this place, four airplanes flew over on their way to, or from, Alaska. In
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the depth of the Hoh wilderness, planes are about the only noise intrusion one hears. But in contrast to the silence, their noise is more jarring and longer lasting than I realize when I am at home and planes from Paine Field make test flights low over our home. The Park Service does not sanction the One Square Inch site on Park property, though they do agree with Hempton on many points. “The National Park Service shares Gordon’s concern and care for the natural soundscape of Olympic National Park,” spokesperson Barb Maynes said in a recent conversation. But they diverge when it comes to the OSI site and the focus on noise alone. “The Park Service looks at a full range of wilderness characteristics, not one to the exclusion of others.” They have many values to protect. The Park Service has a Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division that ran a longterm baseline study of Olympic National Park, but they don’t have specific plans to do any more monitoring at this time. The Park Service is mandated in its 2006 management policy to preserve the natural soundscapes of parks and to decide which human noises aren’t appropriate or acceptable, and to mitigate for those. However, the Park Service does not have jurisdiction over air traffic – only the FAA has the authority to determine routes for commercial airplanes flying over the park.
The Clamor While I was soaking in the peace of the Hoh Valley that day, I wondered
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what the effects of too much noise are on our mental and physical health. Research shows that exposure to too much noise has been linked with risk of higher blood pressure, some kinds of cardiovascular disease, hearing impairment, sleep distur-
Bunchberries and Deer Fern
bance, and general irritability. Hempton warns about the number of adults who have premature hearing loss: according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, about 15% of Americans (about 26 million) between the ages of 20 and 69 have some hearing loss due to environmental noise
exposure. We fill our down time with iPods, TV, radio, Pandora and Spotify, sports and “reality” shows, prattling commentators creating a background curtain of voluminous nonsense. Machines hum and buzz, whine and grumble, roar and grind. City parks are no respite, being close to traffic noise, maintenance equipment, or the stereos with super-pumped bass speakers in glittering cars filled with young people enjoying nature in a different way. Hempton is looking for academic research partners willing to take on the task of studying the effects of quiet in the wilderness setting. He hopes they can then acquire the proper permits for a site within the Park so they can get hard data on how people react to true quiet. The effects of noise pollution have been studied for years, yet we still have a lot to learn about the benefits of natural silence. The writer George Prochnik tried to understand our drive for silence as well as why we’ve created a world with so much noise. In his 2010 book In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise, he visits many different people who value silence. At one point he spent some time in a monastery in Dubuque, Iowa where the monks practice the discipline of silent meditation. From his experience there, Prochnik brings this insight: “Even brief silence, it seems, can inject us with a fertile unknown: a space in which to absorb experience – a reminder that the person we are with may yet surprise us; a reflection that some things we cannot
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put words to are yet resoundingly real; a reawakening to our dependency on something greater than ourselves.” These are deep and possibly uncomfortable revelations. Perhaps that is part of the reason many people don’t pursue quiet more often. It can be scary and threatening to contemplate spiritual or personal mysteries; to become more acquainted with our inner lives. Removed from the familiar constant din of modern life, we don’t know what to do when we are not fed entertainment and the distractions of music or other noise. But I hope that, as our daily world becomes more noisy and
Center at the parking lot in the Hoh Valley, I gradually met more people. Most visitors didn’t venture past the nature trails and benches near the parking lot. I hope that some of them, at least, got a small taste of the acoustic peace that was waiting just a few miles down the trail. Perhaps they’ll remember that place when they reach a time in their lives when they need some restoration. As Gordon Hempton confided to me, “The answers Finding a quiet place in the Hoh are in a quiet place, and it’s up to us to go hear. I know all my answers are there.” experience peace and quiet of the deepest kind. ANW As I hiked the trail back to the Visitor chaotic, we will still have places to go to renew our minds, to have extended periods for thinking and not thinking, and to
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The Art
of Falling Story by Cami Ostman
A
dventure is a risk. Take the adventure of running. We won’t risk falling if we don’t run (or hike or bike or ski, for that matter), but we won’t run if we don’t risk falling, will we? It’s a natural tendency to be careful and safe, but so many of us are drawn to adventure and risk for a reason: The alternative is too small for us. Living a cautious life may keep us out of harm’s way, but it also keeps us out of the elements, out of the mountains, off the trails and sidewalks, and removed from the lessons that running and falling have to offer us. Running teaches us to breathe deeply, to push ourselves, to explore the outer reaches of our endurance and pain thresholds. Falling teaches us to be pliable and resilient, to know we are stronger than we thought we were. Have you ever taken a fall while you were out on a run? Where was it? Was it in the mountains? On the track? The sidewalk on the street by your house? No one wants to take a tumble, but every runner falls at some point. I’ll never forget my first time. “It’ll be an easy 10 miles,” my husband, Bill, said to me one summer morning several years ago as I pulled on my running shoes. We were early enough in our marriage at that point that I still believed him when he promised such things. Fairly new to running in general, I was definitely an inexperienced trail runner. But I had historically been a careful person - someone who tiptoed through life without taking big chances. I wasn’t keen on Bill’s plan to go running in the mountains for the day, but I was also in a phase of learning to stretch myself and to try
Photo by Jolene Hanson
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new things. An hour later we were at the Artist Point parking lot to do an out-and-back on the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail, and then we were climbing a gradual but very steady incline toward Camp Kiser at the foot of Mt. Baker. I didn’t find it easy, as Bill had said I would. In fact, because this was my first trail run in the mountains, I was laboring to learn the cadence required for hopping over rocks and around switchbacks. Focusing my eyes only a short distance in front of my feet, I concentrated and worked hard to keep up with my husband, not even noticing the mountain views or the flourishing mid-July greenery. Before we reached our turn-around point, I took a break to sit on a boulder, take in my surroundings, and eat a granola bar while Bill carried on for another half mile. He stopped to pick me up on his way back, and I reveled in the feeling of floating down the hill. Sweet gravity and a cool breeze sweeping up from the valley below gave me a feeling of weightlessness - of soaring strength. Just past Coleman Pinnacle, I shouted to Bill, who was behind me now, “It’s more fun going down than coming up!” “What?” he yelled back. Turning my head, I prepared to repeat myself when… Thump! Down I fell onto the rocky trail not a few feet from a steep cliff that, had I been just a tad farther down the hill, I would have tumbled over. “Oh geez, are you okay?” Bill called out. He reached me quickly and looked me over to assess for injury. I was fine - a little scratched up. Nothing serious. But since this was my first fall as a runner, I sat still for several minutes to collect myself, stunned at how stupid I’d been. What was I thinking when I took my eyes off the trail? When the shame finally faded and I’d caught my breath, I got up, brushed myself off, and continued running. That’s all there is to do - in running and in life - after all.
