Adventures NW Magazine Fall 2016

AUTUMN 2016

WILD LIFE!

LISTENING TO WOLVES CHRIS MORGAN’S GRIZZLIES WHITE GRIZZLIES OF THE KOOTENAYS THE BEARS OF BELLA COOLA PADDLING DECEPTION PASS CASCADE CYCLOCROSS BEST AUTUMN HIKES

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CONTRIBUTORS Anita K. Boyle is an artist, poet, and publisher of limitededition, handmade books by Washington State poets. Her poems have been published in literary magazines and books, including What the Alder Told Me (MoonPath Press 2011). Inspiration for her art and poetry comes from the natural world of northwest Washington.

Drew Castellaw is a recent visual journalism graduate from Western Washington University who is passionate about storytelling, adventure, and photography. His goal is to capture human moments that inspire others to explore, take risks, and persevere.

Other than photography, Drew enjoys backpacking, snowboarding, and soccer. Visit him at: drewcastellaw.com.

Susan Conrad is the author of Inside: One Woman’s Journey Through the Inside Passage. Her new memoir chronicles the inner and outer journeys of her 1200mile solo sea kayak expedition from Anacortes, WA to Juneau, AK. These days, as an EXPED adventure ambassador, her journeys take her on speaking engagements around the country, with as many mini adventures thrown in the mix as possible.

Long ago, Kathy and Craig Copeland rearranged their lives to make hiking the white-hot molten core of their shared identity. They built their livelihood on a unique ability to express the wonder, joy, and exhilaration they feel in wild places. They’re now Canada’s most prolific hiking-andcamping guidebook authors. Visit hikingcamping.com to see their titles and peruse their blog.

FALL | 2016 Volume 11. Issue 3 motorcyclist, his main pursuit is wildlife photography, but recently he has returned to his roots as a live music photographer.

Lawrence Millman is the author of 16 books, including such titles as Our Like Will Not Be There Again, Lost in the Arctic, Last Places, An Evening Among Headhunters, and forthcoming in 2017, At the End of the World. His articles have appeared in Smithsonian, National Geographic Adventure, the Atlantic Monthly and Sports Illustrated.

Brian Poor resides in Edmonds, equidistant to the woods and wilds of Washington’s three National Parks. He enjoys photographing the Coastal Brown Bears of the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia and of Katmai National Park in Alaska.

Joan Poor is a classic tree-hugger rooted in the Pacific Northwest. Her photographs support wildlife advocacy campaigns and the ‘bear’ necessities of our common ground. Joan is inspired by resident orcas and migrating songbirds and is grateful for public lands, state and national parks, and our one earth.

As chairman of the Bellingham Greenways Advisory Committee, Ted Rosen aims to make Bellingham a greener and more desirable place to live. He’s passionate about non-motorized connectors and public forests. He can often be found on urban trails, complaining about dog poop and discarded cigarette butts.

Abigail Sussman is honored to have been in the presence of wild animals, seen and unseen, heard and unheard, known and unknown. A longtime seasonal wilderness ranger, Abigail loves to explore new terrain as well as familiar landscapes.

Find more stories at www.abigailmsussman.com

Dawn Groves is a writer who lives in Bellingham, teaches WordPress at Whatcom Community College, and finds peace in paddling the Salish Sea. www.dawngroves.com Christopher Howard has been working as a photographer for almost 10 years. Life has taken him to many places around the world, where he takes images that inspire. A freelance photographer versed in all aspects of photography, from family portraits to live music events, he makes his home in the Pacific Northwest.

Keely Killebrew lives in Bellingham with her loyal dog Milo and a handful of courageous gals. She is an avid solo-traveler and enjoys a variety of pastimes such as rock climbing, flying helicopters, and trail-riding. If there’s one motto she lives by, it is “never say no to a wild adventure!”

COVER PHOTO by Brian Poor

A Look Ahead:

Our Winter Issue Rescue on Denali Fire Lookouts in Winter Skiing in the Dark

Scott Melnick grew up in New York learning to love the outdoors, a gift from his father who was also an outdoor writer/ photographer. He moved to Washington State in 1991 to explore the wildlife and outdoors that the area has to offer. An avid hiker, kayaker and 4

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INSPIRATIONS IN THIS ISSUE

Chris Morgan A Passion for Grizzlies

Ted Rosen

12

The Music of Wolves

Abigail Sussman

16

The Bears of Bella Coola Scott Melnick

22

Autumn Ephemera

John D’Onofrio

26

Encounter with the White Grizzly

Lawrence Millman

28

Water Under the Bridge

Dawn Groves

30

Mud and Camaraderie

Drew Castellaw

38

Celebrating Gravity with the JoyRiders

Kelly Killebrew

44

“Mother Nature is our teacher - reconnecting us with Spirit, waking us up and liberating our hearts. When we can transcend our fear of the creatures of the forest, then we become one with all that is; we enter a unity of existence with our relatives - the animals, the plants and the land that sustains us.”

– Sylvia Dolson

DESTINATIONS Howling at the Moon Out & About 3 Great Hikes ... for Summer Outside In Bright Lines eARTh: The Art of Nature Cascadia Gear Race | Play | Experience Calendar Next Adventure

6 8 9 29 35 42 46 47 50

HOURS Weekdays 8-6 Saturday 8-5 851 Coho Way Sunday Bellingham, WA 9-4 360.734.3336 Photo © Brenda Phillips

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Howling at the Moon T

here is something about apex predators.

If you’ve ever seen a grizzly bear, a mountain lion or a wolf in the wild, you know what I mean. Being in the presence of these magnificent creatures is a powerful experience, a wake-up call to the ego about our place in the greater scheme of things.

What is wilderness without wildlife?

A theme park perhaps, a sanitized playground, an empty promise.

In the days before Europeans arrived, the North Cascades were alive with grizzly bears - indeed some 100,000 individuals roamed the contiguous United States. Their presence attested to the health and well-being of complex ecosytems.

But the nineteenth century was not good to the grizzlies - between 1800 and 1860, the population in the North Cascades was reduced by two-thirds. In 1975, eight years after the last documented grizzly in the North Cascades had been shot, the United States government declared them ‘threatened.’

Once upon a time, wolves too had the run of the place. They moved north about 10,000 years ago as the ice-sheets retreated and lived beside the indigenous people for centuries untold, howling at many moons and occupying an honored place in Coast Salish mythology.

But by the 1930’s, the wolves of the North Cascades (and Washington State in general) were pretty much gone - shot, trapped, poisoned. Organized eradication.

So with this sad history in mind, let us turn our attention to the current efforts to reestablish the wolf and the grizzly bear to the North Cascades.

The wolves are clearly moving back 6

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- their numbers still small but doubling to approximately 90 individuals in the period from 2012 to 2015. This modest recovery has not been without opposition, especially from the east-side ranching communities that see the wolves’ depredation of their flocks and herds as an economic threat.

Bellingham-based Conservation Northwest and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife have addressed this issue by creating the Range Riders Project, a commonsense return to the days of vigilantly tending the herds in ranch country (see page 19). In the years before the predators were annihilated, this was standard practice.

Now in its fourth year, the results have been promising and the wolves may be on the verge of gaining a true foothold in their old stomping grounds.

The grizzlies have not been so fortunate thus far.

Only a handful of these bears occupy the North Cascades today and according to Joe Scott of Conservation Northwest, there has been no documented reproduction. But a North Cascades Grizzly Bear Restoration Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was released just last year, a development that Scott - who’s

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worked on grizzly restoration for nearly 20 years - describes as a “turning point.”

Even under the best case scenarios, he cautions, it will take decades to reestablish grizzly populations. Except for the musk ox, grizzlies produce the fewest offspring of any mammal in North America. Progress is slow.

Still, the North Cascades are one of only five grizzly recovery zones in the lower 48 and with the EIS and the increasingly recognized economic benefits that large carnivores deliver in terms of eco-tourism, the scales seem to finally be tipping toward recovery.

Wolves and grizzlies in the North Cascades.

It’s a start.

Adventures NW magazine www.AdventuresNW.com John D’Onofrio

Publisher/Editor john @ adventuresnw.com

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Creative Director jason @ adventuresnw.com

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Out About & Photo by Tim Chandonnet

The Bellingham Traverse Turns 15

Way back in 2001, Bellingham native Todd Elsworth had a Big Idea. He had been involved with organizing cycling events on the east coast and now, back home in the City of Subdued Excitement he wanted to create a new kind of communityoriented recreational event that also incorporated environmental consciousness-raising. The resulting race, The Bellingham Traverse, celebrates its fifteenth anniversary this year on Saturday, September 17.

Consisting of six legs (Greenways Run, Mountain Bike, Road Bike, Trail Run, Paddle and Team Trek), the Traverse highlights the journey of wild salmon, a fish that Elsworth finds to be emblematic of the Pacific Northwest. Participants can tackle

Bellingham Teen Sets National Paddling Record, Wins Gold Sierra Does it Again!

Bellingham’s Sierra Noskoff, age 13, won three gold medals - and a bronze - in August at the USA Sprint National Championships in Oklahoma City, OK. Along with teammates Abby Scoggins, Ana Swetish and Elena Wolgamot, all members of the Bellingham Canoe Kayak Sprint Team (BCKST), she earned gold in the K2 300- and 500-meter, as well as in the K4 500-meter race. She also nabbed a bronze in the K2 200-meter event.

“It had to be a big circle,” he says, “so I literally connected the dots of the local parks utilizing the extensive network of greenways and roads to make for a scenic yet challenging course.”

As always, both the starting and finish lines are located at Boundary Bay Brewery, which is convenient because the traditional Traverse IPA, brewed each year by the fine folks at that brewery, will be close at hand.

More info: recreationnorthwest.org

Barber’s Bugaboo Adventure Takes the Prize Dave Barber’s adventure dreams are about to come true.

