Out There Outdoors // September-October 2021

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SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 // FREE

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THE INLAND PACIFIC NORTHWEST GUIDE TO ADVENTURE + TRAVEL + CULTURE

OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

LANDS Kids Write from the Wild Public Lands Champions #Tagresponsibly Movement Who Pays for Public Lands? & More

ISSUE

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IT'S TIME FOR

ECO DEPOT

R A L S

CONTENTS

Features

20 | Weekend Roadtrips 26 | Public Lands

PHOTO: SHALLAN KNOWLES

26

Department 22 | Gear Room

Columns 14 15 16 24 25

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COVER PHOTO: AARON THEISEN Karen O’Hagan hikes through the subalpine parkland of Brewer Creek in British Columbia’s Purcells.

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OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

m o r f s g n i t e e Gr Dear friends , We miss you to b e reunite and can’t wa it d time is right w hen the you aga in, a . Until we see worth a thou picture is sand words.

Love, Ro ssla nd

To: Our Frie Wherever Younds CANADA A re XOX OXO

SEE WHAT YOU HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO. @ROSSLANDER TOURISMROSSLAND.COM SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

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NORTH IDAHO MOUNTAIN SPORTS EDUCATION FUND PARTICIPANTS LEARNING ON THE SLOPES OF SCHWEITZER. // PHOTO COURTESY OF NIMSEF

S E P T E M B E R - O C TO B E R 2 0 2 1 WWW.OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM PUBLISHERS

Shallan & Derrick Knowles EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Derrick Knowles

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Jon Jonckers Lisa Laughlin

DIGITAL EDITOR

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SANDPOINT GROUP HELPS LESS FORTUNATE KIDS MAKE SKIING & SNOWBOARDING A LIFE-LONG PASSION

BY DERRICK KNOWLES

THE SLOPES OF SCHWEITZER attract skiers and snowboarders from across North America, yet, unfortunately, many Sandpoint-area kids may not get the chance to experience the thrill of gliding down the snow-covered mountain. According to the North Idaho Mountain Sports Education Fund, or NIMSEF, skiing and snowboarding is simply too expensive for many North Idaho families. NIMSEF formed to help get as many of these kids as possible up on the mountain each winter to enjoy the fun, active sport of skiing and snowboarding.

NIMSEF rightfully points out that the benefits of introducing kids who might not normally get the opportunity to ski or snowboard goes beyond having fun on the mountain. The non-profit organization believes that not only do alpine skiing and snowboarding provide kids with a lifelong activity, but also with a sense of belonging to an active community and a feeling of accomplishment and pride.

NIMSEF gives children more than just one day on the mountain. Each participating child gets a Schweitzer season pass, ski bus pass, equipment rental, and enrollment in Schweitzer’s 8-week Funatics all-day lesson program thanks to Schweitzer greatly discounting the cost for each participant. Funatics is a multi-week ski or snowboard program for kids ages 7-12 where participants get to stay with the

ARTICLE SPONSORED BY

same instructor and group of students, explains Schweitzer marketing manager Dig Chrismer. “It’s a really good way for kids to set a foundation of skills and work to improve throughout the season. They often start out as beginners, and two years later they can be skiing black diamonds.”

NIMSEF board president Jeff Rouleau, a Schweitzer ski instructor, started the program in 2010 after getting the following eye-opening “thank you” letter from one of the many 4th graders in Bonner County that took advantage of an annual free ski and lesson day at Schweitzer: “Thank you for the best day of my life. I probably won’t see any of you ever again. So goodbye.”

All children ages 7-17 who qualify based on economic need and live in Bonner and Boundary counties can apply for the program, which has grown from 22 participants in the first year to 100 participants last season. One of the great things about the program is that each kid is responsible for raising at least $50 toward their program by selling raffle tickets, which helps teach them a positive work ethic.

Donations are critical to keep these programs growing and will make a huge difference to local North Idaho kids. Learn more about the North Idaho Mountain Sports Education Fund, donate, or help a child apply at www. nimsef.com. //

S. Michal Bennett Carol Corbin Adam Gebauer Sarah Hauge Summer Hess Justin Short Aaron Theisen Holly Weiler

CONTRIBUTORS

Vansh Amin Christina Deubel Loren Drummond Trevor Finchamp James P. Johnson Mike Lithgow Nyomi Meinhart Benson Side Wil Wheaton

ART + PRODUCTION

Amy Jennings Jon Jonckers Shallan Knowles TO REQUEST COPIES CALL

509 / 822 / 0123

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Derrick Knowles: 509 / 822 / 0123 derrick@outtheremonthly.com OUT THERE OUTDOORS

Mailing Address: PO Box #5, Spokane, WA 99210 www.outthereoutdoors.com, 509 / 822 / 0123 Out There Outdoors is published 6 times a year by Out There Monthly, LLC. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent of the publisher. ©Copyright 2021 Out There Monthly, LLC. The views expressed in this magazine reflect those of the writers and advertisers and not necessarily Out There Monthly, LLC. Disclaimer: Many of the activities depicted in this magazine carry a significant risk of personal injury or death.

Rock climbing, river rafting, snow sports, kayaking, cycling, canoeing and backcountry activities are inherently dangerous.