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Get up. Move on. A little worse for wear. Many years later now, as a seasoned runner, I’ve fallen countless times. And I’ve been with others when they’ve taken tumbles, too. Bill has fallen and twisted his ankle at least three times on a rock that protrudes ever-so-slightly out of the ground on the trail right near our house. He keeps running that trail because it leads him to his favorite running route - one he travels a few times every week through Whatcom Falls Park. If I have to fall, my favorite place - because it’s so beautiful - is the trail alongside Baker Lake, where I’ve taken two significant tumbles on separate runs along the soft brush-laden, fifteen-mile trail. Both times I was grateful for the give in the earth and that I didn’t hit any rocks on the way down. The first time I took my eyes off the trail to look at the sun shining on the lake. The second fall at Baker Lake happened in October of 2011 during the Baker Lake 50 K (of which I only finished half) when I tried
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in a sidewalk in Pasadena right before a to let another runner pass me. Learning half marathon at Disneyland and hit her to gracefully share a single-track trail is a cheek on the concrete. But she jumped skill (not to mention a good metaphor for relationship) that all trail runners need to master. That last fall at Baker Lake made me frustrated with myself. Discouraged and aware of being acutely uncoordinated, I complained to Bill as he drove me home, “What’s wrong with me? I can’t even stay on my feet.” “Could be worse,” he said. “It could have been cement.” We drove on in silence. He was right. While I was almost guaranteed to fall if I On the trail did a trail run of any distance, Photo by Carol Frazey at least I wasn’t prone to fallright up and kept jogging along beside ing on the street. I couldn’t say the same me. I was horrified by her emerging bruise for my friend and running partner, Julie, and threatened to stop running with her who had fallen several times over the if she didn’t try to be more careful, but years while we were training out on the her “risk nothing, gain nothing” attitude roads. Once she’d stumbled over a crack
was infectious. She wouldn’t hear of being “more careful.” Careful just isn’t any fun. And it doesn’t teach us anything about ourselves. As I said, no one wants to fall, but since it’s inevitable, I highly recommend the Ptarmigan Ridge and Baker Lake trails. And the sidewalk just outside of Disneyland in Pasadena. Or better yet, the trail just beyond your front door that leads to your favorite running route. And since falling is a given in this life, why not just roll with it? Next time it happens (whether literally out on the trail or figuratively in some other endeavor in life), sit for awhile and let the shame fade, assess for injury, and if you’re still intact, brush off and keep moving. It’s really the only choice. ANW
There’s no place in the world like Whatcom County in the Spring!
Danne Neill Real Estate Broker
360.303.4428
dannen@muljatgroup.com DanneNeill.com The Muljat Group Broadway 34
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(360) 647-3600 Order online @ www.pizzapipeline.com stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
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Up in the Air Discovering
Your Inner Ninja
Story by Amanda Baltazar
Upwardly mobile: Learning the ropes at Adventura Aerial Adventure Park
T
here are great advantages to be reaped when people play together.
That’s the simple premise of Adventura, an outdoor adventure playground in Woodinville, where either you’ll find your inner child, or your inner child will jump out and surprise you. Adventura offers activities, many of which revolve around its aerial adventure playground, that include climbing, zip lining, playing tag, obstacle courses, boat building and racing. You can visit Adventura alone, with your partner, with your family or your colleagues, and while your time there will be all play-based, the idea is that you’ll learn more about yourself and those you’re with. “The biggest benefit people get - the 800-pound biggest thing - is finding ways to build their connectivity with each other,” says owner and founder Scott Chreist. “It’s not that there’s a problem, but 36
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they’re looking for ways to connect that’s different from the way they connect in the workplace or at home. When people play together, they learn new things. You see competitiveness; you see problem solvers; you see solutions come out of people you never thought would be like that. Play is the cornerstone for all this; you have to give people a chance to be back on the playground with each other.” Attend Adventura as a small group and you are incorporated into a larger group at one of the playground’s three daily Playday sessions. If you attend with your company, they’ll customize a day for you. Groups larger than 10 people are given private sessions. The Playdays consist of two and a half hours of climbing adventure on the Aerial Adventure course, which includes 50-foot cargo-net climbs, obstacles, traverse activities and zip lines. This course, says Chreist, emphasizes perceived risktaking, trust, and peer-to-peer coaching. While most small groups visit
Adventura for fun, it’s rarely just about that, he says. “One of the great byproducts of what we do, especially on the adventure course, is that it teaches you about your connectivity with your partner, or your kids, or your friends. It teaches you some great stuff - how you pick on each other or push each other too hard in a very playful manner - and it definitely draws attention to the [relationship] between you and your partner or you and your son, spouse, or friend.” It also helps participants conquer their fears. A person may stand on a high platform, rigged up to a harness but afraid to let go. But they do - at least almost always - “so people go from doubt and fear to a position of accomplishment,” Chreist explains. “You are no longer afraid of falling, so you go out and do things that challenge you more. So you graduate through fear, embarrassment, etc. to the end when you realize nobody helped you but yourself.” According to Chreist, building rela>>> Go to AdventuresNW.com