Barber was chosen as the winner of our second annual Live Your Adventure contest. The contest is the creation of Bellingham realtor/world record-paddler Brandon Nelson. Each year Nelson offers readers the opportunity to win $1000 by proposing a life-changing adventure that they would like to experience.

His dream adventure of heli-skiing in British Columbia’s Bugaboo Mountains was selected as the winning entry this year and Barber is rarin’ to go.

“When we won gold, it was an amazing experience,” she says.

“Crossing the finish line ahead of all the other boats is a feeling you can’t recreate and it felt really good knowing that all my hard work and training over the last year has paid off.”

“I am stoked about this opportunity and I can visualize an epic winter coming,” he declares. “Helicopter skiing has always been in my bucket and to make it a reality seems unreal but it sounds like it will come true thanks to Brandon Nelson.”

Noskoff is no stranger to success. In June she set a national kayaking record as part of the Barton Bantam Challenge, paddling an amazing 1009.32 kilometers over a period of six weeks. To put this in perspective, this is the equivalent of paddling halfway to Skagway, Alaska or crossing the English Channel 28 times.

Women’s Trail Running Retreat Announced

What’s Sierra’s secret? According to her proud dad Chris Noskoff, she’s “willing to paddle around 30 kilometers a day, every day, for six straight weeks in the rain or shine with a smile on her face.”

For more info about BCKST: www.bellinghamcanoekayak.org 8

the Traverse solo, in tandem or as relay teams. The course was chosen to highlight some of the local public lands that Elsworth believes add so much value to the community.

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The folks at Hamster Endurance Running have announced a Northwest Women’s Trail Running Retreat in Bellingham from September 15-19.

In addition to Hamster’s Kelly Krieger, the retreat will feature yoga instructor Ingela Abbott of Yoga Northwest, pro trail runner and dietician Maria Dalzot, massage therapist Kerry Gustafson,

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Festival Fun in Cascadia Late-summer fun in the City of Subdued Excitement is plentiful.

Music lovers gather on the Fairhaven Village Green on Saturday, September 10 for the Bellhaven Jazz Festival, presented by Bellingham’s jazz maestro Jud Sherwood and his organization, The Jazz Project.

This year’s line-up includes Blues Union, Jennifer Scott Quartet, Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto and the Christopher Woitach Quartet. Admission is free and the sweet sounds start at 1 p.m.

Bring your own seating and enjoy a full day of jazz, blues, and Latin music.

More info at: jazzproject.org New on the scene this year is SeaFeast, a community celebration of our connection to the Salish Sea with sumptuous seafood, fisher-poets, live music, unique spectacles (survival suit races anyone?), boat tours, circus performers, art showcase and (of course) beer garden.

Photo by Katheryn Moran

The fun starts Friday, September 30 at noon in downtown Bellingham and moves to Zuanich Point Park at Squalicum Harbor on Saturday from 10 a.m until 8 p.m., culminating with a “symphony of seafood.”

More info: bellinghamseafeast.com Friday Harbor, located on bucolic San Juan Island is an appealing destination at any time, but the weekend of November 4-6 shines as an especially good time to board the ferry. The fourth annual Friday Harbor Film Festival will unspool at various locations around the picturesque island village and it’s a festival with heart - and a conscience.

The festival’s focus is on quality documentaries and docudramas featuring compelling stories about humanitarian efforts, environmental issues, social concerns and daring explorations.

Each film is followed by a provocative discussion with the filmmaker or a local expert. The festival’s ongoing mission is to entertain, inspire, enlighten and encourage. Ambitious? Sure. But based on previous years, you can expect to be dazzled.

More info: www.fhff.org running coach/ultra runner/author Krissy Moehl and sports hypnotherapist Diane Ripper.

“I’ve assembled some of the best in the country to help lead this retreat,” Krieger says. “Every one of these local women has loads of expertise and experience to help you achieve your goals.”

For more info: pnwwomenstrailretreat.com stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.

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Great Hikes

... for Fall

Spider Gap Here’s a backpacking trip with diverse joys. In autumn, Spider Meadows stretch golden in the sun and after a steep - but short - climb you’ll find yourself about 7.5 miles from the trailhead at Larch Knob, an entrancing campsite on the lip of a rim 900 feet above the meadows. As the name suggests, the high country is dotted with gnarled and The Lyman Lakes from Spider Gap venerable larches, posing Photo by John D’Onofrio for pictures. Mt Maude and Seven Fingered Jack form a wall to the east and a thunderous creek roars past, melt water pouring off the nearby Spider Glacier. From here it’s less than a mile to Spider Gap with its birds-eye view down over the luscious Lyman Lakes. The descent to the lakes usually requires an ice axe and is not for the casual hiker.

The usual approach to the Lyman Lakes from Lake Chelan up the Railroad Creek Valley is closed this year due to a mine mitigation effort so the lakes might just be lonely.

Trailhead: FR 6211 off the Chiwawa River Road near Lake Wenatchee.

Chain Lakes Probably the most popular trail in the Mt. Baker area, the Chain Lakes Loop offers a succession of easily-attained scenes of classic North Cascades splendor. In addition to the picturesque lakes, you’ll enjoy close-up views of the impressive cliffs of Table Mountain as well as postcard-worthy vistas of Baker and Shuksan from the high point atop Herman Saddle. Autumn colors are vibrant all along the way. This 8-mile loop can be done as a day hike or you could linger overnight by camping at one of the lakes (designated sites only).

Trailhead: Austin Pass Picnic Area, Artist Point - both on the Artist Point Road at the end of the Mt. Baker Highway.

Maple Pass Loop Autumn is the time to hike the Maple Pass Loop, although truth be told, it’s a stunner in the summer too. This 7-mile loop - much of it above tree line - emanates from Rainy Pass. Climb through beautiful forest to Heather Pass, passing lovely Lake Ann (a halfmile side-trail beckons) on the way. Once you climb out of the trees, the world is your oyster. The highest fringe of trees include luminous stands of larch - if your timing is good, they’ll be ablaze in autumn color. Once atop the ridge, you’ll have a panorama of wild peaks in all directions. Dome Peak - a personal favorite - is especially impressive to the south and Liberty Bell and the spires above Washington Pass line the eastern horizon. Close at hand, Black Peak seems to loom. You can camp on the loop but not within a quarter mile of Maple or Heather Pass or Lake Ann. Water is scarce up high. Total elevation gain is only 2000 feet.

Trailhead: Rainy Pass on Highway 20 (North Cascades Highway).

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Chris Morgan A Passion for Grizzlies Story by Ted Rosen Photos by Brenda Phillips

Photo © Brenda Phillips

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With each sordid tale of a bear attack or wolf predation came renewed cries to wipe these noble beasts off the map, making the region safe for homesteaders and outdoorsmen. You can still encounter black bears now and again, and a recent effort to re-introduce wolves into the area has proven successful. But the grizzlies have all but disappeared.

Enter Chris Morgan.

Born and raised in Wigan, UK, Morgan came to America and discovered in her wild places his calling: to champion the cause of wildlife restoration and the preservation of the habitats that support them. He has since hosted numerous television documentaries for the BBC and PBS Nature. His passionate interest in grizzly bears has pigeonholed him as “the Grizzly Guy”, but his famous face has spoken in support of many endangered species: from bears, wolves, and Siberian tigers to elephants, muskox, and orangutans. He is currently heading Western Wildlife Outreach, an umbrella project for supporting wildlife conservation, including an effort to reintroduce grizzly bears here in the North Cascades.

I got a chance to speak with him about his work. Measured in tone and affable, Morgan was happy to describe his journey from fascinated teenager to dedicated advocate. Since I was pretty sure that Wigan, UK isn’t home to many grizzly bears, I had to ask how a small town Englishman got interested in Alaskan grizzlies.

“My Mum and Dad always encouraged me to be out in the wild and camp even though there isn’t much wild in the UK. And so it was partly innate, partly nurtured. When I was eighteen years old I was all set to go to art college and become a graphic designer, but I thought, ‘before I go to college I’m going to have a few months in the States’. I came to the States to work on a summer camp and while I was there I met a bear biologist. He came to talk to the kids at the summer camp in New Hampshire about his bear research. The other kids were kind of into it, but I was much more excited to hear about it than they were. And I ended up bugging him enough until he relented and let me out into the field with him. stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.

“We ended up going not to the forest but to the city dump in New Hampshire. And there were fourteen black bears at the city dump under the moonlight at night. It was that evening that changed the course of my life. I ended up chasing around and tranquilizing these bears at a dump in Berlin, New Hampshire and making my mind up there and then that’s what I want to do with the rest of my life. I came back (to the UK) and went to art college for six days and quit and I hit a new track. So it was just a fortuitous kind of moment in life. One of those that not a lot of people have.

I feel very lucky that it happened to me when I was just eighteen.”

Morgan was hooked.

He went on to study endangered bears in Spain, Canada, Ecuador, and Pakistan. Along the way he earned a master’s degree in Advanced Ecology from the University of Durham, UK. Armed with knowledge and passion, he traveled the globe, learning all he could about animal populations: how they live, where Photo © Brenda Phillips

A

hundred years ago, the North Cascades Range was alive with grizzly bears and wolves. With the spread of settlements in the newly-minted Washington state, these apex predators were pushed ever deeper into the mountains, ranging north into British Columbia to find safe havens. The wily cougars and bobcats hung on, ever diminishing but tenacious in keeping their home turf.

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readers will have about grizzly bear rethey go, how they cope with change. His introduction in the North Cascades: is it friendly demeanor and earnest voice were safe? In researching this story I read every eventually discovered by PBS, who hired account of fatal grizzly attacks in North him to narrate and host numerous televiAmerica I could find. By my count, there sion nature programs, centered mostly on have been 67 recorded fatal attacks by wildlife conservation and animal behavwild grizzly bears since 1910. (This does ior. He also hosted nature documentaries not include black bear, polar bear, or capfor BBC/Discovery, earning him global acclaim. With all these years of nature documentaries under his belt, he had one good road story to share.