The owners and contributors to Out There Monthly/ Out There Outdoors do not recommend that anyone participate in these activities unless they are experts or seek qualified professional instruction and/or guidance, and are knowledgeable about the risks, and are personally willing to assume all responsibility associated with those risks.

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OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

I N T R O Are We Loving the Land to Death?

WE LEFT THE PARKING LOT and began pedaling up the gravel road, enjoying the mellow grade as the forest grew thick around us. Huge, moss-draped trees provided welcome shade from the intense, humid heat, and a green sea of ferns and other westCascade foliage blanketed the forest floor.

The winds had shifted during the night, and the thick layer of smoke that permeated the mountains the day before had dissipated. We saw no other people as we steadily climbed the road then singletrack, but the signs of humans, unfortunately, were all over the place. I’m talking about unburied, right-on-the-side-of-the-trail human waste and toilet paper.

The higher we climbed, the more disgusted

I got. When we finally stopped for a break near the top, our scenic snack spot turned out to be someone else’s poor choice for a latrine.

Seriously? WTH is wrong with people? Last summer at a popular Selkirk Mountain lake that’s super close to the road, we encountered a similar situation where too many people were relieving themselves in too small of an alpine area with the expected unsavory consequences.

The desecration of an alpine lake basin caused by too many visitors without proper Leave No Trace awareness is a terrible thing for sure, but it’s not all that surprising given the number of new people heading into the wilds. I expected better backcountry ethics, however, from seasoned mountain bikers on a challenging trail many miles from a road.

It’s a great thing that so many Americans are learning and re-learning to love the outdoors since COVID, but the explosion of trash, toilet paper, and human waste that has followed the new wilderness-loving masses into our public lands should give us all pause. Obviously we are not doing a good enough job as an outdoors community at educating our fellow enthusiasts about basic Leave No Trace practices, like, at a minimum, doing your business and burying your waste and toilet paper in a 6-8” deep hole at least 200 feet away from water, camps, and trails.

There are many things we can do as an outdoors community to lessen our impact on public lands. In this issue, Aaron Theisen dives into the #tagresponsibly movement

that makes the case for protecting the location of fragile places in social media posts (page 30). There are many great non-profit organizations working to protect and restore the wild places and trails we all love (we highlight a few on page 26 and there are plenty more), and they need our support now more than ever. Here at Out There Outdoors, a big part of what we do is help more people to get outside. We also recognize the responsibility we have to educate our readers about Leave No Trace and conservation ethics and not to draw too much detailed attention to at-risk wild places. Times are changing. The Wild West isn’t as wild as it used to be, and it’s time for all of us to do our part.

Derrick Knowles, Publisher

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As a nonprofit organization, everything we do at Washington Trails Association—including how we use technology—is in service of our mission to help hikers and the lands we love. Our website, social media channels, our mobile app, our newsletters—we’ve created and curated them to reduce barriers for all hikers who want to explore trails and to ethically share information in a way that better stewards those places.

Now we have a new tool to help hikers and trails. We recently released a feature on Wta.org that offers personalized suggestions of hikes you might want to add to your to-do list. The new tool is designed to educate, spark curiosity, and shift focus from a small number of often-recommended trails to the many trails that Washington has to offer.

The feature, which was developed with the help of volunteers and draws on WTA’s decades of local trail knowledge and the latest data science, looks at the existing hikes you have saved in your WTA My Backpack account and any trip reports you’ve filed and suggests other trails to try across the state.

Everyone experiences trails differently, and the new tool captures that nuance. It makes suggestions that are the kind of information you might find if you chatted with a knowledgeable friend.

We believe that technology can be good for trails. This new tool is just one of the ways we’re working to spread the word about the many trails across our state, so we can spread out use. That dispersal is better for trails, and it is better for hikers. With our new tool, like all the technology we use, it’s the people who make the difference. Real hikers who spend their days on Washington’s trails are behind the technology, and that sets our trail information apart.

WTA has never had millions (or even hundreds of thousands) of dollars to work with when it comes to building technology.

We’ve got smart staff and volunteers, and hikers who know and care deeply about public lands. We’re making the best choices we can to support our mission. We are so grateful for our incredible technology volunteers. And we appreciate our members

who support this mission-driven approach to inspire people and protect trails. We try to make every dollar and every hour count.

We’ll use all of that support to help us make trails for everyone, forever.

MADE WITH VOLUNTEERS

Five years ago, Jade Tabony, a data scientist, was spending a lot of time trying to find different hikes that she could use as training hikes for mountaineering. She didn’t want to just hike Mount Si and Mailbox on repeat. As the capstone project for a data science workshop, she built a prototype hike recommender to do the work for her.

Just a few miles away, WTA staff and a small group of technology-minded volunteers and researchers were trying to create something similar. That group wanted a tool to educate hikers and encourage a deeper understanding of Washington’s full trail system while lessening the impacts of the growing demands on the trail system.

It took another hiker, data scientist, and trails advocate, Aaron Lichtner, to connect his friend Jade with WTA staff during a Hiker Rally Day in Olympia. Those early conversations launched the effort that resulted in the latest feature, which suggests hikes for people who have a My Backpack account on Wta.org. The simplicity of the suggestion feature belies the work and thought that has gone into it, from Jade’s very first model all the way up to the careful considerations our staff has put into making suggestions that will be good for all kinds of hikers and trails.