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lished Adventura on Bainbridge Island tionships, both work-related and personal, in 1997 and moved it to Woodinville requires knowing oneself better. Engaging in 2003. His life had been leading up to in Adventura’s activities can help with this creating the company since 1984, when process, which he sees as a journey. “We he faced a challenge as a teenager. “I was can help you find the door,” he explains, sent to Outward “but you’re the Bound as a kid to one who steps Aerial adventures help my parents through it.” handle me. I had Play is the some difficulties great release growing up.” all of us need, In the wilderhe explains, ness he learned but most of us how much people don’t permit need each other. ourselves to do “The overwhelmit. Instead, we ing sense of being get wrapped a tiny speck in the whole wild world efup in our 24-hour schedules of work and fectively reminds one that being together stress and relationships and forget the is easier than being solo.” simplest thing: What’s better than just As a result of this epiphanic experibeing happy? ence, Chreist pursued outdoor education But play does even greater things in college and then started working in the than simply letting us have fun and refield, working for a company developing member what it was like to be seven years its own adventure course. Setting up his old again. own company was a natural progression. “There’s a reason kids have recess in Most participants at Adventura are school,” Chreist points out. Recess, he surprised - by themselves and by those believes, gives children the opportunity they’ve come with. Some struggle, Chreist to develop their social skills in a setting admits. “They fight with themselves to that is not structured in the way that the keep themselves from playing and from classroom is. This unstructured setting afengaging. But if you present the activities fords a chance for children to explore how in a way that’s irresistible, it doesn’t matto maintain relationships and successfully ter how much of a curmudgeon you are, conduct themselves in social interactions. suddenly you’ll find yourself holding a “There are all these things that are rubber chicken and laughing manically.” not contained in any curriculum,” he It is common for executives to come observes. and feel that they must maintain a level Chreist laments that there is no longer a recess period after fifth grade. “Recess should be continued into high school and into college and into the workplace Use your WECU® Visa where teams [atfor outdoor adventures tempt to] find and earn a 1% cash ways to be socially back rebate! interactive with Federally each other.” insured by NCUA. www.wecu.com Chreist estab-
of decorum, according to Chreist. Then they find themselves doing something that surprises them. Chreist and his employees usually manage to get even the most reticent of players - engineers - to play. “They are comfortable in an analytical-type world. So going off to play tag sounds horrifying to them. But if you change the game to something that relates to an aspect of engineering, it makes it irresistible.” So for one group, Chreist and his team developed a tag game where participants had to tag enough people to connect a circuit, while others in the game could freeze the circuit and stall the connection. “If you let people play for a couple of hours, those people will remember that day for far longer than they’ll remember, say, a lecture on group dynamics,” he declares. “It gets imprinted on their brains in a different manner.” At the end of the day, it’s all about ANW play.
There’s plenty of winter left!
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Ride Like the Wind Cycling the Palouse Story by Aaron Theisen
T
he Palouse of eastern Washington and north Idaho is the region’s breadbasket and one the nation’s premier dryland farming regions, its 4,000 square miles of wind-sculpted hills unfolding under an endless sea of wheat and beans. Outside the raucous Greek Rows and stadiums of Washington State University in Pullman
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and The University of Idaho in Moscow, life is pretty quiet in this corner of the northwest. And cycling is the best way to experience the Palouse up close, the roll of 700cm wheels more closely matching the pace of life. Winding roads, well paved and light on traffic, link tiny farming communities and make
for a myriad of connect-the-dots loops. With a road atlas and plenty of water, a cyclist can string together a lifetime’s worth of rides. As a whole, the riding tends to be more reliable in the Spokane/Pullman corridor alongside the Idaho border. Further westward, in the Snake River drainage, the scarcity of towns make linking roads and finding supplies more >>> Go to AdventuresNW.com
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Photo by Javier Acosta
challenging. Even so, although you can find a good cup of coffee or some Cougar Gold cheese in most communities, bike parts are scarce outside of Pullman and Spokane; plan accordingly. And of course, there’s the wind. Windblown loess, a rich but fragile topsoil has, over the millenia, settled in drifts over basalt some 10,000 feet thick, the product of lava that flowed stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.
millions of years ago. The same unrelenting force that sculpted these storm swells of green can shave precious MPH off the bike computer. Ride long enough in the Palouse and you’ll start to wonder if there’s not always a headwind whichever direction you go, but, in fact, the wind blows primarily out of the southwest, as documented by the northeast-trending hills. Your
best bet? Ride near sunrise or sunset for calm winds. As an added bonus, you’ll see the Palouse in its best light, the low angle sun highlighting the endless scalloped slopes - one of the northwest’s iconic sights. Introduce yourself to the Palouse on a 25-miler that begins in the town of Palouse, a Cougar bedroom community 15 miles north of Pullman and the race | play | experience
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Washington State University campus. Ride south of town on Highway 27, a wide two-laner that tends to be quiet except on Cougar gamedays. Three miles in, turn right on Clear Creek Road. The pine- and fir-forested Kamiak Butte looms ahead. Kamiak Butte County Park boasts one of the last remnants of intact natural Palouse landscape and is worth a detour either mid- or post-ride. Otherwise, continue on Clear Creek to Highway 272 and 10 brisk miles back to Palouse. Afterward, take a few minutes to browse Palouse’s downtown. In addition to the requisite antique shops, the Roy M. Chatters Newspaper & Printing Museum is worth a browse. For a longer ride, begin in Pullman and pull north to Clear Creek Road and proceed as above. This is the route that The Washington State University Cycling Club uses for its popular Tour de Lentil ride every August. For riders based in Spokane, the 40-mile Valley Chapel Ride is a fa-
vorite. Beginning at 57th Avenue in the Moran Prairie area on the south A road bike is the perfect way to experience the Palouse. Photo by Aaron Theisen
edge of Spokane, head south on the wide-shouldered, well-paved Palouse
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Highway. Turn right on Valley Chapel Road and descend into the Latah Creek valley, an idyllic ponderosa-shaded drainage well off the beaten path. In May, blooms of golden currant, serviceberry and elderberry enliven the surroundings. A thigh-cramping half-mile climb at the 10-mile mark deposits riders onto quintessential Palouse prairie, complete with whitewashed cemetery and clapboard farmhouses. No huge climbs here, but plenty of rhythm-robbing hills will keep you from coasting. At 21 miles, turn on Highway 27, and at 29 miles turn left on to the Palouse Highway for a fast return trip of long, low-angle climbs and descents. The communities of Rockford (mile 21), Freeman (mile 27) and Valleyford (mile 30) make well-spaced rest stops. Not for the faint of heart or lung, or the vertigo-inclined, the 23-mile ride (one way) ride from Palouse to Steptoe Butte rewards riders with the best vista in the Palouse, more than 1,000 feet