“One of the cool experiences I had was working on the Great Bear Stakeout series with the BBC. The crew were all Brits: cameramen who had created and filmed Planet Earth, Frozen Planet, and all the most amazing visual films the world had ever seen. But not one of them had filmed grizzly bears before. So I took them to Katmai National Park, and it was amazing to see Photo © Brenda Phillips these guys who had done it all see grizzlies for the first time. Their tive bear attacks). Most of these attacks eyes were popping out of their heads! occurred in Yellowstone, the Yukon, and Grizzlies went running past ten or twelve Alaska. Some of them were preventable, feet away, ignoring us, just getting on but some were hikers caught unaware or with their day….Guys like Barry Britton campers sleeping in their tents: situations and Matt Aberhard and other cameramen you can’t mitigate very easily. So, if grizwho had done it all, legends in their field, zly bears return to the remote trails and but this was like...WOW! I love it because mountains we Northwesterners love, will I’m as much into the effect that these big there be a meaningful threat? Are your animals have on people as I am into the kids better off at home in front of a video animals themselves. I love the psychology game than out on the trails in the North of big carnivores among humans.”

Cascades? I threw this hardball at Morgan Which brings up a concern many

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and he responded like the seasoned expert he is.

“I feel for those people and I understand their concerns. They’re deeply rooted and mostly borne of unfamiliarity, of little knowledge and information. It’s not their fault. They live in a place where we haven’t had numbers of grizzly bears for many decades. That local cultural and historical knowledge of bears goes away. But I point to the places where there are grizzlies and always have been and life ticks along just fine. People have become used to those bears and know how to be around them.

“The bears add something to many people’s lives. It’s an essence of the wild that people appreciate, from Montana to Alaska.

So I understand the fear. Fear is borne of a lack of information.

The more people know about grizzly bears, they fear them less.

It’s a case that I’ve seen a lot. To me, there’s a benefit of having a grizzly bear in a forest or on a mountain slope. It makes me feel small, insignificant, but a part of something much, much bigger. That’s what comes to mind for me. Not the OH MY GOD there’s a chance of an attack here! But what it does, when you are thinking about the potential danger, is it connects you to that environment in a really visceral way.

“If we can get beyond the danger aspect by learning more about grizzlies: making noise on the trail, making sure

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you know how to camp safely, knowing an overturned rock may have been caused by a grizzly bear looking for ants, making sure you know about the habitat a grizzly bear might be in during the spring, summer or fall, where a bear might den, how a female might react when she appears on a trail in front of you, when a bear is acting predatory versus when a bear is acting in self defense - and which one is more likely - all these things add to your experience in the woods rather than take away from them.

“It’ll never be the case for everybody, but it’s powerful stuff for me and a lot of people that I know. What a great family thing to do! To learn about this stuff before you head out and to operate as the more intelligent mammal when you’re out in the woods, and figure out what to do and what not to do. I have kids. I treat it as a benefit when I’m out there. They know how to hang food and they know not to take their candy into the tents and

how to react to a bear on the trail. It’s fun stuff! It’s life, right? It all comes back to the appreciation that people have for living in this part of the world, a place that’s wild enough for grizzlies. We have it all right here, right at the doorstep of Bellingham and Seattle. It’s a rare thing and should be treated with celebration!”

One glance at Morgan’s body of work and you’ll see that he has focused on grizzlies yet still has a soft spot for a wide range of creatures. He has hosted the TV documentaries “Land of the Lost Wolves”, “Siberian Tiger Quest”, and “The Last Orangutan Eden”. His university studies have given him a deep understanding of our planet’s life, from paramecium to blue whales and all creatures, great and small. So I had to ask: do you have a favorite?

“Grizzly bears are always my favorite. I guess that’s kind of predictable for me, isn’t it? But on the other end of the spectrum I’m also obsessed with ants.

I was just talking with someone this

morning about ants because I’m in the middle of developing a new series about various species around the world, and one that I always keep coming back to is ants. They have fascinated me since I was a kid. So from the tiniest to the biggest, from ants to grizzly bears, they are a couple of my favorites.

“I have a real fascination with mountain lions as well. I saw one recently on the outskirts of Bellingham.

There’s always been something mystical and magical about the fact we have American lions. And some of them are within the limits of Bellingham! I’ve been here for nearly twenty years but I still have the perspective of a European.

So I look at one and I think WOW! We have LIONS in town! Isn’t it mindblowing that there are so many people here and we so rarely see them? How many mountain lions are there? Maybe 2500 in Washington state and six million people...it’s pretty crazy how good they are at hiding from us.”

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I admitted I’m one of the folks who, despite many trips into the mountains, has never seen a mountain lion in the wild. I’ve seen black bears, marmots, bobcats, and coyotes and have even had a close call with a herd of agitated mountain goats. But no mountain lions. I have, however, seen quite a few ants in my day, so I suppose that’s something.

Of course the problems and solutions regarding wildlife conservation center on habitat. Land management may not be as sexy as grizzly bears or gray wolves, but it’s one of my abiding interests so I asked Chris what role land management plays in species restoration.

“You can’t have wildlife without wildlife habitat. So how do we promote wildlife habitat conservation? That, in a nutshell, is what I’m trying to do: to promote bears as an umbrella species. Protecting them will protect vast wildlife conservation areas that we all need. Bears are one of the best um-

brella species in the world so they’re a great example. To me, bears make great Photo © Brenda Phillips

ambassadors for habitat conservation.

Because they’re eye-catching, because they’re demanding in terms of space

and resources. They’re hard to turn away from. They’re pretty irresistible in one way or another, so they’re good candidates for it. If we manage places for bears and other big carnivores then we manage places pretty well for everything from clean air to fresh water and natural resources and everything that we need and everything that countless other species need.”

This makes a lot of sense and it also begs the question: how do we measure success? With grizzlies absent from the North Cascades for so many generations, how do we know when the job is done? It’s an important question for conservationists and it’s one that bounces back and forth between environmentalists and government regulators when any creature starts climbing up the ladder from ‘critically endangered’ to ‘vulnerable’.

Morgan was confident: “If in the decades to come there is a self-sustaining population of grizzly bears - and if

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you want to include wolves in that, then great - we’ll be lucky because it’s a place that’s large enough for such a habitat.

It’s large enough for a self-sustaining unit that doesn’t need constant monitoring and augmentation and management and heavy-handedness. If that happens, coupled with really minimal human/bear conflicts, where people are open-minded to learning what it takes to live alongside these animals, maybe even appreciating that we have a chance to live alongside them, that will be success.

“In terms of numbers of bears or numbers of wolves? That’s more difficult because we don’t know necessarily what it can sustain. But we know there were hundreds of grizzly bears here at some point in the Cascades. If we can get to the point where there’s a self-sustaining, almost naturally balanced population that needs minimal management and interference and creates minimal conflict, where people are armed with the knowledge to

avoid conflict, that would be huge. It’s many decades away but it’s a good goal to have in mind.”

We all experience something deeply moving when we behold nature at her most provocative. From whalewatching on the Salish Sea to spotting a bear in the wild, there is a primal bond between us and this place we call home that is best experienced where it belongs: in our wild places, and not in a zoo. Like me, Chris Morgan is a settler here in the Fourth Corner, and we both found something very unique about it.

“I’m lucky to have traveled to crazy far-off exotic destinations all over the world. And I love coming home! This is an incredibly special place that we live in.

And it only becomes more special having these giant carnivores living here alongside us. That is something to be proud of, to brag about to the world. To point to as a success. It’s special.”

Be sure to see Chris Morgan’s latest film project, BEARTREK, set for

release late 2016. Chris visits Alaska, Peru, Borneo, and the Arctic to see bear conservation efforts and meet biologists who work directly with bears and local communities to protect these mighty beasts. It’s optimistic environmentalism at its best.

“It’s not one of those environmental films that just gives you bad news and tells you how screwed we are. A big part of my work and my drive is to re-brand conservation. I think it’s what’s needed.

We need to re-brand ‘conservation’ and ‘environmentalism’. These are things, to me, that have been adventurous and eye-opening and moving and optimistic and full of fun! I want young people especially to see conservation as just that, so they’re tempted to go into it rather than ignore it.”

ANW You can learn more about Chris and the Western Wildlife Outreach at westernwildlife.org.

Watch the BEARTREK trailer and more at chrismorganwildlife.org

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15

The Music of Wolves Story by Abigail Sussman

Photo by Joan Poor

O

n a cold October morning, we woke to ice on the river and knew it was time to go. The sound of freeze up is indistinct; rafts of ice pass each other with a polite “shhhshhh”, transforming the river’s currents into a multi-sensory narrative of autumn. Soon everything on the Tanana will slow down to winter’s imperceptible rhythm, but right now, the ice reveals just how quickly this river is moving.

When the canoe was loaded and we had filled thermoses with hot tea, donned our salmon blood-stained rain gear, and closed up the wall tent for the time being, I sat in the bow with an axe. As I leaned over and chopped ice out of our way, my partner used his paddle to push us through. The river bank would have the thickest but most innocuous ice. Once beyond the shallows, the river took over and we quickly went from pushing through the ice to paddling along side it.

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We zigzagged from one side of the river to the other to avoid the congregating ice that would take control of our canoe, looking upstream for floes and downstream for log jams. About half way down river, we neared a familiar bend and paddled towards the bank looking for a place to rest.

The wolf didn’t hear us over the “shhshhshh” of the ice floes, intent on digging something out of a burrow. We sat quietly, paddles dripping into the water, ice ticking against the canoe, holding our breath. Normally the wolf would have heard or smelled us long before we saw him, but today we were hidden in plain sight, just another shape stalled in an eddy. It was only a few moments until the wolf noticed us, snatched up his prey and trotted into the brush.

Sitting in that canoe is the closest I have been to a wolf in the wild. But this isn’t a story about seeing a wolf. This is a story about hearing one.

Though we often forget to use our other senses, the world is deeper than colors and shapes, richer than the outline of a tail, more vivid than the shimmer of scales. Sounds, smells, and textures enhance our understanding of our surroundings and can point us towards an invisible truth.