“We worked with the developers to ensure our recommendations will be as responsible as possible, both in terms of meeting hikers’ needs and protecting trails,” says Anna Roth, WTA’s hiking content manager, whose deep knowledge of Washington’s trail system made her a critical member of the team.

“Almost everyone on the team hikes and understood why we took so much time and care to get it right.”

Jade is excited that a project that helped her find new hikes is now able to do the same for hikers all across Washington. “When I first built it, it actually helped me find some trails that I’d never heard of before and got me out exploring new areas of Washington,” she says. “I’m really hoping that it helps people who don’t have a lot of time to search for hikes find hikes that they wouldn’t have otherwise, especially if it helps them get to some of the lesser-known gems of Washington.”

(WTA digital content manager Loren Drummond)

SITE OF PROPOSED BEAD LAKE LOOP TRAIL EXTENSION ON THE COLVILLE NATIONAL FOREST. // PHOTO: HOLLY WEILER

KANIKSU CONNECTION PROJECT PLANNED IN NE WASHINGTON project area is bordered by the Pend Oreille USK, WASH. River on the west, the Idaho Panhandle Connection to the land is at the core of National Forest on the east, and stretches Kalispel culture. The Kalispel people historito the southern boundary of the Newportcally occupied and utilized an area of 2.3 milSullivan Lake Ranger District. The north lion acres located in Northeast Washington, border follows the Middle Creek watershed’s North Idaho, and Northwest Montana. This north boundary. land is an incredibly diverse place, and the Why is the Kalispel Tribe involved? Along Kalispel were able to thrive on the resources with requesting action on U.S. Forest Service that this landscape produced. lands surrounding their Reservation and In 1914, the Kalispel were forced from surrounding communities, the Kalispel Tribe their larger aboriginal landscape and isohas contributed extensively to the project in lated onto their Reservation through an multiple ways. The Kalispel Tribe of Indians executive order signed by then-President shares natural resource knowledge of the Woodrow Wilson. This executive order crearea by providing key specialists to particiated a roughly 4,700-acre reservation for the pate in the interdisciplinary NEPA planning Kalispel along the Pend Oreille River near team. Through grants and significant tribal Cusick and Usk, Washington. Much of this funding, the Tribe was able to fill gaps for the acreage lies within an active floodplain or project in the form of outside specialists to on the steep slopes of the Selkirk Range, not help support the planning process. Finally, nearly enough land for the Tribe to continue the Tribe has provided a representative to to sustain itself. the Project Leadership Team and used their Much of the aboriginal landscape of the invaluable community network to engage Kalispel are public lands managed by state members of the public. and federal agencies. The concept of active What specific types of actions will occur management of these lands is not new, as in this project area? This project includes the Kalispel have been managing this tera diverse array of prescriptions to improve rain using fire since time immemorial. Fire the overall health of the watersheds that fall is an important ecological tool, but today’s within the project area, such as prescribed landscape necessitates the use of additional fire, commercial and non-commercial thinmodern forestry techniques. To increase the ning, wetland restoration, aquatic organism pace and scale of active management and passage, road maintenance and improverestoration of this landscape, the Kalispel ments, and road decommissioning.

Tribe decided to take a seat at the table There is also a prioritized list of recreation with the other land managers by proposprojects to improve the overall recreation ing a Tribal Forest Protection Act project opportunities in the area. The project that called the Sxwuytn-Kaniksu Connections ranked highest is the Bead Lake Loop nonor “Trail” Project. motorized trail project. This trail will be built Where exactly is the Sxwuytn (su-whowith assistance from the Washington Trails y-tin)-Kaniksu Connections or “Trail” Association (WTA). Holly Weiler from WTA Project? And why the name Sxwuytn? First, has been integral in the development of the the name is a Kalispel Salish word meaning recreation portion of this planning docu“trail or connections.” The name perfectly ment. fits the purpose and intent of this project, Without public participation and the which is to connect all people within the surcollaboration of the Washington State rounding communities to the management Department of Natural Resources, United of their surrounding landscape. The projStates Forest Service, and the Northeast ect’s nickname is “Trail.” Secondly, the Trail Washington Forestry Coalition, a project Project is located on the Colville National of this size and scope would not be feasible.

Forest’s (CNF) Newport-Sullivan Lake Without this project, the landscape will fail Ranger District in Northeast Washington’s to provide the safety, resources, and overall Pend Oreille County north of Newport. The resiliency upon which tribal members and project area consists of five large watersheds non-tribal communities depend. To learn covering approximately 90,700 acres and more about the Kalispel Tribe’s conservasurrounds the Reservation and other lands tion efforts visit Knrd.org. (Mike Lithgow) owned and managed by the Kalispel. The

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DISPATCHES 72ND WARREN MILLER FILM DEBUT BOULDER, COLO.

Warren Miller is excited to bring people back into theaters for the 72nd feature film, “Winter Starts Now,” which lands in Spokane on October 30. The movie is a love letter to that special time on the calendar.