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above surrounding hills. From Palouse, ride north on Highway 27 through Garfield. Cross the railroad tracks, turn left on Hume Road and follow the signs to the park. The last three miles steadily corkscrew up and around Steptoe Butte, providing views all around to distract from the pain. At the top, enjoy a vantage point that’s graced many a calendar: to the west stretch hundreds of miles of farmland; to the east rise the Clearwater and St. Joe Ranges of north Idaho, the western outposts of the Rocky Mountains. Careful on the descent: in addition to being narrow and steep, the road is badly potholed in places. For post-ride dining, stop by the Green Frog Café in Palouse. The café features local ingredients in its sandwiches, salads
and grass-fed burgers, and the wine and beer menu includes a couple of Palouse pours. On weekend nights, come early for a chance at a table; the café hosts a popular open-mic night. Unique accommodations can be hard to come by in the Palouse, but the Churchyard Inn is the best. A former Benedictine convent-turned-B&B, its six simply-appointed rooms fill up quickly on busy campus weekends, such as Mom’s Weekend in mid-April;
plan ahead. Next door, check out the Saint Boniface Parish. The contentious construction of this iconic church in 1904 caused a rift in the congregation that led to the Benedictine Sisters movBetween Milepost 20 - 21 Mt. Baker Hwy., Deming Ph 360/599-BEER (2337) www.northforkbrewery.com
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ing out of their convent. To stretch your legs on the drive home, head 80 miles west of Pullman to must-see Palouse Falls. Created when the Missoula Floods overran the Palouse
River and carved a new course for the Snake River, the 198-foot falls is one of the state’s most impressive cataracts. A short paved trail follows the west side of the catch-basin, but a tangle of user-
maintained trails offers closer looks of the main cascade and the smaller upper falls. This short hike will exhaust your store of superlatives. ANW
No trip to the Palouse is complete without a stop at 198-foot Plaouse Falls, one of the state’s most impressive cataracts Photo by Aaron Theisen
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Cascadia Gear: Essentials for your next Adventure Arcteryx Alpha LT Shell The Alpha LT Jacket from Arcteryx is reasonably lightweight (14.5 oz.) and yet rugged enough to stand up to the rough-andtumble of the backcountry, thanks to the three-layer Gore-Tex® Pro Shell. The hood offers multiple adjustment points to ensure that it stays out of your face - with or without a hat (or helmet) underneath. Two external pockets (and one on the inside) provide lots of places to stash your important stuff and the articulating elbows and generous cut allow for unrestricted movement and layering. Simply put, the Alpha LT provides a remarkable combination of protection, durability and comfort. The only drawback is the price - ouch! Still, if you want a bomb-proof shell that you can absolutely, positively rely on - look no farther.
Granite Gear Leopard AC58 Backpack
Black Diamond Gizmo
Buying a Headlamp
by Chris Gerston LED technology has done wonders for outdoor lighting and here are a few tips to help you choose the right light. For doing camp tasks, reading a book in your tent, or walking down a trail, an inexpensive two-bulb LED light (about 20-30 lumens) should be sufficient. Some examples are the Black Diamond Gizmo and Petzl Tikkina2. If you are running down a trail or looking for things that might be hiding at night, I’d suggest bumping up to a light between 40-70 lumens such as the Black Diamond Cosmo or Petzl Tikka2 or Tikka Plus2. Bigger lights (80-110 lumens) are great for biking up a wide trail or lighting up a glacier route during those pre-dawn alpine starts. For these activities I’d suggest either the Black Diamond Storm or Petzl Tikka XP2. Lights much beyond 120-500 lumens are either for mountain biking single tracks at night (usually two are needed: One on the head and one on the handlebars) or for search and rescue purposes. The Petzl Nao fits this bill - with its reactive lighting mode and massive beam, it’s almost too bright. Another consideration is battery life and rechargeability. Petzl has a separate rechargeable battery for use in conjunction with any of its Tikka2 series headlamps that equates to about 900 AAA batteries. I did the math once and this can easily save $600-$1200 dollars in alkaline batteries. Most of the brighter lights also have various lighting levels to conserve battery life and even a red bulb for reading maps at night without ruining your night vision. Chris Gerston owns Backcountry Essentials, an outdoor specialty shop located at 214 W. Holly in Bellingham, WA. Check out more gear reviews by Chris Gerston at AdventuresNW.com Sponsored Review
Vasque’s Sundowner Hiking Boots prove the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Manufactured since 1984, these boots were a revelation when they were introduced. Among the first to feature Gore-Tex® for waterproofing, these venerable boots quickly became standard footwear for hikers and backpackers. And why not? They were light, tough, comfortable and all-leather. I have hiked in Sundowners for more than 20 years (I’m on my fourth pair!) and have never - ever - gotten a blister. No breaking them in - just put ‘em on and go! Now, 30 years after they were introduced, this iconic boot continues to pamper the feet, mile after mile. Although much has changed over the decades, the Sundowner continues to deliver the kind of comfort and hard-scrapple toughness that was engineered into the first pair. More info: vasque.com
More info: arcteryx.com
Gear Spotlight:
Vasque Sundowner GTX Hiking Boots
I tested the Leopard AC 58 pack on a midwinter hike in the North Cascades. We covered 10 miles and climbed 4,000 feet, and the pack was crammed with gear. Despite its reasonably light weight (3 lbs., 1 oz.), the load felt wellsupported on the molded alloy frame and the plethora of straps, loops and clips came in handy. The main compartment is accessed via a fold-over top secured by a clip, which takes a minute to get into, but kept my stuff secure and dry. A top-zip compartment on the removable floating lid stores items that you need on the trail. With a capacity of 58 liters and a 40 lb. load capacity, I’ll be taking this pack on many adventures to come! (Review by Robyn Goldblatt) More info: granitegearstore.com
Mountain Hardwear Hyaction Shell Brand new for Spring 2014, the Hyaction shell is the latest in a long line of jackets designed by Mountain Hardwear specifically for climbers and high-country adventurers. The Hyaction combines super-wicking Dry. Q™Elite (on the shoulders, upper arms and hood) and abrasion-resistant Dry.Q™EVAP (on the body) to achieve a balance of durability and wickability, while keeping the weight down. Our gear tester, while amazed at the light weight (8.3 oz) and rain-shedding performance, lamented the lack of pit-zips while noting that the sleeves seemed oddly over-long. In keeping with its climber-centric design, the Hyaction features high-set pockets that are out of the way of harness and pack straps. More info: mountainhardwear.com
Petzl Tikka XP2
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Race I Play I Experience MARCH >>>
8 March - 19 April 2014
com Museum, Old City Hall, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm.
