2020 KV Living Winter Q1

From the Cascades to the Columbia | Q1 2020

inSiDE: n Community

music

n groomed

trails make winter fun n new website helps outdoor enthusiasts pick a destination K V Li V ing

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Empowering the community.

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Ellensburg strum-a-longs help build community through music pg

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TABLE of

Groomed trails make winter fun

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Around the County pg

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New outdoor recreation website tells you where to go

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AROUND THE

County

Spirit of the West Presidents’ Day means just one thing in the Kittitas Valley: Spirit of the West.

The annual cowboy gathering features poetry and music at venues all around the community.

The three-day celebration runs Feb. 14-16 and includes concert headliners Doris Daley, Eli Barsi, Doc Mehl and Barbara Nelson.

Ellensburg restaurant month The Ellensburg Downtown Association and participating downtown restaurants are highlighting unique dining experiences in downtown Ellensburg for the entire month of February.

Visit Ellensburgdowntown.org for more information on what specials will be where.

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KITTITAS VALLEY

LETTER FROM the

Editor

Winter is here, and I’m embracing it.

In fact, you could call it a resolution if you wanted to.

After enduring the longest and snowiest month of all time last February (scientists will tell you it’s the shortest month with 28 days, but I was never one for linear counting), this year I thought I’d try to embrace the snow.

The first person I talked to who gave me a little hope on my new pursuit of the great outdoors was Jennifer Hackett, whose new website WashingtonHometown.com will help anyone track down exactly where they want to go on their next hike, snowmobile ride, river float or pretty much anything else you’d want to try.

Living just a hop and a skip from Rotary Park, I had heard rumblings of groomed cross country skiing trails, and decided that might be an easy way to glide through winter. I reached out to Jeff Hashimoto and Brad Case, who recalled the great success of last year’s partnership between the city of Ellensburg and the Ellensburg Cross Country Skiing Club. As soon as the snow flies, make sure to head out to the park and check out the relatively flat but fun trails.

And if you’ve finally had enough of the cold, it might be time to pick up at least one indoor hobby this winter. Plenty of people are working on their musical chops at Jan Jaffe’s Ellensburg Strum-Alongs.

Q1 | 2020

Editor: Michael Gallagher Writers: Matt Carstens Photos by: Jacob Ford and Daily Record File Designer: Matt Carstens Publication of the Daily Record 401 N. Main St. Ellensburg WA 98926 509-925-1414 To submit a story idea or upcoming event, email newsroom@kvnews.com.

For information about advertising, email: advertising@kvnews.com. www.dailyrecordnews.com

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There’s a map for that A new website and mobile app are helping Washington outdoor enthusiasts get where they need to go

A snowmobiler pulls into the Last Resort along Salmon La Sac Road, west of Ronald.

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By Matt Carstens staff writer

ecreation is one of Kittitas County’s most plentiful resources, but sometimes it feels like you need a secret treasure map to find that perfect spot.

Jennifer Hackett has felt that pain personally, and for the past 10 years slowly has been working on a solution to those outdoor enthusiasts.

Hackett is in the early stages of promoting her website www. washingtonhometown. com, which has dozens of maps for exploring the Evergreen State. She has amassed an enormous data set, pulling from more than 15,000 records on information about trails, parks, national forests, snow parks and more.

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Only using authoritative agencies and confirming her information has helped her keep a more accurate picture of where recreationists can go to enjoy their surroundings.

An outdoor epiphany Hackett and her family moved to the Kittitas Valley in 2004, and as her son was getting ready to start kindergarten, she thought she could easily take her kids out and have some fun in nature.

“I was new to this area, and so frustrated,” she said. “I had two young kids, we just wanted to get outside with them and it was so hard to find out where to go.”

Hackett was given a book about hikes in Eastern Washington, so with that guide in hand, they packed the 3 and 6-year-old up for a drive up Manastash Canyon.

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A screen shot of washingtonhometown.com that shows dog friendly locations in Washington state.

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Snowmobiles stand ready for rent outside the Last Resort along Salmon La Sac Road, west of Ronald.

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After several choruses of “Are we there yet?” from the back seat, the family arrived at their destination, only to find several “NO TRESPASSING” signs posted at the trail head.

“The first quarter mile of the trail is on private property,” Hackett said. “The person who wrote the book had no idea. They hadn’t mapped it. Probably at one point there had been a land owner who was willing to let people hike on it, but the new land owner didn’t.”