It’s a call to action—get stoked, be prepared, because the season so many skiers and snowboarders live for is here. This year, the line takes on a whole new meaning because it’s not just any winter. It’s one of renewal and gratitude, with a froth factor that could exceed any since record keeping began.

Follow along as the film visits friends old and new in the places that keep spirits high no matter what life throws at us. From Alaska’s Prince William Sound, where the only tracks you’ll encounter belong to bears, to Maine’s community of craftsmen and women devoted to sliding on snow. From kids with huge Olympic dreams to adaptive shredders who leave the most able among us in the dust. Road trip with big mountain skiers Marcus Caston and Connery Lundin as they chase winter all the way to Alaska. Catch up with speed-riding legend JT Holmes and meet new friends like Madison Rose and Vasu Sojitra. “Winter Starts Now” takes viewers on a journey to the highest peak in America, to the great groomers at

your favorite resorts, and to the mom and pops that have stood their ground throughout the everchanging ski world. “Winter Starts Now” is a homage to every skier who lives for the thrill and finds solace on the chairlift.

Warren Miller Entertainment is now a part of Outside, Inc., the world’s leading creator of active lifestyle content. The company offers an all-access membership program, Outside+, where subscribers receive two tickets to a national tour show of their choice, plus 20% off additional tickets, early entry and best seats in select venues, exclusive access to the virtual release and more Warren Miller content. As part of the $99 annual membership, subscribers receive over $599 in additional benefits from annual magazine subscriptions to events, courses, training plans, and more.

Learn more about Outside+ and get your tickets to the Spokane show set for October 30 at Warrenmiller.com. (OTO) PHOTO COURTESY OF WARREN MILLER

FIRST NATIVE AMERICAN NOMINEE TO HEAD NATIONAL PARKS WASHINGTON, D.C.

President Joe Biden has nominated Chuck Sams, a former administrator of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, to be the first official head of the National Park Service since 2017. If confirmed, Sams would be the first Native American to lead the National Park Service. His boss would be Deb Haaland, the first Native American to be Secretary of the Interior. Needless to say, having two Native Americans heading the Interior and the National Park Service (NPS) is a substantial and meaningful event with abundant significance.

There hasn’t been a permanent head at the National Parks Service since 2017, when Jonathan Jarvis, appointed by President Obama, retired. President Trump never appointed a NPS boss on a permanent basis, as his nominees were not confirmed by the Senate. Thus the job was filled by a rotating cast of people. Sams is a U.S. Navy veteran who has taught at Georgetown University and Whitman College and has recently been working with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in Oregon. He is Cayuse and Walla Walla, and a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

“The diverse experience that Chuck brings to the National Park Service will be an incredible asset as we work to conserve and protect our national parks to make them more accessible for everyone,” U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a news release. “The outdoors are for everyone, and we have an obligation to protect them for generations to come.” (Jon Jonckers)

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OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

GOATS IMPROVE FOREST HEALTH AND FIRE RISK ON SPOKANE’S HIGH DRIVE BLUFF. // PHOTO COURTESY OF FRIENDS OF THE BLUFF.

GOATS GRAZE THE BLUFF SPOKANE, WASH.

Over the past year, Friends of the Bluff partnered with Healing Hooves to bring a herd of about 200 goats to Spokane’s High Drive Bluff. This program lessens fire risk on the bluff by reducing brush and tree sapling density, while helping with noxious weeds and other invasive plants.

Well-managed livestock is one of the most sustainable ways to address these needs while regenerating healthy soil and storing

carbon—especially on steep terrain.

The goats range in age from two months to 8 years old and typically graze about an acre a day. Once they consume the desired amount of vegetation in a particular area, the shepherd moves the fencing and releases the goats into their new buffet.

To learn more about the project or support next year’s efforts, visit Friendsofthebluff. org/goatgrazing. (Trevor Finchamp)

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OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

GET OUT THERE EXPLORE SPOKANE COUNTY CONSERVATION FUTURES LANDS

The Spokane County Conservation Futures program includes more than 40 protected properties for a total of 9,145 acres throughout the county that serve as open space, wildlife habitat, and places for trail users to hike, bike, run, and enjoy. The 2021 Conservation Futures nominations round closed on July 31 with eight prospective properties proposed as additions, and now there’s a public meeting for comments on the nominations that you can participate in. The meeting is set for September 9 at 5 p.m. via Zoom (https://us02web.zoom. us/j/84923466415). The meeting will also be a great chance to learn more about the Conservation Futures program.

Fall is one of the best seasons of the year to explore the mostly low-elevation Conservation Futures properties around Spokane. There is likely a property with trails near where you live that makes for an easy after-work or weekend hiking or mountain bike outing. Visit Spokanecounty.org/4266/ Conservation-Areas for information about each area, including trail info and directions.

(Jeff Lambert and Derrick Knowles) LEARN ABOUT COMPOSTING

While an in-person fall compost fair may or may not take place at Spokane’s Finch

Arboretum on October 23 as scheduled this year due to health concerns over public gatherings, a virtual option will take its place if necessary. Historically held as part of the Fall Leaf Festival, Master Composters/Recyclers have been teaching the benefits of home composting as a means of reducing waste for over 30 years.