Saturday, 8 March BIKING Mussels in the Kettles––Coupeville Elementary School, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm. Non-competitive Mountain Bike and Poker ride on Whidbey Island.This will be a non-competitive ride for all types of riders. We have set up three routes through Fort Ebey and the Kettles trail system.Three routes: Easy 7.75 miles, Moderate 9.75 miles, and Expert 11.25 miles with an out of bounds area for serious riders. First 250 adult registered riders receive a pair of socks. All Adult riders receive a free beverage at the Mussel Fest tent, at the World Famous Mussel Fest party, March 8th 2014 in downtown Coupeville,WA.Young riders will receive an Ice Cream cone at a local Ice Cream shop. SPECIAL Whatcom Creek Trail Restoration with NSEA––Whatcom Creek Trail behind Haskell Business Center, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. Park in the Geri Softball Fields (1581 Fraser St.) parking lot and follow the signs to the work site.
Tuesday, 11 March RUN/WALK Fairhaven Runners Weekly Tuesday Night All-Paces Run––Fairhaven Runners & Walkers, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm. Get fit, get inspired and have fun! Every Tuesday except holidays.
Thursday, 13 March SPECIAL Mt. Baker Book Presentation––What-
RUN/WALK Fairhaven Runners Weekly Thursday Night All-Paces Run––Fairhaven Runners & Walkers, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm. A 45-50 minute run on a variety of local trails led by store staff. Every Thursday except holidays.
Saturday, 15 March SPECIAL St. Patricks Day Parade––Downtown Bellingham, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm. The 5th Annual Bellingham’s St. Patrick’s Day parade is a great opportunity to connect with our community! The annual parade is 20 14 in honor of the Bellingham Police, Fire Departments and Public Safety Personnel but it’s also a chance to green up our community and celebrate all the great businesses, groups, schools and nonprofits that make Bellingham what it is. Everyone is encouraged to participate. Just show up on Saturday, March 15th at Noon! Visit stpatsbham. com for information about the 2014 parade.
Saturday, 29 March RUN/WALK Birch Bay Road Race—Birch Bay Water Slides, 8:30 am – 1:00 pm, 9th Annual. A spectacular run along the shores of scenic Birch Bay and on tree lined country roads. Safe, certified and professionally managed courses for serious and
recreational runners alike, walkers are welcome. Enjoy Birch Bay seaside village, rent a cabin and stay for the weekend. Compete with your running club and get a discount in the Club Challenge event. Benefits “Girls of the Run” of Whatcom County.
APRIL >>> Thursday, 3 April RUN/WALK Fairhaven Runners Weekly Thursday Night All-Paces Run––Fairhaven Runners & Walkers, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm. A 45-50 minute run on a variety of local trails led by store staff. Every Thursday except holidays.
Saturday, 5 April RUN/WALK Skagit Valley Tulip Run–– Skagit Regional Airport, 9:30 am – 11:30 pm. 29th Annual Tulip Run. Presented by Skagit Runners. Flat and fast rural course at the Skagit Regional Airport. 5-mile and 2-mile courses are run on hard packed gravel trails and a small portion on the road. RUN/WALK Cottontail 6- & 12-Hour––Carkeek Park, 6:00 am – 6:00 pm. Hop into spring with endless loops on the Sound. 6-hour & 12-hour options.
Monday, 7 April
n ed o om ooekrse.c H GetTrav NW
Chinook (solo)
Northwest
Traverse Multi-Sport Series
Coho (tandem)
Chum (relay teams)
SPECIAL Mt. Baker Book Presentation––Blaine Library, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm.
Tuesday, 8 April SPECIAL Mt. Baker Book Presentation––Ferndale Library, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm.
Sunday, 13 April RUN/WALK Run for the Honeywagon Half Marathon, 4 Mile Run and Kids 1/2 Mile Run––Nooksack Middle School, 8:00 am – 1:00 pm.
Saturday, 19 April
Northwest Traverse.com
Olympia
Winthrop Traverse
Traverse
Bellingham
North Bend
Sunday, June 29th
Traverse
Kids Traverse
Saturday, September 6th
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Saturday, July 26th
Saturday, June 14th
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Bellingham
Traverse
Saturday, September 20th
RUN/WALK Fun With The Fuzz 5k––Bellingham Police Department, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. The 5th Annual Fun With The Fuzz 5k is a road race in Bellingham, WA that supports families of police officers who are killed in the line of duty. 100% of the proceeds are donated directly to the Behind the Badge Foundation. $20 entry fee includes chip timing, t-shirt, and a chance to win some of our great prizes.