At the end of last summer I traveled to the Methow Valley with a friend to scramble up Hoodoo Peak on the edge of the Chelan-Sawtooths. I was keen on being among those most paradoxical of trees, the larches that turn golden in the crisp days

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of autumn. We met in Twisp under moisture-laden skies and headed to Black Pine Lake campground for the night.

Our dreams were permeated by thunder rolling through the valley and the metallic reverberation of heavy rain on my van roof. Fully expecting to wake to more of the same, we were pleasantly surprised to watch the sky brighten with blue. Energized, we moved quickly through a morning routine of coffee and granola. Involved as we were in our immediate circumstances, it took a moment to decipher the sound.

A howl.

One long and lone howl.

We froze, toothbrushes in hand, staring at each other, barely moving.

A wolf.

Somewhere over there.

“Did you hear that?” my friend whispered, eyes wide. I nodded, afraid to speak.

There are few sounds that evoke a near universal reaction but the howl of a wolf, lonesome and yearning, permeates the moment, filling emptiness with a nearly tangible sense of wildness.

And somehow, this howl, the sound of an individual animal voicing itself as morning mist rose from a lake erased any sense of distance, closed whatever physical gap existed, and created a moment of connection. Like a conversation with a loved one from far away, the sound of this wolf’s voice drew me close.

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The wolf we heard was likely a member of the Lookout Mountain Pack, one of the three confirmed packs in the North Cascades. In 2008, a motion-sensing camera set up by the Cascades Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project, verified the first wolf pups seen in Washington State since the 1930s. DNA testing revealed that these wolves were genetically linked to wolves from the coast of British Columbia, confirming that wolves were moving southward on their own.

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Almost inseparable from the politics of wilderness, the gray wolf has perhaps a more contentious place within the human-animal dynamic than any other creature. Humans have long held fears and biases, evident in everything from Little Red Riding Hood to modern conflicts with cattle ranchers. These animals also have a long-held role within native cultures, often as a shape-shifter, amplifying their unknowable traits. And yet they look like our domestic companions,

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Photo: Chase Gunnell/Conservation Northwest

Range Riders to the Rescue

by Keely Killebrew and John D’Onofrio Deep in the serene wild lands of Eastern Washington, legends creep back into their old hunting grounds, sending echoing howls through long-quiet forests. There is no doubt; wolves are repopulating Washington after over half a century of conspicuous absence. As of the 2015 Annual Survey of Wolves in Washington conducted by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), at least 90 wolves have been confirmed in the state, a significant increase from the estimated 51 individuals surveyed in 2012. While studies have garnered generally positive responses from Washington State citizens, the growing wolf population has been less enthusiastically greeted by livestock ranchers east of the mountains.

Enter the Range Riders. This innovative program spearheaded by Bellingham-based Conservation Northwest is a collaborative effort with local ranchers, WDFW, independent wolf experts and other partners to demonstrate the effectiveness of non-lethal measures to protect livestock from the resurgent wolf packs in Washington State. The premise is simple: Seasonal employees, usually local cowboys, are trained in an array of skills to help discourage the packs from hunting in or near ranchers’ property. Utilizing horses and ATVs, the range riders patrol grazing allotments in the territory of six confirmed wolf packs to protect the livestock. The effort, now in its fourth year, has been a success, with only three cows lost to the wolves in the project areas since its inception.

The participating ranchers also benefit from Damage Prevention Agreements, which afford them compensation for any livestock that fall victim to predation.

In many ways, the Range Rider Project is a return to what used to be business as usual for ranchers - supervising their herds - but was not consistently practiced after top predators were eradicated from western landscapes.

The ongoing success - and growing acceptance - of the project may just be the best hope for wolves to once again find a home on the range.

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live in family units and inhabit familiar terrain. It is no wonder we have a communal confusion regarding wolves.

As our understanding of natural systems continues to evolve, so does our perception of the animals within that world. How we regard the wolf speaks to the way we interact with abstract notions of what it means to be wild.

There is so much literature about the wolf-human interaction, the biological and emblematic history of wolves, written by people with far more understanding and experience than me. What I can contribute is only a moment, toothbrush in hand, eyes wide, morning hush punctuated by a howl.

It is said that the cry of a baby provokes a feeling of pain in a new mother, certain music raises the pulse, a crack of thunder makes us flinch. Sounds are enigmas - we receive them aurally, react to them physically, can create them and record them, but they move in unseen waves.

Perhaps this is why one howl can feel more tangible than seeing a wolf on the banks of the Tanana River, or the story to be read in the mix of caribou and wolf tracks on the Arctic tundra.

I do not know what the wolf was expressing that morning, and should not even use words like “lonesome and yearning”, but there was an exchange - a listener and a speaker, one wanting to be understood and one wanting to understand. Like any conversation, sometimes we comprehend exactly and sometimes we miss the point entirely. The main thing is to try to recognize what we are missing.

The howl we heard as we stood above Black Pine Lake represented the shadow of both its maker and its recipient, casting a silhouette that was part wolf and part human, a merging of reality and dream, a blend of the familiar and the mystery that is the composition of our world.

I am listening.

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The Bears of Bella Coola Story and photos by Scott Melnick

T

he Bella Coola Valley is one of North America’s least-known adventure travel destinations. Sort of a ‘lost world’ tucked into the north-central coast of British Columbia, the valley and surrounding mountains offer an abundance of wildlife, incredible scenery, spectacular hiking, kayaking, river rafting and more.

But what the Bella Coola Valley is best known for is it’s bears, and grizzly bears in particular. For the wildlife enthusiast or photographer it can be one of the best places to experience these magnificent animals in a setting that isn’t overrun with human gawkers. Besides grizzlies, one can find wolves, cougars and black bears frequenting the seemingly endless forests of this off-the-beaten-path paradise.

Of course, care has to be taken when venturing off into the wild areas of the valley, including following common-sense bear safety protocols or having an experienced guide with you.

A Long Road and a Small Boat There are two main ways of getting into the Bella Coola Valley.

One is a grueling twelve-hour drive from Vancouver, the final 60 miles on a dirt/gravel portion of Highway 20. About 100 kilometers before Bella Coola, you’ll enter massive Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. Here, near Heckman Pass, a beautiful 16km roundtrip hike to Rainbow Ridge leads into the aptly-named Rainbow Range, one of the premier hikes in BC. Once you pass through the park, you start to descend “The Hill,” as it’s known to locals. The ‘crux’ of the descent is a 5.1-mile section of road that twists and turns with steep drop-offs to one side, and sheer cliff faces on the other. It’s mostly a one-lane road that has portions of 18-19% grades with pull-outs to allow people coming up the hill to pass. It sounds worse than it really is.

The road, known as the “Freedom Road” was constructed in the early 1950’s by locals determined to forge an overland connection to the interior of BC after the provincial government refused to build one, citing the precipitous terrain as unsuitable for road construction.

As you descend from the Chilcotin Plateau into the valley you feel like you’re traveling into another realm. Clouds and swirling mists hang in the mountains, glimpses of the rivers peek out below, and very few signs of civili22

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of the guided rafting tours offered by a zation are visible. The entire valley has a number of companies in the valley. They population of less than 2000 inhabitants all operate in Tweedsmuir Provincial according to the last census in 2011 and Park. Start in the area of Belarko platform the town of Bella Coola itself has around and travel six kilometers down the river.

600 people. The wildlife certainly outWhen the conditions are right you’ll be number the residents, and you get used to able to see mothers with cubs feeding and waving to the people you see when you’re cavorting along the shore. on the roads.

What may seem like innocent play The other way to get into the valley really is more intensive training to preis via the BC Ferries system, arriving in pare the cubs for when they’ll eventually Bella Coola Harbor on a twice-weekly basis (mid-June to mid-September) from Port Hardy on Fun and games Vancouver Island. The last leg of this nine and a half hour trip - from Bella Bella to Bella Coola - is on The Nimpkish, a vessel that holds only 16 cars.

It’s important to book early and make sure you have a reservation.

Unfortunately, this greatly diminished ferry service has caused an economic downturn for the town of Bella Coola and the surrounding area, hampering efforts to replace declining logging revenue with eco-tourism dollars.

be out on their own. This doesn’t mean that they aren’t having fun doing it. The bears I saw certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The tours generally last about three hours. I signed up for a tour with the Bella Coola Mountain Lodge and Kynoch Adventures, run by Fraser Koroluk and Holly Willgress for the last 13 years. Adventure touring runs deep in the family as Fraser’s father Les was one of the founders of bear touring in the Bella Coola Valley, and at 73, the patriarch is still running tours for the Tweedsmuir Park Lodge.

The bears here aren’t quite as large as their counterparts in Alaska - the largest male (boar) I encountered was about 850 pounds, typical for the area. In Alaska 1200-pound bears aren’t uncommon. The sows, are around 200 pounds lighter.

Bears and Salmon September is the start of the spawning season for Chinook salmon and the end of the run for Pinks. It’s when you’ll see most of the bears coming down to the water to load up on calories and gain weight for the coming winter hibernation. There are many areas along the rivers or in surrounding mountains where you’ll be able to see bears.

One of the best locations is at the Belarko Wildlife viewing platform in Tweedsmuir. It’s staffed by park rangers and volunteers to help answer questions and insure visitor’s safety in case any bears happen to wander too close. Nearby is the Fisheries Pool campground, a popular fishing spot, where there are a few locations to view bears.

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Mountain majesty

But take my word for it: An 850-pound grizzly bear is an impressive sight.

In addition to camping in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, there are a number of local campgrounds available. The most popular are Bailey Bridge and Rip Rap campgrounds, both located on the Bella Coola River and offering their own views of grizzly bears from time to time. Rip Rap has its own viewing platform along the river and a private fishing area on the other side of the river from the campground. Each campground has a limited number of cabins along with their full-powered and non-powered sites.