The event also includes free compost bins for Spokane County residents after they learn how to use them properly. If the event is not held in person this year, it will be held virtually the week of Oct. 23. If the virtual event happens, county residents can take an online, self-paced class where those who finish a short quiz can still claim a free compost bin. To get an update on the event and its format, email solidwaste@spokanecity. org or call 509.625.6580 closer to the date.

For additional information on recycling and composting in Spokane, visit the City of Spokane’s website or their Solid Waste Disposal Department at 509.625.6580 or the Spokane County’s website. (OTO) CELEBRATE PUBLIC LANDS DAY AT SALTESE UPLANDS

This National Public Lands Day, Saturday, September 25, Inland Northwest Land Conservancy (INLC) is inviting outdoor enthusiasts to visit the Saltese Uplands Conservation Area and the Saltese Flats

PHOTO: AARON THEISEN. COURTESY OF INLC

restoration project near Liberty Lake.

Participants can choose from a variety of activities—a birding hike with local author and historian Jack Nisbet, stewardship projects like removing trash and barbed wire to make the area safer for humans and wildlife, or a guided bike ride. Wrap up your afternoon of adventure with a status update on INLC efforts to raise $500,000 to purchase additional recreation and conservation lands in the area and to learn about plans for the future of this important land.

Register for the event at Inlandnwland.org

and share your images from the Saltese area using #MoreSaltesePlease to help us tell this story. INLC works to conserve, care for, and connect lands and waters essential to life in the Inland Northwest. (Carol Corbin) SPOKATOPIA OUTDOOR FESTIVAL ADAPTS TO COVID

ADVENTURE

The Inland Northwest’s only outdoor adventure festival moved to Saturday, September 18 this year in hopes that the COVID public health situation would be improved, which unfortunately for orga-

nizers turned out not to be the case. To ensure a safe event, tickets will be limited this year to make social distancing easier and the whole event safer for participants of this popular all-outdoors event. Spokatopia ticket holders can try kayaks and paddleboards, ride the trails at Camp Sekani with a shuttle, watch talented riders perform in the jump park, listen to live music from an adult beverage garden benefitting Evergreen East, take an outdoor skills clinic or join a group ride, participate in kids bike demos and other kids’ activities, join a trail run or yoga class, and more. (Demo bikes, paddles, and other surfaces will be sanitized throughout the day.)

Spokatopia takes place outdoors on over 1,000 acres of parkland, trails, and water with plenty of natural social distancing built into this fun outdoor event. But organizers of the event from Out There Outdoors are adding additional precautions, including limiting attendance (tickets are available online and at the event while remaining tickets last), spacing out all group activities to ensure plenty of space for physical distancing, encouraging vaccination and masks, and adding hand cleaning and sanitizer stations and signs reminding people to give each other space around the event. Get tickets online in advance in case they sell out and read more about the event’s evolving COVID/Safety

policies and procedures at Spokatopia.com.

(OTO) HISTORY-THEMED FESTIVAL RETURNS TO WALLACE

Experience the rich history of Wallace, Idaho, and the entire town’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places at the Fall For History Festival Sept. 30-Oct. 3.

Learn from speakers, tour historic homes and museums, watch live theater re-enactments, and more. Some of the highlights from this year’s festival include: “Mining the Magnates and Mavericks,” an open mic event to share stories about the enterprising men and women who left their mark on mining and Wallace (Sept. 30); “Mining the Museums and Manuscripts,” a trolley tour of Wallace museums with readings that bring history to life along with guided tours of the Mining Heritage Exhibition (Oct. 1); and self-guided tours at the Northern Pacific Depot Museum, Wallace Mining Museum, Barnard-Stockbridge Museum, and Mine Heritage Exhibition, the latter of which includes gold panning demonstrations (Oct. 2). Advance tickets are $20 each (space is limited) and include a complimentary copy of the new “MineMade Map & Guide to the Coeur d’Alene Mining District.” More info at Wallaceid. fun. (OTO)

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Ebikes are Fun!

The Trailhead

Trail Projects, Public Lands Day, & More By Holly Weiler Conservation Futures Properties Nominated: The recent round of nominations for Spokane County Park's Conservation Futures program additions received eight applicants. A public meeting to present the nominations and discuss the process for determining which of the properties will become Spokane's next park(s) will be held on September 9th at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom. Find meeting registration information at Spokanecounty.org.

National Public Lands Day: Get outside and play (for free!) on National Public Lands Day, September 25! Discover Passes will not be required for day-use at Washington State Parks, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife lands, and Department of Natural Resources lands all day. Sept. 25 is also a National Parks feefree day and a good time to plan a road trip to Mount Rainier or Glacier National Park.

Wheel Sport Is

Your E-bike

HEADQUARTERS Great workout ~ Get outside Go faster & farther Exercise on your commute

Three Spokane Locations North Spokane

9501 N Newport Hwy 14

South Hill

3020 S Grand Blvd

OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

Spokane Valley 606 N Sullivan

Public Comments Sought on Fees & Rec Site Changes: The Colville National Forest is considering some fee additions and increases at several recreation sites across the 1.1-million acre Northeast Washington forest. The complete list of locations and public comment information is available through September 30 on the agency’s website. Some notable highlights include a proposal to include the recently restored Salmo Mountain Fire Lookout on the cabin rental reservation system, as well as the Frater Lake warming cabin.