Saturday, 26 April SPECIAL GEAR UP Expo––Comcast Arena at Everett, 10:00 am – Sunday @ 8:00 pm. Outdoor Adventure Trade Show – Two day consumer event http://www.gearupexpo.com
>>> VIew or download even MORE Race|Play|Experience
26 April - 25 May 2014 Sunday, 27 April
Saturday, 3 May
RUN/WALK Heroes Half Marathon & 10K––Port Gardner Landing, 8:00 am – 1:00 pm. Spectacular closed course over the Snohomish River wetlands with views of Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains. Crosses four bridges. Certified, flat and fast. Includes 10K, 5K & Kid’s Fun Run. Great swag, hot post race food and Heroes Beer Garden. Raises funds for USO Northwest. Run to honor the heroes among us by joining TeamUSO. http:// www.heroeshalf.com/
BIKING Willamette Gran Fondo–– Philomath High School, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm. Ride 53 miles in the Medio or 100 miles in the Gran for an amazing experience!
WATER Dan Harris Challenge and Think International Kayak Challenge–– Boulevard Park, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. Open water race for rowers, kayakers, surf skiers and SUPs. Short and long course.
Wednesday, 30 April SPECIAL Mt. Baker Book Presentation ––Everson Library, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm.
MAY >>> Thursday, 1 May SPECIAL Intimate Landscapes––Jansen Art Center, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm. Opening reception, photography by John D’Onofrio, live music, beer & wine. RUN/WALK Fairhaven Runners Weekly Thursday Night All-Paces Run––Fairhaven Runners & Walkers, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm. A 45-50 minute run on a variety of local trails led by store staff. Every Thursday except holidays.
Tuesday, 6 May RUN/WALK Fairhaven Runners Weekly Tuesday Night All-Paces Run–– Fairhaven Runners & Walkers, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm. Get fit, get inspired and have fun! Every Tuesday except holidays.
Saturday, 10 May RUN/WALK Sunflower Trail Marathon and Relay––Mazama to Twisp Washington, 8:30 am – 3:00 pm. RUN/WALK Girls on the Run 5K–– Magnuson Park, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm.
Saturday, 17 May HIKE/CLIMB American Alpine Institute – Glacier Skills & Crevasse Rescue Course (3-day)––American Alpine Insitute, 7:00 am – 5:00 pm.
Saturday-Sunday, 17-18 May SPECIAL Sourdough Speakers Series: Mountain Photography & Microbrews–– North Cascades Institute, Saturday, 3:00 pm – Sunday. 8:00 am. Celebrate American Craft Beer Week by joining us in the North Cascades for an evening of mountain photography with Garrett Grove, gourmet dining prepared by Chef Shelby and paired local microbrews from Icicle Brewery Company!
Sunday, 25 May SPECIAL Ski To Sea Race––Mt. Baker to Bellingham - Limit of 500 Teams. A Relay Race of Seven Race Legs – Seven Different Sports – Over 90 Miles. The Ski to Sea Festival includes a 93.5 mile relay Race of seven venues from Mount Baker to Bellingham Bay
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NathaN L. McaLLister, attorNey at Law, Ps Wills & Trusts • Probate • Commercial Law
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25 May (cont.) - 28 June 2014
encompassing seven different sports. The Festival also includes a community block party with music and food, a Junior Ski to Sea Race, a historical hometown parade, and other special events that provide a wide variety of entertainment and adventure for all who participate. RUN/WALK Emerald City Run––Gas Works Park, 8:00 am – 1:00 pm. Wizard of Oz comes to Seattle. Costumes encouraged. 10K & 15K.
Thursday, 29 May SPECIAL Blazing Paddles Film Festival––Black Box Theatre at Edmonds Community College, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm. It’s WET. It’s WILD. It’s Blazing Paddles: A roadshow of the world’s best paddling films.
Friday, 30 May SPEC/WATER Blazing Paddles Film Festival––Lincoln Theatre, Mt. Vernon, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm. It’s WET. It’s Wild. It’s Blazing Paddles! Come celebrate the passion of paddlesports with this unique opportunity to view outstanding watersports films inspiring people to explore rivers, lakes and oceans, push physical and emotional
Saturday July 12
extremes, and appreciate the heritage of the wild places we paddle. Combining fast-paced action, incredible scenery and culture, this film festival will take you around the globe. For only $15 you can ride shotgun along for the action!
JUNE >>> Saturday, 1 June SPECIAL Gap2Gap Relay––Sarg Hubbard Park,Yakima Greenway, 7:00 am – 2:00 pm. Multi-sport relay, 5-leg race utilizes the Yakima Greenway along the Yakima River. Elite or sport divisions, solo or team. Race includes 2m Field Run, 10 or 8m Mtn Bike, Kayak or Inline Skate, 20m Road Bike, 10K or 5K Run. Junior course for kids age 6-14 includes a Run, Bike, Skate, Paddle, & Obstacle Course. Divisional awards presented in Sarg Hubbard Park post-race. Enjoy live music, beer, wine at Rock The Gap. www.yakimagreenway.org
Saturday, 7 June BIKING Apple Century Bike Ride–– Walla Walla Point Park, All Day. Ride through Washington’s apple & pear country! Start at Wenatchee’s Walla Walla Point Park and wind through orchards and vineyards of Monitor, Cashmere, Dryden and Peshastin en route to Leavenworth.There at Cascade HS, 50-milers return while 100-milers continue through the foothills of the eastern edge of the Cascades to their turn-around at Lake Wenatchee Fire Station. SAG wagons, water stops along the route, “pit stops” at the two turnarounds, plus post-ride fest with pizza, beverages, and music. A 25-mile “Cashmere Loop” option is also available. RUN/WALK 17th Annual Dog Island Run––Guemes Island Library, 10:45 pm – 1:00 pm. Scenic, challenging 10K Run or 2 mile walk. 5 min ferry ride to Guemes Island.