I decided to forego the amenities provided by the commercial campgrounds and lodges to camp a little closer to nature and stay in one of the less-traveled campsites along the Atnarko River.

Sleeping here in soft-sided enclosures (tents) is not recommended due to the very real possibility of bears or other wildlife coming through your camp. I observed a plethora of animal tracks just 25 feet from my campsite, including those of a grizzly and what looked to be wolf tracks in the sand along the river bank. Owing to its location off the beaten track, I usually had the camping area to myself. I kept my bear spray close at hand.

While waiting to see bears I encountered a group of people traveling down the river, some wading, others in wet suits and wearing snorkels. September is when the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans does it’s river survey, counting the salmon. They search for fishery tags on fish that have been released previously and have returned to the local waters. They also harvest eggs from some of the salmon for use in their breeding program.

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A member of the group told me that they have a fertilization success rate of 90% from the collected eggs. The ‘fry’ salmon are then introduced back into the environment so they can become imprinted on the river and know where to return when it comes time to spawn.

The Best Two Dollars After a week of living off the grid, and getting clean by pouring water over my head I was happy to learn that showers and laundry services could be had at the nearby Gnome’s Home Campground. For a $2 coin or “tooney” you can get a shower or run a load of laundry.

Karl Osmers, the owner of Gnome’s Home explained that the tooney would buy me a ten-minute shower. “If it takes you longer than ten minutes to get cleaned up,” he added, “I don’t want to know what you were rolling in”.

There is something about getting into a hot shower after you’ve been camping for a long stretch. As that hot water poured over me, working out the kinks from standing long periods, sometimes in the rain, it seemed the best $2 I spent the entire trip. That ten minutes passed much too quickly and found myself walking naked across the room to grab a coin for ten more minutes of therapy, and I hadn’t even rolled in anything. I no longer smelled like a bear though.

September in the Bella Coola Valley is also when the mushroom hunters are out in force, combing the hillside for matsutake pine mushrooms. You’ll see a number of cars parked along the side of the roadway, where the hunters working in teams will disappear into the bush. Occasionally, you’ll hear the fungi hunters making their own distinct sounds coming from deep in the forest. It’s their way of signaling to each other that they’ve found mushrooms.

These mushrooms are so sought after that the hunters can earn up to ten-thousand dollars during the month they’re available, making the endeavor worth the risk of foraging through the forest in close proximity to the bears.

On my last day in the area I took my usual trip down to the river bank and was

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TCOM COUN T HA W H H H H H Y’

Best S

greeted by the chittering, squeaking sounds of a family of minks playing on the opposite shore. Emerging from their den, they were searching for their morning meal. There was a moment when all five lined up on a downed log, looked up at me, and as if choreographed, one by one dove into the water. It was a lasting memory and a sad reminder that I was going to have to pack up, hit the road, and head home from this magical valley.

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John D’Onofrio’s Autumn Autumn is the best.

For me, it’s as simple as that.

As someone who loves the North Cascades and visits in every season, I don’t say this lightly. But autumn brings sweet color and golden light combined with a melancholy awareness of the fleeting nature of the season and the expectancy of winter’s white portcullis dropping. The days are precious, to be gathered up, savored and stored in memory to illuminate the grey shadows of the coming season.

I especially love the details.

The small and delicate things, unseen unless you’re looking.

Clockwise from top right: Larch Needles, Frosted Leaves, Turning Point, Alpine Color, Mountain Ash, Larch Reflections, Red and Green, Frosty Morning.

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Encounter with the White Grizzly Story by Lawrence Millman

S

everal years ago I went to look for my significant other in the Kootenay Mountains of eastern British Columbia.

By significant other, I don’t mean a potential life partner, but rather a bear.

For I think of bears as lumbering, hirsute, sometimes irascible versions of ourselves. Indeed, when I see a bear walking upright, I say to myself, “I know that guy, but I can’t seem to remember his name.”

Specifically, I went in search of a grizzly. But not just any grizzly: I hoped to find a rare white variation of the ordinary brown grizzly seen only in the Kootenay Mountains. Maybe there are a hundred white grizzlies altogether, maybe slightly less. Such is their rarity that most locals have never seen one.

Note: White grizzlies are not the recently documented hybrid that re-

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sults from a polar bear-brown grizzly romance.

Grizzlies, white or otherwise, like to dine on marmots, so I started my search in the Dennis Creek watershed, a popular marmot hangout.

Or I should say that we started our search, for I was accompanied by my photographer friend David, who would document any white grizzly sighting.

That David could carry fifty pounds of photographic equipment on his back was a tribute to his physical fitness, although the seemingly rough terrain of the Kootenays was a piece of cake compared to his preferred habitat - the Himalayas.

We followed the Dennis Creek Trail for a mile or so, then climbed up a steep slope pockmarked by marmot burrows. Several of these burrows had been excavated by foraging bears, but not recently. After much huffing and puffing, we reached a narrow alpine ridge. Here

we could scrutinize the surrounding slopes for possible ursine activity. David set up his tripod while I walked along the ridge, binoculars at the ready.

All of a sudden I saw a pale speck in the distance. My pulse accelerated.

Could that speck be one of the elusive white grizzlies? I quickly raised the binoculars to my eyes. Focused. Focused some more. Whereupon I discovered that I was not grazing at the animal called Pic-ha-kee-lowna by the local Arrow Lake Indians and held sacred by them, but a quartz boulder.

An hour later, I saw another white speck. This one was moving, an activity out of character for quartz boulders.

Come here, quick, I shouted at David, I see a grizzly grazing on a ridge. David grabbed his tripod, shouldered his camera equipment, and ran to where I was standing. I pointed. He lifted up his binoculars.

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As a rejoinder, I slapped his cheek, then said erroneously: “Giant horsefly!”

We didn’t see any more white grizzlies for the rest of the trip, but my single encounter with one of these rare critters remains firmly etched in my mind. So firmly, in fact, that - some years later - before I answer nature’s call in any outdoor location, even a vacant lot in a city, I instinctively look around for bears.

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“It’s a truck on a logging road,” he her away. said, a bit condescendingly. To make I dashed back to the tent. Wake up, matters worse, the truck was not even quick, white grizzlies! I yelled at David. white, but a soft robin’s egg blue.

There was no response, so I shook him For the next few days, we didn’t see repeatedly, and then he woke up. But in even remote facsimiles of a white grizzly. the time it took for him to get his camera Then one morning at 5 a.m. I clambered gear together and launch himself from half-asleep out of our tent to answer the tent, the bears had become no more nature’s proverbial call. While I was than tiny white pinpricks above us. engaged in answering this call, I noticed Over coffee, I told David about my that I was standing between a white grizencounter, and he grinned. “On the one zly mom and her hand, we’ve missed a two cubs. She was golden opportunity I think of bears as lumbering, perhaps 150 feet to get some good hirsute, sometimes irascible versions away, and the cubs photos,” he said, were no more than of ourselves. Indeed, when I see a “but on the other, I 50 feet away. bear walking upright, I say to myself, think you now have What do wila chance to make “I know that guy, but I can’t seem some money.” derness guidebooks tell you to do in a to remember his name.

“How?” I asked situation like this? eagerly. For money Abort the call and run? Back up while typically gives me a very wide berth. still making the call? Curl into an inHe mentioned my virile organ, creasingly sodden ball? so-called, saying that it was a perfect All of a sudden the mother bear defense weapon against a bear attack stood up on her hind legs, apparently to — far more economically sized than a get a better view of a certain part of my firearm, and presumably less toxic than anatomy. Then she began running up bear spray. All I needed to do was find the nearest slope as if she was appalled someone to manufacture replicas of it, by what she’d seen. Her cubs followed and I would be set for life…

OUTSIDE IN ANW

Reflections on Wilderness

by Kathy and Craig Copeland

What do the lofty, incomprehensively intricate peaks, towers and pinnacles say?

Perhaps their message is, “Don’t endure a mundane existence. Unleash your wild mind. Think original thoughts. Act on them exuberantly. Be an iconoclast and celebrate it.”

Extracted from Heading Outdoors Eventually Leads Within

by Kathy and Craig Copeland (hikingcamping.com)

Photo by John D’Onofrio

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29

Water Under the Bridge Deception Pass and the Prime Directive Story by Dawn Groves, Photos by Susan Conrad

P

addling Deception Pass is a rite of passage for Pacific Northwest sea kayakers. It’s also a magnet for misguided concerns and irrational factoids - something I learned the first time I talked about doing it.

“Dawn! Your first trip through Deception Pass! I bet you’ll spend most of your time upside down!”

“It’s easier to escape a whirlpool if you raise both arms, hold your breath and don’t panic.”

“I can’t remember if it was Frank’s kayak or Joe’s that got trashed in the pass. Maybe both.

Maybe at the same time.”

“Think of your children! What will they do without a mother?!”

That’s when I defined the Prime Directive for Deception Pass: Don’t tell anyone you’re paddling it.

Deception Pass is a stunning strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island. Boats use the strait to

Approaching the pass

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reach Skagit Bay on the east side or the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the west. Up to two miles wide in places, Deception Pass tightens into a notorious constriction known as Deception Pass Narrows. Tiny Pass Island sits in the middle of the Narrows, dividing it into parallel sister slots. The commercial transit slot on the Whidbey side is the actual Deception Pass, 450 feet across at its most constricted. Lesser known Canoe Pass on the Fidalgo side is even narrower at about 350 feet. Both slots are collectively referenced as Deception Pass Narrows.

Deception’s notoriety springs from the area’s steep tidal exchanges and

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turbulent rushing currents. During certain times of year, complex hydraulics can create up to 4.5-foot differences in water levels from one end of the Narrows to the other. Although the height differences aren’t visible to the naked eye, they generate a waterfall effect driving turbulence through the constrictions at speeds of more than 8 knots. The result is a saltwater river of boils, whirlpools, and standing waves.

• Boils (aka upwellings) occur when water and air forcefully rise from the depths, bal-

looning up to the surface. They destabilize a kayak and dissipate the solid bite of water against blade, flipping it in a single stroke.