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A screen shot of washingtonhometown.com that shows water recreation spots in Washington state.

Maps and apps While the website has been live for around six years, only in the last couple has she been promoting it and getting feedback. New updates and features are arriving all the time, and the site recently launched its first mobile application which highlights places to snowmobile around the state.

“For snowmobilers, what are the rules?” Hackett asked rhetorically.

“You’d think that would be very easy, but it’s not. There are places in Wenatchee National Forest for example where you can ride a snowmobile anywhere, there are places that are designated roads and trails, and there are places where you’re not allowed.”

Hackett’s app lays all that information out for riders, along with being able to sort that information by total miles of trail, elevation and more.

The app first launched last year, but with certain features like downloadable maps only coming with a premium paid version. Thanks to business sponsorships, Hackett has been able to make the app completely free.

“When you use the app and download the offline module for your area, you can continue to use the map, zoom in and out, track yourself, even if you don’t have cell coverage,” Hackett said. “That was really important because I wouldn’t want somebody to have my app on their phone and they didn’t want to pay $8 to download, then get into trouble.”

The app is financially supported by

businesses that can have custom maps printed for their shops with local snowmobile trails, as well as have their businesses featured on the online maps.

Future plans Hackett said more features are in the pipeline for Washington Hometown, including being able to sort locations more narrowly by different activities. She envisions anyone with specific criteria in mind will be able to find the perfect place for their outdoor adventure.

Hackett also has an interactive comment section in mind, where fellow hikers can communicate trail conditions, weather or any other kind of helpful update.

As far as keeping all the information updated, it’s kind of a one-woman show at the moment, along with some geographic

information system interns here and there.

“My goal is to actually have a couple people working full time to just keep the data good,” Hackett said. “Every single year I would like to touch on every record in the data base. Have new facilities been added to the park? Is there a new park in the community? Has the website changed?”

All in all, Hackett’s vision of people coming off the interstate and taking advantage of all the recreation the state has to offer is slowly becoming a reality.

“How do we tell people in King County, ‘You can park a mile away from the Mount Si trail head to walk up in a crowd of people, but if you drive 20 minutes farther into Kittitas County, we have beautiful recreation and you don’t have to do that,’” she said. n

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With a background in data mining for the government and a new degree in resource management from Central Washington University, Hackett started on the long process that would become Washington Hometown.

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All together now

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By Matt Carstens staff writer

earning an instrument from scratch is hard. Learning all on your own? Even harder.

That’s why Ellensburg music teacher Jan Jaffe decided to round up as many musicians as she could for her free “strum-along” events.

Strum-Alongs usually consist of around 15-20 people sitting in a circle with their respective instruments. Jaffe

Photos by Jacob Ford

hands out binders full of lyrics and chord progressions, and leads the group in a collective jam session on tunes through the ages.

The current song list includes “American Pie,” “Brown-Eyed Girl,” “Let it Be,” “Wonderwall” and many more, ranging from oldies to modern songs and a few traditional and jazz standards thrown in for good measure.

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Ellensburg Strum-Alongs help build community through music

Guitarist play during a strum along event led by Jan Jaffe Tuesday night at Hal Homes Center.

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“My whole mission starting this was just to give our community a space to play together,” Jaffe said. “Some people don’t have other musician friends or similar interests with the people they hang out with, so we all need a place to go practice with one another.”

The event had its opening at Gallery One last year, and Jaffe received funding from the Ellensburg Arts Commission to help rent venues. There were seven strum-a-longs in total last year at venues including Old Skool’s, the Kittitas County Historical Museum, Hal Holmes Center, the Clymer Museum and the 420 Loft Art Gallery.

The first one I did the most on advertising, so the first one was very well attended,” Jaffe said. “I was expecting 10-15 people and more than 35 showed up.

Instrumentation is always a surprise to Jaffe, and while most people bring their guitars, there’s always room for ukuleles, violins, basses, rhythm sections and even the odd bassoon.

Not only does skill level vary, but age as well. Elsa Penoyar and her dad, Tom, were the first to arrive at January’s event at the Hal Holmes Center, and were tuning their guitars in preparation.

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ABOVE: Candace Hooper plays her ukulele during a strum along event. BELOW: Guitarist Bob Smith plays the guitar during a strum along night at Hal Holmes Center.