Friday-Sunday, 13-15 June SPECIAL Wild Eats From Land To Sea––Lopez Island. When experiencing our natural surroundings, it is helpful to engage all of our senses for a fuller sense of presence.Together with naturalist
Jennifer Hahn, author of Pacific Feast: A Cook’s Guide to West Coast Foraging and Cuisine, we’ve created a weekend in the San Juan Islands that will exercise our oft-neglected sense of taste! http:// ncascades.org/signup/programs/ wild-eats-from-land-to-sea
Saturday, 14 June SPECIAL Winthrop Traverse––Pearrygin Lake State Park. Save the Date – June 14th, 2014. We are planning on launching the next Traverse in our series in 2014. Winthrop, WA, here we come! 3 mile Run, 12 mile Mountain Bike, 4 mile Paddle, 20 mile Road Ride and a .25 mile Team TREK to finish.
Saturday, 21 June RUN/WALK Mary’s Peak 50K Trail Run––Blodgett School, All Day. A beautiful and challenging trail run through the Oregon Coast range. TRI TriMonroe Amateur Draft-Legal–– Lake Tye, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm. One of only 2, USAT approved amateur draft-legal races in USA. Olympic style oval course. SPECIAL Kulshan Quest Adventure Race––Bellingham, WA, All Day. 6 hr. and 12 hr. Adventure Races out of Bellingham, WA. Using sea kayaks, mt. bikes, and your trusty old feet, you will navigate a series of checkpoints using
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.3-mile swim 14.8-mile bike 4-mile run
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Plus a YOUTH TRI
(flotation devices allowed & parents encouraged to participate with their kids)
360.336.9414 tonyt@co.skagit.wa.us
Presented By
skagitcounty.net/parksandrecreation 46
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29 June - 27 July 2014 only map and compass to make your way from start to finish.
Saturday, 28 June TRI Padden Triathlon – Competitive–– Lake Padden West Entrance, 8:30 pm – 11:30 am.
Sunday, 29 June SPECIAL Vacationland RV Bellingham Kids Traverse––Civic Field, All Day. 1 mi. RUN, 1.5 mi MTN BIKE, .5 Obstacle Course and Team TREK to Mallard Ice Cream Finish. Starting in Civic Stadium, The course offers a 1 mi. Run through Salmon Woods; 1.5 mi.Mountain Bike around Civic and Geri Fields; .5 mi. Obstacle Course inside Civic Stadium; .25 miTeam TREK to Mallard Ice Cream Finish Line. Top 3 finishers in each age group get awards and all finishers get a Kids Traverse ribbon and ice cream.
JULY >>> Saturday, 12 July RUN/WALK Chuckanut Footrace–– Lake Padden West Entrance, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. TRI Clear Lake Triathlon––Clear Lake Beach, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. For more info see ad page 46
Friday, 18 July
Island, 7:00 am – 5:00 pm, Ragnar Relay is the overnight running relay series that makes testing your limits a team sport. You and your band of 11 teammates will run day and night from Blaine, WA to Whidbey Island in one of the craziest and most unforgettable weekends of your life. Sign up today and join the Ragnar Nation! www.ragnarrelay. com/race/northwestpassage
Saturday, 26 July BIKING Tour de Whatcom–– Whatcom County. 8th Annual Tour de Whatcom, a fun charity bike ride in Whatcom County. 25, 50, and 105 miles. The rides are awesome.You get to see everything: Mt Baker, Lake Whatcom, valleys, rivers, lush farmland, beaches and Puget Sound all in one fairly level ride. SPECIAL Alpine Experience Olympia Traverse––All Day. 7.4 mi. MTN BIKE, 22 mi. ROAD BIKE, 3.5 mi. PADDLE, 4.5 mi. RUN and .5 mi. Team TREK to Fish Tale Ale Finish Line at Port Plaza.
Sunday, 27 July RUN/WALK Eugene Marathon–– Hayward Field, 6:00 am – 12:00 pm. This July the Eugene Marathon moves to be part of a weekend celebration of running in TrackTown USA. Named a
RUN/WALK Ragnar Northwest Passage—Blaine, WA to Whidbey
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27 July (cont.) - 28 September 2014 ‘Best of the Best Marathon’ by Runner’s World, runners rave about this race. The full and half marathon courses are beautiful, flat and fast – taking participants by numerous parks and miles of riverfront trails before they reach the finish line on the track inside historic Hayward Field.
AUGUST >>> Saturday, 16 August TRI Whidbey Island Triathlon––South Whidbey Parks & Recreation District,10:00 am – 1:00 pm. Scenic course: .5mi lake swim; 19.5mi bike country roads; 3.8mi run trails & country roads
Saturday-Sunday, 16-17 August
Sunday, 27 July RUN/WALK The San Francisco Marathon—5:00 am – 1:00 pm. The 37th running of The San Francisco Marathon will take place on July 27, 2014. Known for it’s scenic views, this USA Track & Field-certified Boston qualifier race starts at the Ferry Building, runs along the Embarcadero, over the Bridge, along the coastline, through Golden Gate Park and the Haight-Ashbury District and past AT&T Park before finishing in front of Cupid’s Arrow. Marathon events include a Full Marathon, two Half Marathons and a 5K run.
SPECIAL Muds To Suds––Hovander Park.You won’t want to miss Whatcom County’s own Muds to Suds Mud Race taking place at Hovander Park in Ferndale on August 16 and 17, 2014.