• Whirlpools form and dissolve repeatedly as a result of currents whipping around obstacles and other currents. A small whirlpool can turn a kayak in circles. Bigger, faster whirlpools can generate enough spin to pull a

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kayak under and suck the paddler right out of the cockpit.

• Standing waves remain stationary while growing in size and depth from increasing current velocity and weather. If the paddler can negotiate the proper speed and angle of attack, a standing wave offers non-stop surfing without chasing the curl.

Seasoned paddlers often challenge themselves in Deception’s fastest ebbs and floods. Rough water rock stars will

surf wild waves and punch through whirlpools during the nastiest of storms. Some like to test their mettle against a particularly infamous floodgenerated vortex known as the Room of Doom. They thrust through its center while attempting to stay upright, exiting only when they’re good and ready.

When I started thinking about the pass, I was advised to take an intermediate course in moving water and boat control. Local paddling clubs such as

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WAKE (Whatcom Association of Kayak Enthusiasts) and HitWall (Hole-In-TheWall) sponsor these kinds of trainings.

Area kayak schools such as Orcas Island’s Body Boat Blade also provide them. Class participants typically meet in the morning at Bowman Bay where the instructor offers land-based coaching before put-in.

On the water, students noodle between group instruction and individual practice. When the tide nears slack (slowing to change directions) everyone follows

Stretch.

Breathe.

Relax.

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A refreshing dip

the leader west out of Bowman Bay and then south around Reservation Head. They push through kelp while skirting boulders and feeling the roll of the current. Turning east, they enjoy a spectacular view of the Narrows, Pass Island, and Deception Pass Bridge. They paddle along steep hillsides, forests, rock formations, and

often take breaks in a tiny recess at the northwest edge of Canoe Pass. Rested and refreshed, they queue into a thin eddy along the Fidalgo shoreline looking from above like a string of colorful Pixie Sticks.

One by one, paddlers glide to the front of the line and take a turn peeling out, edging hard into building current. They battle to catch a second eddy across the slot as it pools against Pass Island. There they take a quick breath and peel out again to ferry back

to Fidalgo. If they don’t edge soon enough, hard enough, or long enough, the water flips them in an instant. If they manage to stay upright, they must still fight to catch the destination eddy without overshooting it or capsizing.

The challenge increases as the current picks up speed.

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Most sea kayakers are bound to swim at some point.

Assuming they’re properly dressed for safety and immersion, they’ll either roll up and carry on or wet exit and ride the current until rescued. Deception Narrows isn’t shallow like a river where swimmers worry about smacking into boulders or getting pinned in drops. They might knock through some waves but the only thing they’ll likely encounter is kelp or another boat.

Of all the SUPs, surfskis, canoes, outriggers, and kayaks that play in Deception Pass Narrows, sea kayaks are the most common. Properly fitted kayakers must have a cockpit and sprayskirt, airtight hulls or flotation, and all the safety equip-

What is peeling out and grabbing an eddy?

John D’Onofrio, editor/publisher Adventures NW Magazine

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The heartbeat of Cascadia

Peeling out into a current is akin to making a fast U-turn. You drive your boat over the eddyline against the current with the bow pointed upstream. Then plant your blade on the downstream side of the hull, edge hard into it, and let the water whip the bow around into the current. Hold your edge until the very last second when the boat snaps into alignment, then pull the blade into a forward stroke and enjoy the ride.

Grabbing an eddy is like making a fast U-turn with some drift. The process is the same as peeling out but you’re going the opposite direction - from fast water to slow eddy. When you run over the eddyline your boat tends to skid as it turns. It feels quite badass.

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present

Wedding of Palo

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A Film by Knud Rasmussen digitally restored in high definition.

Presented by noted author, arctic explorer and educator Lawrence Millman

Special Screening: Thursday, November 3 at 6:30 pm

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POETRY FROM THE WILD

Walk Away Wisely (for Deni)

by Anita K. Boyle A slim path drizzles through the evergreen forest. You’re on it. The greenest moss drips slowly from cedars. Lichen nurses quietly like a baby from everything made of wood you can see. Even the rocks carry lichen on their backs. Ferns cut their way through the tangled trees.

This is an environmental metaphor you’d best decipher soon.

There are rules to abide by here. Like never run from a bear. Just walk away, as though you’re in grade school, trying to avoid a bully. If you can sneak away from that deep, dark bear, all will be well. It’s good to resist the urge to run from a predator.

It is raining. “Dry” is a simile for “never.” It is a joke no one gets. Insects are scarce for now, having scurried into their dens, bark fissures, or they’ve burrowed under the dampening dirt.

They will rise again soon enough.

May it rain forever and ever.

Sometimes, danger is beautiful.

Stay away from the pretty deer. And more-so, the moose. Don’t forget how to run like heck if one chances upon you.

At the sight of a big bull moose, you’ll become that strong.

You’ll learn to plant a large tree between you and the horse-size bovine.

Run in circles around that tree until you’ve made the world’s most impenetrable moat.

Fortunately, it is still raining.

Love the rain.

The heartbeat of Cascadia

Photo by John D’Onofrio

ment including but not limited to a wetsuit or drysuit, helmet, PFD, paddle float, extra paddle, water pump, compass, safety kit with flares, and a tow rope.

Kayakers not interested in the Pass (there are plenty) often wonder at its appeal. Why all the fuss when so many other places beckon?

Well, I can cite several good reasons but three that ring the loudest are: • It’s fantastic skill practice.

• It significantly boosts confidence on the water.

• It’s so damn cool.

These days with a lot of paddle trips under my belt, I still find Deception Pass to be a worthy opponent and the prime directive to be a critical piece of guidance. For example, at the grocery store the other day: “Dawn is that you?” The shout came from the next aisle.

“Are you paddling Deception soon?”

“Thinking about it!” I called reflexively. Then I stopped dead. OH NO. WHAT ABOUT THE PRIME DIRECTIVE?! I hunched in anticipation of an idiotic comment. Nothing. I glanced around and made a beeline for the parking lot.

He was waiting for me outside.

“Dawn! Listen up. You hear about that woman with no PFD who capsized in a flood tide and was carried out so far

35

they had to call the Coast Guard? She used her bra for flotation. You should call her.”

Sigh. Water under the bridge. ANW

Resources • WAKE (Whatcom Association of Kayak Enthusiasts): www.wakekayak.org • HitWall (Hole-In-The-Wall): www.holeinthewallpaddlingclub.org • Body Boat Blade: www.BodyBoatBlade.com A calm moment

Where to Launch

• Turn left at first stop sign, follow into parking lot.

The most popular Deception Pass put-in is Bowman Bay State Park on Fidalgo Island. This is where the majority of coaches run their Deception Pass trainings. Bowman Bay is sheltered water with a nice beach, covered picnic facilities and easy parking. Discover Pass required.

Cornet Bay is the main saltwater access point for boaters at Deception Pass.

It boasts 6 lanes of launching space, floats alongside and moorage docks.

The Cornet Bay Marina State Park is just a mile off Highway 20 on Whidbey island. Discover Pass required.

• Take I5 South to Exit 230.

• Turn left at the Avon Cutoff/WA-20 W heading toward Anacortes for 11.5 miles.

• Turn left at the Avon Cutoff/WA-20 W heading toward Anacortes for 11.5 miles.

• Turn left at the stoplight to continue on WA-20 W following signs to Deception Pass and Oak Harbor.

• Continue on Hwy 20 W for 5 miles to Rosario Road, turn right. (Pass Lake will be on your right at this point) • Make an immediate left onto Bowman Bay Road.

• Take I5 South to Exit 230.

• Turn left at the stoplight to continue on WA-20 W following signs to Deception Pass and Oak Harbor.

• Continue on Hwy 20 W for around 6 miles and cross Deception Pass over the bridge.

• Turn left at Cornet Bay Road. After about a mile, the State Park Marina will be on your left.

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37

Mud and Camaraderie Story by Drew Castellaw

Photo by Chris Howard

38

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39

T

he echoing of cheers and cowbells ring out among the trees as cyclocross racers emerge from the woods. Navigating around large roots and rocks, the cyclists fight for the fastest time with a combination of ferocity and giddy joy.

The scene is Cornwall Park in Bellingham, WA., and the commotion is being caused

by Bandit Cross, the fifth and final race event in the locallyproduced Cascade Cross series.

Cyclocross is a mixture of mountain biking and road racing with some obstacles scattered on the course. Participants race their bikes through different terrain ranging from slick grassy fields to rocky and muddy trails while occasionally dismounting and remounting their bikes to overcome various obstacles. At

the Bandit Cross race, racers have to step over short barriers while carrying their bikes on their shoulders before remounting and continuing to pedal.

“It is... by far the most fun kind of

Brian Dagnon, right, glances backwards as Jeff Cummings follows closely during the Men’s ‘A’ Race.

Photo by Drew Castellaw

racing I’ve ever done,” cyclocross racer Greg Matthews says. “You’re kind of riding the wrong bike on the wrong terrain and everyone is heckling you constantly. It’s amazing.”

Matthews, 28, finished first during the men’s class ‘A’ category race at Cornwall Park.

He is an Australian native who has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia for the last four years and is obviously enjoying his first cyclocross season.

Bandit Cross includes five race categories, based on factors like skill, age and gender and brings about 200 enthusiastic participants and spectators to the park. Although cyclocross has been with us for more than a hundred years (the first French National Championship was held in 1902), the sport has surged in popularity since the 1990’s. The Cascade Cross series

DISCOVER POTENTIAL Girls on the Run Fall 5k Saturday, November 19 Register today and support the girls.

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was launched in 2006 by Bellingham racer Ryan Rickerts. Participation has increased each year since then and this year’s schedule - the tenth anniversary - promises to continue that growth.