Run for the Woods: The Kaniksu Land Trust will be hosting a fall fundraiser trail run event at Pine Street Woods in Sandpoint on October 9. All of the event proceeds from this first Run for the Woods will benefit the trust, so come run for a

good cause! www.kaniksu.org/events/runfor-the-woods Volunteer Trail Projects: Lend a hand on one of these upcoming trail projects. If you can’t make it, remember to check out these refurbished trails once they are finished: o Idaho Trails Association will be hosting project days in North Idaho this fall, including at Parker Ridge and Chimney Rock (Idahotrailsassocation.org).

• Washington Trails Association will be continuing work on Mount Spokane projects through September, then transitioning to trail improvements within Spokane County Parks. Look for a fall grand opening to the new trailhead and trail at Etter Ranch at the south end of Antoine Peak. Other project sites include Hauser Conservation Area and Slavin Ranch (Wta.org).

• Friends of Scotchman Peak Wilderness will be hosting a National Public Lands Day project at Goat Mountain on September 25 (Scotchmanpeaks.org).

• Evergreen East Mountain Bike Alliance is continuing work on the new trail 290 at Mount Spokane with approximately 0.5 mile remaining. Once snow returns, the focus will turn to a reroute of one of the steepest sections of the Edith Hansen Trail at Liberty Lake Regional Park (Evergreeneast.org).

• Blue Mountains Land Trust will be hosting a weekend project at Camp Wooten State Park with camping and meals included for a nominal fee, September 24-26 (Bmlt.org). // Holly Weiler is a long-time contributor to Out There Outdoors who plans to spend her fall finding gold in the nearby hills (larch season!).

HIKE OF THE MONTH

STEVENS LAKES, MULLAN, IDAHO With easy access off I-90 and some of the best fall color in the region, a trip to Lower and Upper Stevens lakes is a great shoulder season option. For the easy version, stay on the main trail and hike to Lower Stevens as an out and back. With minimal route-finding skills, the trip can be extended to Upper Stevens via a poorly maintained trail.

Those comfortable with map and compass navigation over challenging terrain may wish to extend the hike via the climbers' trail from Upper Stevens, which takes hikers up and over Stevens Peak, followed by an exit via nearby Lone Lake. This route makes for a longer and more difficult loop hike option. Early September visitors may find lingering huckleberries, but snow may also come early to these North Idaho mountains. Be prepared for a range of conditions. The trailhead generally remains accessible through the end of October, although, if the weather looks dicey, play it safe and use the winter access closer to the main road instead.

This hike can be considered moderate to difficult depending on the route chosen.

Get there via I-90 and take exit 69 at Mullan, Idaho. Turn right onto Friday Ave., followed by a slight right onto Willow Creek Road for about a mile. The parking lot has a CXT toilet available.

NATURE

Who Pays (and Doesn't) for Public Lands

By Adam Gebauer

THE QUESTION OF who pays for our public

lands is not an easy one to answer, and some aspects of the whole story may surprise you. Public lands have a lot of inherent costs, from cleaning vault toilets and maintaining campgrounds to employing enforcement rangers and wildland fire fighters, as well as working on conservation and restoration of natural landscapes.

Budgets for the four federal land management agencies—the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Forest Service—have been declining since the early 2000s. As of 2018, these four agencies report an almost $20 billion maintenance backlog.

ENERGY PRODUCTION

One key funding source is the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) that uses revenues from oil and gas extraction on public lands to fund federal public

abandoned mines.

Solar and wind are relatively new energyproducing players on public lands, and bills have been introduced to distribute revenues back to states and counties with some earmarked for conservation. lands projects and provides public lands related grants for state and local organizations. This fund has supported projects in every county in the U.S. and has an average return of $4 in economic value on every dollar invested. Although this fund is authorized to receive $900 million each year and has strong bipartisan support, Congress has frequently diverted funds to the total of $22 billion. Fortunately, the LWCF received full and permanent funding under the Great American Outdoors Act that passed in 2020.

Much of the oil and gas extraction that funds the LWCF occurs on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, but it also includes offshore extraction. The cost of leasing and royalties for these operations has remained stagnant and is well below that of key energy states like Texas. Currently, hardrock mining (e.g. copper, gold, silver) on public land does not pay leasing or royalties, and taxpayers front the bill to remediate

OUTDOOR RECREATION

Outdoor recreation is an $887 billion industry and relies on access to and the infrastructure on our public lands to thrive.

Hunting and fishing have long been funders of public land conservation. The PittmanRobertson Act (1937) and Dingell-Johnson Act (1950) levy a 3- to 12-percent tax on licenses and related sporting goods, including ammo and firearm sales, providing key funding for state wildlife agencies.

However, the number of hunters in the U.S. has been decreasing since a peak in the ‘80s. There is some evidence that this decrease may have stalled during COVID, as many states saw an increase in new hunters. But, just like federal agencies, state wildlife agencies are seeing annual deficits in the millions.