SEPTEMBER >>> Sunday, 14 September BIKING Chuckanut Century––Bellingham and Whatcom County, 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, 50, 62, 100, or the double metric century of 124 miles. Although all cyclists should be fully prepared when they take to the roads, you can enjoy the added
Lithtex NW 1/4 V
race I play I experience security of knowing that there is ride support if needed and food stops with a wide variety of high-energy food and drinks along all of the routes. No matter which route you choose, you’ll be treated to Whatcom County’s finest roads and sights. As you ride the south loop you’ll have views of the San Juan Islands while overlooking Bellingham, Samish, and Padilla Bays along with stunning views of Chuckanut and
Advertiser Index
7C Creative....................................... 48 Adventura Aerial Park........................37 Adventures NW................................ 49 American Alpine Institute......................7 Backcountry Essentials....................... 43 Backporch Wine and Spirits.............. 49 Barkley Village Family Dentistry............4 Bellingham Automotive.........................9 Bellingham Bay Marathon................. 47 Bellingham Frameworks..................... 42 Bellingham KitePaddleSurf................. 22 Bellingham Sports & Spine................. 33 Boundary Bay Brewery......................13 Brad Jones Certified Advanced Rolfing... 4 Brandon Nelson - Keller Williams Realty....................15 Chuckanut Bay Gallery..................... 25 Colophon Cafe..................................19 Community Boating Center.................19 D’Anna’s Cafe Italiano...................... 42 Danne Neill - Muljat Group................34 Dave Mauro - UBS Financial . ..............9 Dawn Durand - Windermere Real Estate..................................... 25 Fairhaven Bike & Ski...........................18 Fairhaven Pizza & Prawns..................19 Fairhaven Runners & Walkers.............19 Fun with the Fuzz.............................. 46 Gallery West......................................19 Gato Verde Adventure Sailing........... 24 Gear Up Expo.................................. 47 Honey Moon.....................................31 iClean................................................17 Inner Passage.....................................11 JM Electric........................................ 49 Josh Feyen - ReMax Real Estate......... 30 Ken Harrison/Coldwell Bain Real Estate..................................... 29 Klicks Running & Walking ................. 41
7C
Blanchard mountains, also known as “where the Cascade mountains meet the sea.” The north loop offers spectacular views of Mt Baker as it stretches to meet the sky at 10,800 feet, as well as incredible views of the Canadian Cascades, Mt Shuksan, the Twin Sisters, Birch Bay, and Vancouver Island.
Saturday, 20 September SPECIAL Bellingham Traverse–– Market Depot/Boundary Bay, All Day. 5.5 mi. Greenways Run, 6 mi. Mtn Bike, 18 mi. Road Ride, 3.4 mi.Trail Run, 3.6 mi. Paddle and .65 mi.Team Trek to the Boundary Kulshan Brewery.........Inside Back Cover Kulshan Cycles...................................17 LFS Marine & Outdoor...................... 29 Lithtex NW....................................... 48 Mallard Ice Cream............................ 24 MBBC / Chuckanut Century.............. 45 Mount Baker Mountain Guides.......... 30 Mt Baker Foothills Chamber............... 40 Nathan McAllister - Attorney at Law........................................... 45 North Cascades Institute.....................34 North Cascades Mountain Guides..... 24 North Cascades Mountain Hostel.......34 North Fork Brewery.......................... 41 Northwest Behavorial.........................17 NW European Autoworks.................13 Old Fairhaven Association..................18 Peoples Bank.......................................3 Pizza Pipeline/McKay’s Taphouse..... 35 Pullman Chamber of Commerce......... 41 Recreation Northwest - NW Traverse.... 44 Sally Farrell - Coldwell Bain Real Estate........................................6 San Juan Sailing...................................9 Skagit County Parks Clear Lake Triathlon....................... 46 Skagit Valley Food Co-op.................. 49 Superior Automotive......................... 46 Sustainable Connections.................... 49 T.D. Curran.......................... Back Cover Terra Organica..................................31 The ReStore.........................................6 The Table.............................................6 Village Books.....................................18 Whatcom Educational Credit Union....37 Whatcom Events - Ski to Sea.................2 Whatcom Family YMCA.................... 41 Whidbey Island Bank...........................5 Yoga Northwest.................................18 Yoga with Susan D’Onofrio............... 40 Zaremba Paxton, P.S. ........................11
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inviting, approachable designs for website, office and home search engine friendly scenics, patterns, natural history affordable small business solutions environmental portraiture
www.7ccreative.com 360.303.3777 info@7ccreative.com
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20 Dates September (cont.) - 1 November 2014 Bay Finish Line and Bellingham Block Party.The Bellingham Traverse is a multi-sport event celebrating the life cycle of wild salmon and the natural and urban challenges of their journey. Solo, tandem and relay teams challenge themselves and one another on a rugged course that highlights the City of Bellingham’s Parks, Greenways System, bike-friendly roads, and open water opportunities for recreation. http://nwtraverse.com/bellingham-traverse/home
Saturday, 27 September SPECIAL San Juan Island Quest––All Day. 6 hr. and 12 hr. Adventure Races in the San Juans. Using sea kayaks, mt. bikes, and your trusty old feet, you will navigate a series of checkpoints using only map and compass to make your way from start to finish.
Sunday, 28 September RUN/WALK Bellingham Bay Marathon, 1/2 Marathon & 5K––Bellingham Depot Market, 7:30
AdventuresNW.com/Events
am – 4:00 pm. Come experience the natural beauty of Bellingham Bay, San Juan Islands, mountain views and a touch of trail in Bellingham, Washington. Enjoy what many runners have described as “the most beautiful marathon in the Pacific Northwest”. 8th Annual Event. http://www.bellinghambaymarathon.org/
NOVEMBER >>> Sunday, 1 November RUN/WALK Carkeek 6- & 12-Hour––Carkeek Park, 6:00 am – 6:00 pm.The original toughest 12-hour out there, with bonus 6-hour option! Run as many or few laps as you dare. ANW
TREAT
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Go where the locals go, pick up your free Food & Farm Finder, and plan your next foodie getaway to Bellingham and Whatcom County • eatlocalfirst.org
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2014/20
Check out our on-line Calendar for Expanded Listings of Races, Events and Cool Outdoor Activities!
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the
Next
Adventure
The Sisters photo by Dave Lucas It was a clear morning in Whatcom County when my photography buddies and I were out on a Sunday morning drive. We were planning on capturing images of Bald Eagles feeding on salmon in the Nooksack River. Along the way we noticed an unusually clear view of the Twin Sisters Mountain. “The Sisters”, as they are sometimes referred to, are located southwest of Mount Baker. This pleasant discovery caused us to put our other plans on hold. We spent several hours, in several locations, photographing this majestic mountain. As is sometimes the case, good luck can also play an important role in good photography. The eagles would have to wait. Check out Dave Lucas’ photography at lucasphotographic.com
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