Rickerts is all about encouraging both adults and children to get outside and play. The events are organized to appeal to everyone from first-timers to the hardest of the hardcore, the ‘A’ racers. “ ‘A’ Racers know they are ‘A’ Racers,” according to Rickerts. “You train hard and focus your life on this sport. Or you’re a freak. Or both.”

Although the majority of participants in cyclocross are men, the sport is gaining traction with women.

Elizabeth Hartsoch, 39, took first place honors during the women’s class ‘A’ race at Bandit Cross and has been cyclocross racing for about 16 years.

“Anybody who is interested in [cyclocross] should just show up because it’s such a warm, welcoming community,” she says. “Everybody brings their

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41

kids and has a lot of fun.”

Long-time racer Tina Brubaker is equally enthusiastic. “I’ve always loved it. It’s wholly different from mountain bike racing because it’s so interactive - you can see almost the whole loop, you can cheer for your friends. It’s also short - it’s not like you’re committed to an 8-hour day to go race your bike.

It’s fun to rip around in the mud flying sideways on corners and screaming at your friends.

“I love the ability to watch everybody suffering so deeply and the fact that we all know exactly how everybody is feeling because we’ve all either just done it or are about to do it.

I used to bring girlfriends with me to cross races to watch and invariably they would leave saying, ‘I have to do this!

This is so fun!’ It’s such a contagious energy - you can’t help but get pumped when you’re there.”

The Cascade Cross series - with rides at various venues - traditionally runs from the end of September to January, filling a rare lull in the almost-continuous outdoor calendar in these parts.

“If you’re looking for something to do from October to ski season,” Rickerts observes, “then this is the best outdoor activity you can do on a bike,” ANW

Chris De La Fuente and cheering spectators.

Photo by Drew Castellaw

Join in the Madness and the Ecstasy Next up in the Cascade Cyclocross Series is Bellingham BMX on October 8. Next year’s Bandit Cross is scheduled for January 14, 2017.

More info: cascadecross.com

In Memoriam: Lawrence Albert Rinne (1948 - 2016) Lawrence Albert Rinne was a disabled artist and writer, who lived in and loved the American West, wilderness and its wildlife. His writing and artwork celebrated its character and culture in literary and visual images that captured the wonder and vitality they invoke. The passion he held for his subjects is evident in their unique and powerful portrayals. His work supported the preservation and conservation of this rugged world of natural beauty that he called “Home”.

Clockwise from Right: Honeymoon Suite; Yellowstone Legacy; Klandagi: Lord of the Forest (unfinished); A Mother’s Embrace (unfinshed); Wilderness (unfinished) .

The art of nature

eARTh W H A T C O M ARTIST STUDIO TOUR

First 2 weekends in October ✽ Oct. 1,2 & 8,9 A FREE Self-guided Art Tour Guidebooks available in businesses and restaurants throughout the county. Many studios are open all year long.

Call individual artists to schedule a visit.

For more info: studiotour.net facebook.com/WhatcomArtistStudioTour 42

The heartbeat of Cascadia

Come see where creativity begins!

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43

Celebrating Gravity with the JoyRiders Story by Keely Killebrew

I

t’s well past 9 p.m., and the moon is casting dim shadows on the open trail as a string of mountain bike tires crunch into the gravel of the south-side Galbraith parking lot. Someone shouts, “I love gravity!” into the night and yips of joy echo in response. We’ve just returned from riding for nearly three hours and the darkness has crept into the woods, but enthusiasm is still abundant. Leaning against my bike frame, I watch fellow riders scarf down sandwiches from a big plastic bag on the ground while they plan the next move in Photo by Kjell Rendal the night’s festivities.

The Whatcom Mountain Biking Coalition “JoyRiders” are my companions on this wild Thursday adventure – named appropriately for their steady stream of enthusiasm in the dips and sharp lines of the trails they hurtle down. Even their purple and blue bruises are displayed with pride; specks of dirt pepper beaming smiles around the circle.

Tonight the group is an assortment of 11 women hailing from places such as Oklahoma and North Carolina, but over

100 joyriders have been out for the rides in just the past few months and numbers are growing. The majority of attendees reside in Bellingham, and off the trail they can be found working as environmental engineers, mothers, website developers, baristas and biking coaches, to name a few.

The Thursday rides are a bi-weekly event where mountain biker gals can gather and ride together, fostering a unique sisterhood of enthusiasts distinct from the many other mountain biking organizations in the area, which are commonly more male-dominated.

The two founders of the group, Tanya Storm and Zoae Spackman, are all about empowerment through mountain biking for all riders, regardless of their skill levels. A few of the women are brand new bikers – they pause on the rougher parts of the trail, learning to navigate the roots and slippery bridges at their own pace. Others are brightly colored blurs, pausing only for their moment of suspension off curved jumps before leading the pack on into the night.

ANW More info: wmbcmtb.org/joyriders

BAKERGUIDES.COM 44

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15th Anniversary!

BELLINGHAM

TRAVERSE September 17th

Sponsors and Partners W ILD S EAFOOD & O RGANICS

Mount Baker Experience, Kulshan Cycles, Birch Equipment, Whatcom Talk, Sustainable Connections, The Bridge, The Bellingham Herald, Heritage Bank, Community Boating Center and Care Medical Group Bellingham Traverse supports the Stewardship and Education programs of Recreation Northwest stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.

The heartbeat of Cascadia

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Cascadia Gear:

Dates Gear Spotlight:

Merrell Capra Venture Gore-Tex Surround $230

Essentials for your next Adventure

Our Guest Gear Testers for this issue are Chris and Nikki, who are in the midst of a 900-mile hike (mostly) on the Pacific Crest Trail, from Fish Lake, Oregon to Hannegan Pass, Washington. They set out in June and will arrive at Hannegan Pass around September 15. They filed these reviews from the trail.

Osprey Exos 58 Backpack This pack is amazing- both extremely lightweight (less than 2.5 pounds) and very comfortable. Osprey’s Airspeed Suspension system stabilizes the load nicely and affords welcome ventilation. The adjustable mesh pockets can accommodate a lot of easy access items for the day and the zippered hip pockets make excellent pouches for on-the-go snacks and/or a point-and-shoot camera. Because of the pack’s low weight and removable top section, the Exos doubles as a roomy day pack as well. You won’t miss lugging around your old pack.

More info: ospreypacks.com

Thermarest Antares HD Sleeping Bag This no-frills bag is great for casual backpackers who want to carry a small and light load. The highly efficient bag saves space in your pack (the ‘Long’ scrunches down to 7 by 12 inches) and keeps you warm at night. The key is the straps that secure the underside of the sleeping bag to the sleeping pad where less insulation is needed. At only 2 lbs, 2 oz, it’s the stuff dreams are made of.

by Chris Gerston The goal of this boot was to combine the latest construction methods and materials to give immediate comfort and protection for long days. I don’t think I’ve stepped into such a soft flexing boot that walks so well while still giving great protection from sharp stones and roots.

This is achieved in part by the flex insole system technology (FIST), an innovative shank imbedded along the length of the midsole, protecting against bruising and giving support without adding weight or making the boot super rigid. By increasing the torsional rigidity it allows a stable platform that still flexes naturally as you stride forward - think running shoe comfort with boot protection.

Weather protection is added courtesy of the new GORE-TEX® SURROUND technology - a single piece, crinkly-sounding, welded upper - resulting in a more breathable membrane. Minimal stitching of the GORE-TEX® tongue prevents water from seeping in if you step in water above the laces.

Finally, the sole of the boot uses the VIBRAM® Megagrip, a non-marking sticky rubber that offers exceptional traction on wet surfaces and better durability. Even though my trail days were dry, one of the things I noticed first was how exact it felt hopping around on rocky portions of the trail, like climbing rubber.

This boot is worth trying, so we’re hosting a Demo Day with some education and a raffle on Sept 17th. We’ll start at Backcountry Essentials with hiking tips & boot fitting from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., hike to Fragrance Lake from 2-5 p.m. (come in early to reserve your size), and then we’ll go back to the shop for a party and raffle from 5:30 - 7 p.m. Or if you don’t have time for the hike, come in to try these new boots on, and we’ll enter you in the raffle as well.

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

DISCOVER The Arts in Bellingham

More info: cascadedesigns.com

Big Agnes Insulated Air Core Ultra Sleeping Pad The Big Agnes pad takes manually inflating a mattress to the next level. With a valve for each air direction, blowing this up is quick and more comfortable than traditional single valve designs. It holds air well and is easy to top off when you spend a second night. It’s not quite as light as some of the competitor’s pads, but it feels more durable and the two valves are worth their grams. And wow, is it comfortable! My hiking companion insists I mention it’s noisiness.

No matter the season, you’ll find loads of year-round attractions to enjoy in our Free Arts and Culture Guide Available at the Gallery — 1418 Cornwall Ave. in downtown Bellingham or at locations throughout Whatcom County.

More info: bigagnes.com

More information at www.alliedarts.org or 866.650.9317

Arc’teryx Beta AR Rain Pants

Watch for these upcoming events from Allied Arts…

Considering that these GORE-TEX® rain pants are made by Arc’teryx, it’s no surprise that they are bomb-proof in even the worst deluge. And they are a marvel of prescient engineering: The seat, knees and lower leg are reinforced for durability, the fit accommodates layering and articulation at the knees and the gusseted crotch provide comfort and unimpeded range of motion. Three-quarter length side-zips make these easy to slip on over boots. They even have rugged Keprotec™ instep patches to protect the legs from inadvertent slices from crampons (been there, done that). They’re not the lightest rain pants on the market at 1 lb., 3 oz. but the Betas will hold up to some serious bashing and - like virtually everything that Arc’teryx makes - will keep you dry for many years of hard use.