Talk of applying a similar tax to other outdoor recreation gear, from tents and kayaks to sleeping bags and backpacks, has been around for years but has received a lot

of pushback from the outdoor recreation industry. Washington State has proposed HB 2122 that would put a 2/10 of one percent tax on outdoor equipment over $200, but that legislation seems to be on pause.

Surveys find that the vast majority of outdoor enthusiasts would approve of a small increase in equipment prices going to public lands. This new funding source would also be an opportunity to engage users in conservation before they step foot on a trail.

From rural jobs to fire mitigation to climate solutions, our public lands are more important than ever and need to be fully funded.

Even before COVID-19, people were flocking to public lands in record numbers. The recently introduced and strongly bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act looks to help with some of the ongoing budget shortfall and would help protect at-risk plant and wildlife species, but much more needs to be done. The incredible network of U.S. public lands that support wildlife diversity and outdoor recreation were set aside for the good of all Americans and deserve to be fully funded. // Adam Gebauer writes the Nature column in each issue of Out There.

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RUN WILD

Running Rut Remedy

By Sarah Hauge

pace a bit—your pal might go a bit faster or slower than you do, or prefer a different distance. This is great: It mixes things up for your over-it brain and your bored/ sore muscles, provides catch-up time with a friend, and makes your run something to enjoy rather than slog through.

TRY A RUNNING CLUB

Like running with a friend—a lot of friends.

A running club gives you a whole pool of people who all enjoy the same activity you do. Plus joining a club takes away some of the mental work, telling you what routes to run and when. Anything that brings new people and places into your life is a win.

I’M DEEP IN A RUNNING RUT. Between the

ever-unspooling pandemic (why? how?) and the waning days of summer with young kids at home, I’m (to quote young summertime kids everywhere) so BORED. In the interest of saving time, I almost always run from home. But at this point I’ve been up the hill, down the hill, to the east, to the west, around my favorite loop, past the school, through the park trail, just . . . everywhere. Dozens of times. My brain is bored, my body is bored, and I can feel aches and pains increasing, probably because I’m running similar distances on

similar terrain repeatedly. I sense a deep need to shake things up.

Perhaps you, like me, could do with a little change of pace? Here is some of what I’d like to try.

MEET A FRIEND

It’s harder to be bored with a buddy. When the conversation is flowing, it matters less if you’ve already run the current route countless times before. And, bonus, your friend very likely has some routes in their back pocket that aren’t part of your usual repertoire. Plus, you’ll likely shake up your

SIGN UP FOR A NEW RACE OR A NEW DISTANCE

Always do the same annual 10K, Turkey Trot, or marathon? Make things interesting by registering for something new.

Committed to half marathons? Sign up for a 5K or mile race. Regularly do 10Ks? How about a sprint triathlon or a marathon relay? Need an adventure? Try a long-distance relay or an ultra trail race.

You might discover you’re really good— or really bad, which is exciting in its own way—at something you’ve never before considered.

LOOK FOR A NEW ROUTE

Take one day a week and commit to driving to a new starting point: a trail run at Riverside State Park, a circuit that takes you around a series of neighborhood parks on the other side of town, or a hilly off-road adventure up Mica Peak. Your mind will appreciate the new location, and your body will be grateful for any variation in terrain.

TAKE SOME TIME OFF

Just because you’re a runner doesn’t mean you can’t ever take a break. If you’re sick of running, you don’t have to force it. Rest.

Do something else you love—hike, bike, swim, play some disc golf. Sign up for a yoga class, or a climbing package at Wild Walls or Bloc Yard. Focus on strength training. Or just dial your mileage way, way down to maybe one or two days of running each week (depending on what is your normal). Any new activities you attempt during this time—SUPping, or martial arts, or spinning, or tap dancing—are providing something for you through their very different-ness. // Sarah Hauge is a writer and editor who lives in Spokane with her husband and two children. She writes the Run Wild column in each issue of Out There.

®

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OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

FIND YOUR NATURE IN OUR NATURE

DON’T MISS THESE FALL EVENTS! Sandpoint is easy to fall for. With abundant trail systems for mountain bikers, hikers and trail runners alike, plus aquatic adventures for kayakers and boaters, and easily accessible scenic viewpoints - all within minutes of town - there is a piece of Sandpoint for everyone. And with typically fine weather and autumn colors turning shades of gorgeous from late September into October, fall is prime time to visit.

Fall Fest at Schweitzer: Sept 3-6 CHAFE 150 ride: Sept 11 WaCanId ride: Sept 13-18 Bay Trail Fun Run 5, and 10k: Oct 3 Run for the Woods: Oct 9

Less than 90 minutes east of Spokane, Sandpoint is nestled alongside magnificent Lake Pend Oreille amid two inspiring frontal ranges of the Rocky Mountains – the Selkirk Mountains that stretch north to Canada, and the Cabinet Mountains sprawling east into Montana. Don’t sweat the fall stuff! Find yourself in beautiful Sandpoint, Idaho.