ABOVE: Jan Jaffe leads a strum along event at Hal Holmes Center. BELOW: Rob Rapose, right, and his son Joey Rapose play together during a strum along event led by Jan Jaffe Tuesday night at Hal Holmes Center.

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ABOVE and BELOW: Guitarist play together during a strum along event.

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“It’s pretty chill, it’s definitely inclusive,” Tom Penoyar said while helping Elsa get set up. “I usually bring my banjo but I didn’t tonight just for a little variety.”

Tom Penoyar also runs the bluegrass jam in Ellensburg, and said it’s a similar concept.

“It’s a lot of the same songs even, except instrumental solos are kind of expected in the Bluegrass genre,” he said. “Where this is more sing the songs and do the chords, help people get better with rhythm and strumming.”

Continued on page 23 ABOVE and BELOW: Guitarist play together during a strum along event.

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Joanna Thomas purchased her ukulele a few months ago and has attended three or four strum-a-longs, which have helped her learn the basics.

“They say the more musicians you play with the better you get,” Thomas said.

“Even the first time I watched Jan I couldn’t even keep a beat. Just watching her go ‘One, two, three, four,’ is a great help.”

Thomas also helped start a music group outside the strum-a-long, titled “The Dog Town Ladies Luncheon and Ukulele Society.”

“We meet at my art studio,” she said.

During the strum-a-longs, Jaffe will lead the songs on a microphone, but often gives way to the participants who want to take a solo or harmonize with the vocal melody.

“Usually one or two people who really want to try something will and I have to find the right space for them,” Jaffe said.

“Some people just want to hide and that’s fine too.

“My goal in life is to build community through music. That is my whole mission, I’ve been lucky enough to make that my career.” n K V Li V ing

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Backyard skiing groomed trails make winter fun in Ellensburg Story by Matt Carstens

Photos by Jacob Ford and Daily Record File

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ross country skiing has always been a popular Kittitas County winter activity, but Ellensburg residents didn’t have to travel far last year to get their fix in.

Thanks to a $5,000 grant awarded by the city of Ellensburg’s Community Park Partnership program, the Ellensburg Cross Country Ski Club has been out grooming trails for skiers of all levels to enjoy at Rotary Park and the Reecer Creek Flood Plain.

The grant was awarded in 2018, but it wasn’t until last winter (2019) that the grooming equipment was put to full use.

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“Last year we didn’t get any snow until late, but boy when we got it we sure got a lot of it,” said Ellensburg parks and recreation director Brad Case. “They went out and really for the first time they had the chance to groom for the first time on a regular basis.”

The grooming is driven by weather, and if the area gets a big snowfall, the club goes out and grooms. If there is no snow on top of that, Case said the trails can stay pretty good for a while. If more snow comes, the club’s organizer Jeff Hashimoto is hard at work grooming daily.

“It was great,” Hashimoto said about 2019’s bounty. “The nice thing last year we just had consistent snow for four or five weeks. Every time it would start to get a little icy or something it would snow another inch, so we could keep the trails in really nice shape for a long period of time.”

Hashimoto, who had never groomed before, learned a lot about the art and science of creating these trails from his contacts in the Forest Service. Volume of snow, temperature and moisture all play a factor when determining when to groom.

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“The weather decides the best time.

Sometimes we groom it in the morning, sometimes in the early afternoon,” Hashimoto said, who gets help from Mark Larson and Tim Melbourne. “Of course it has to work with my schedule.”

With the park and flood plain being relatively flat, the routes provide a great place for beginners to learn how to ski, or those who are just looking to get some miles in on their lunch break.

Hashimoto said the trails are groomed for both traditional cross country skiing and parallel style.

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“I saw a gentlemen that skis competitively travels and races,” Case said. “He told me he hadn’t left Ellensburg for 30 days and he’d skied every single day.

For him to be able to leave work, drive down to the park and ski for 45 minutes and go back — what an awesome opportunity right in our backyard.”

The club also had two free ski days with loner equipment provided to kids so they could come out and try the sport. Hashimoto said about 200 kids participated, and the club will be looking to do it again this year if the weather permits. Parents can check the city of Ellensburg’s Facebook page or their children’s schools for announcements.

For Case, whose job it is to get people out and enjoying the parks at all times of the year, there isn’t a better example of how the Parks Partnership Program is supposed to work.

“It’s been great,” Case said. “It’s just a phenomenal partnership and has accomplished everything we set out to do.” n

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