Bellingham SeaFeast september 30 – october 1, 2016 Holiday Festival of the Arts november 18 – december 24, 2016 RARE – Recycled Arts and Resource Expo april 7 – 8, 2017

More info: arcteryx.com

46 46

raceheartbeat | play |ofexperience The Cascadia

TOURISM COMMISSION

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Race I Play I Experience

3 September - 2 October

SEPTEMBER >>> Saturday, 3 September RUN/WALK Lake Padden Relays––Lake Padden Park, 8:30 am – 12:00 pm. The Padden Relay is a fun way to be part of a team! The course consists of four 2.59 mile laps counter-clockwise around the lake on grass and trails, starting by the picnic shelter (east entrance). The course is mainly flat and over half wooded, with one brief steep upgrade and three rolling hills all in the woods on the southwest side of the lake. GBRC Members-free. Individual runners-$12.00. Teams-$24.00. Go to gbrc.net for more information.

Thursday - Monday, 15-19 September RUN/WALK Northwest Women’s Trail Running Retreat––Bellingham, Sept. 15th 10:00 am – Sept. 19th 6:00 pm. Women’s Trail Running Retreat!

Come and hone your trail skills with some of the nation’s best coaches and

trainers in Bellingham, WA on September 15-19.

We’ll focus on gear, nutrition, trail technique, self care, and much more!

We’ll explore local trails and local brews in a fun, supportive environment. This retreat is appropriate for experienced trail runners and those just starting the adventure.

Saturday, 17 September SPECIAL Bellingham Traverse––12:00 am – 5:00 pm. Get Hooked on the Vital Choice Bellingham Traverse, a fun relay race that celebrates the journey of wild salmon. Families, friends and local companies form solo, tandem and relay teams to run, bike and paddle through Bellingham’s scenic parks, winding trails and open

waterways. The course includes a Greenways Run (5.5 mi); Mountain Bike (6.0 mi); Road Bike (18 mi.); Trail Run (3.4 mi); Paddle (3.6 mi.); Team TREK (0.65 mi.).

SPECIAL Demo Day - Merrell Boots––Backcountry Essentials, 11:30 am - 7:00 pm. Meet at Backcountry Essentials (214 W. Holly) for hiking tips & boot fitting from 11:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m., hike to Fragrance Lake from 2-5 p.m. (come early to reserve your size), and then back to the shop for a party & raffle from 5:30-7 p.m. If you don’t have time for the hike, come in to try these new boots on, and we’ll enter you in the raffle.

Saturday, 24 September SPECIAL Island Quest AR–– Roche Harbor, 6:00 am – 6:00 pm.

From rugged coastline, to granitecapped mountains, the San Juans are truly an adventure racing paradise.

You will navigate a series of checkpoints to make your way from start to finish on these Recreation (4 hr – 6 hr) and Expert (8 hr – 12 hr) team races.

Where’s the course? You’ll get that information a half hour before the race begins! Join us for Island Quest AR.

OCTOBER >>> Sunday, 2 October CYCLE Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day––Lake Padden Park East Entrance, 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm. Hey Kids! Bring your bike, helmet and a parent to Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition’s and Ride, Run and Dig’s Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. Learn new skills and trail knowledge from Whatcom County’s most accomplished riders and coaches. Play on the skills course and join group rides through some of Bellingham’s many trails. Please come prepared with a bike in safe working order. Jack’s Bicycle Center will be providing bike safety checks.

10th Annual Event

September 25th, 2016 Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K & 5K

Use Discount Code: ANWD16 Presented by:

bellinghambaymarathon.org Register online at: chronotrack.com stories & the race|play|experience calendar online.

race | play | experience

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race I play I experience Saturday, 8 October

raiser for Skagit Symphony.

RUN/WALK Park to Peak, Skagit Symphony Trail Run––Hillcrest Park to Little Mountain, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. 10K Trail Run, 5K Trail Run/ Walk, Kid Dash, Fund-

SPECIAL 6th Annual Shoot the Trails Awards––Bellingham Technical College, 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm. Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition’s annual Mountain Bike Video and Photography Contest. For contest rules and submission

8 October - 25 February 2017 guidelines visit wmbcmtb.org/ shoot-the-trailsawards/ All ages event, $15 tickets available for sale at all local bike shops starting Sept 23rd. Food, Beer, Contest Prizes, Huge Raffle. All proceeds go back to the local trails through WMBC’s advocacy, education and stewardship programs. Contact wmbcstt@gmail.com with questions

Thursday, 20 October SPECIAL Komo Kulshan Ski and Snowboard Swap––Bloedel Donovan Gymnasium, 4:00 pm – 9:30 pm.

Bellingham’s oldest and largest ski and snowboard swap.

NOVEMBER >>> Saturday, 19 November RUN/WALK Turkey Trot––Squalicum Creek Park, 9 am – 11 am. All proceeds (100%) donated to the Bellingham Food Bank. The 5K course starts and ends at Squalicum Creek Park.

Entry Fee: $8.00 minimum donation to the Food Bank per runner (maximum $20 per family). Kids under 12 Free. GBRC Members Free-but donations strongly encouraged. No online registration – day of race only. Event Schedule: 7:30-8:45 Registration, 9:00 5K Start, 10:00ish Results & Awards. Go to gbrc.net for more information.

360.676.1977 • www.lithtexnw.com

DECEMBER >>> Saturday, 3 December

RUN/WALK Fairhaven Frosty–– Fairhaven Park, 10 am – 12 pm. The 5K course follows a large loop on roads and hard pack trails. The 10K course is a repeat of the 5K course.

Registration from 9:00am – 9:45am.

Race starts at 10:00 am.

GBRC Members are free Non-Members: $10.00, 18 and under: $5.00. Online registration for this race will be available until about 2 days before the race. Day of race registration is also available at the race. Go to gbrc.net for more information.

FEBRUARY 2017 >>> Saturday, 25 February SPECIAL Recreation Northwest EXPO––Bellingham Cruise Terminal, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm. The Recreation Northwest EXPO is your chance to connect with the active outdoor community. Saturday, February 25th in Bellingham, Washington the EXPO is free and open to the public.

Attendees can take advantage of one-on-one time with representatives from local and regional events and races, as well as bike and running shops, outfitters, outdoor activity clubs, stewardship organizations, sports health professionals and outdoor media companies.

Visit AdventuresNW.com for complete listings of Outdoor events throughout 2017

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE: • • • • •

Single: $30 Couple: $40 Family: $50 Youth (18 & under): $10 Senior (65+): 10

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS: • 10 Free Races per Year • 10% Discount at Bbay Running & Fairhaven Runners • Track Workouts & Group Runs

CONNECTING RUNNERS. BUILDING COMMUNITY. GIVING BACK. | www.gbrc.net | 48

race | play | experience

501(c)3

>>> VIew or download even MORE Race|Play|Experience

race I play I experience

25 June 2017

JUNE 2017 >>> Sunday, 25 June RUN/WALK Kona Marathon–– Waikoloa Beach Resort, 5:30 am – 1:30 pm. The Kona/Kohala Coast on the Big Island is well known as the ultimate vacation destination in Hawaii. All four races, Marathon, 1/2 Marathon, Quarter Marathon, and 5K courses run along the spectacular scenic drive throughout the Waikoloa Beach Resort

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 via mail anywhere in the US or Canada. Visit AdventuresNW.com/subscribe for subscription info.

ADVERTISE Let Adventures NW magazine help you reach a diverse, receptive audience throughout the Pacific Northwest, and be part of one of the most valued and engaging publications in the region. Info is at AdventuresNW.com/advertise or by writing to ads @ AdventuresNW.com.

CONTRIBUTE Adventures NW welcomes original article queries— including feature stories, expert advice, photo essays, the Next Adventures shot, etc. For information: AdventuresNW.com/contribute.

EVENTS Have your outdoor-related event, race or public outing listed in the quarterly Race|Play|Experience calendar and in our comprehensive on-line version. Visit AdventuresNW.com/submit-your-event to post events or contact ads @ AdventuresNW.com for details.

event listings at AdventuresNW.com

offering beautiful views. The Marathon and 1/2 Marathon courses extend into the unique black lava volcanic landscape of the Big Island of Hawaii. Experience the true aloha of Hawaii in this smaller family friendly event.

ANW

Skagit Symphony Presents . . .

SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 11TH MEET AT JOHNNY’S @ 11:00 2 2 0 1 C O R N WA L L AV E .

$

20

FIRST 100 GET A

FINISHER MEDAL! $25 Day Of

INCLUDES A PINT AT THE FINISH! ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE

WHATCOM DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER PRE-REGISTER: WanderToWander.BPT.me All Ages, Abilities and Pets Welcome Children 12 & Under FREE

5K & 10K Runs • 5K WalK • Kids’ Dash

Saturday • October 8, 2016 9:00am Registration

Enjoy a beautiful autumn trail and support Skagit Symphony. The course begins at Mount Vernon’s Hillcrest Park and loops around Little Mountain.

Info & Registration: www.SkagitSymphony.com 360 848-9336

race | play | experience

49

the

Next

Adventure

Patos Island photo by DAVID LUCAS Although Patos Island is in the San Juan Island chain, it is relatively unknown to many. Since there is no commercial way to get to the island it does not see heavy use - in fact when I was there, for two days, I only saw six other people.

Yet this is a wonderful island, complete with groomed campsites. Patos Island is maintained by the State of Washington and has wonderful walking trails. With a natural bay, this island makes for a safe and beautiful getaway. Just before sunset, during my visit, I captured this image of the Patos Island Lighthouse, a main attraction on the island.

See more of David’s photography at lucasphotographic.com

50

The heartbeat of Cascadia

Across the globe. Across the country.

Across the kitchen table.

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As a firm providing wealth management services to clients, we offer both investment advisory and brokerage services. These services are separate and distinct, differ in material ways and are governed by different laws and separate contracts. For more information on the distinctions between our brokerage and investment advisory services, please speak with your Financial Advisor or visit our website at ubs.com/ workingwithus. Neither UBS Financial Services Inc. nor any of its employees provides legal or tax advice. You should consult with your personal legal or tax advisor regarding your personal circumstances.

UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. ©2011 UBS Financial Services Inc. All rights reserved. Member SIPC.31.17_Ad_4.625x3.625_9G0204