Get visitor information at 208-263-2161 www.VisitSandpoint.com SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

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provisions

(n.) food drink, or equipment, especially for a journey.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF S. MICHAL BENNETT PHOTO: COURTESY OF S. MICHAL BENNETT

THE ROBOT JAMZ STEEPED BAG COFFEE GREY-HOUND CANNED COCKTAIL FROM DRY FLY

Traditionally, a greyhound cocktail is made with just two ingredients, grapefruit juice and gin or vodka. According to internet lore, back in 1945, the greyhound grew in popularity because it was a popular cocktail at Greyhound Bus terminals. Alas, we may never know who made the first greyhound, but we can definitely share with you a locally-produced perfection of this drink.

Dry Fly gin will always be a Northwest favorite because it features a blend of botanicals like apple, coriander, mint, hops, and lavender that give it a distinctive flavor.

When paired with fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice and poured over ice, it’s heavenly.

If you find other blended cocktails too sweet or sour, the Dry Fly Grey-Hound “On The Fly” canned cocktail is a perfect balance between the two. Each can is 4.8% ABV, and the citrus flavor is fairly muted.

Just like other Dry Fly canned cocktail flavors, the Grey-Hound is ideal for pretty much any outdoor adventure. Mix and match your cooler with Dry Fly’s other genius canned-cocktail flavors on your next outing. The Gin & Tonic features the distillery’s award-winning Washington gin, craft tonic syrup from Side Hustle Syrups, and house-made bitters. The Moscow Mule features Dry Fly vodka, craft ginger syrup from Side Hustle Syrups, and lime juice that has a truly refreshing taste. (Jon Jonckers)

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When you’re on the road, out camping, or looking for an easy DIY cup of coffee on the go, Coeur d’Alene-based Coffee Roboto’s Robot Jamz steeped coffee bags are a great choice. These single-serve bags contain light-roasted Ethiopian Kossa Geshe coffee roasted by Unity Sourcing & Roasting. The cup I made while writing this had a fantastic aroma and a bright, sweet flavor. Brewing a cup of Robot Jamz is simple. Place a filter bag of coffee in your cup and pour 8-oz. of hot water per bag.

Give it 15-30 seconds worth of dunking depending on how strong you like it, and then let the brew sit with the bag steeping for up to five minutes and enjoy a quick and mess-free cup of joe.

You may have encountered Coffee Roboto founders Michal and Young Bennett serving coffee from selected roasters out of their mobile coffee stand they run out of a tricycle around Coeur d’Alene or from their coffee delivery and event catering service. “We are very bike oriented and often on the go,” says Michal, “and having a coffee bag that you can take with you and is easy to brew and tastes great is who we are.”

The Robot Jamz come individually wrapped in a compostable bag, and you can order five bags for $12.50 or a 10-pack for $20 at Therobotdelivers.com. Follow Coffee Roboto on Facebook and Instagram (@coffeeroboto) to find out when and where they are serving coffee. (Derrick Knowles)

OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

PANHANDLE FARM CORRIDOR FARM STAND GUIDE

Here in the Inland Northwest, agriculture big and small is a big deal. And while we love interacting with our local farmers at the farmers’ markets, the market setting isn’t the only place to learn about local agriculture, support local farmers, and develop a sustainable farming community.

In 2020, all over Skype, three farm women came together to devise a way to invite the community to visit farms in the Idaho Panhandle, purchase directly from farm stands, and discover how small farm products are being grown and made. Thus, the Panhandle Farm Corridor (PFC) was born, a collective of small North Idaho farmers from Laclede to Cataldo.

For coordinator Emily Black of Lone Mountain Farms in Athol, secretary Betty Mobbs of Lazy JM Ranch in Hauser, and treasurer Lisa Pointer of Red Canoe Farms in Hauser, farming is everyday life. Along with 13 other PFC farmers, they are able to share and showcase their farms and farming life.

In their printable guide, available at Panhandlefarmcorridor.com, the PFC provides location, product, and contact information for each farm so that consumers can connect with them directly, visit their farm stands, and learn more about where their food comes from. The guide also includes a farm stand map and a punch card. Visit 10 PFC farms, get your card punched all 10 times, and you win a PFC tote bag! Follow the PFC on Facebook for updates and events (@panhandlefarmcorridor).

(S. Michal Bennett)

FLPSDE DRINK & SNACK BOTTLE

I have a young child with an insatiable appetite for snacks and drinks, especially when we are out on adventures. So the Flpsde was an easy sell for me; I was convinced this bottle and snack-holder hybrid was brilliant at first sight. We buy a lot of healthy bulk snacks and natural drinks, and the Flpsde makes it easy to pack a drink and snack combo for an outing without all of the individual packaging or plastic bags that often go with snacking on the go for kids and adults.

The Flpsde dual-chamber bottle is a vacuum-insulated, stainless steel bottle that will keep the beverage of your choice hot or cold on one side and snacks or other items dry on the other side of the bottle. This “snack water bottle” has wide-mouth access for food/drinks and easy cleaning of both chambers. The liquid chamber has a 20 oz. capacity and the dry chamber for snacks, keys, or whatever else you want to squirrel away in there fits 7 oz. A few other thoughtful design features include an integrated handle on the lid of the water bottle and a silicone band around the middle that gives you something to grip while screwing and unscrewing the lids. We are looking forward to sending it off with our kid to school, and we’re thinking about buying another one for food, treats, and water for our dog on long walks. You can pick one up for $34.99 at Flpsde.com (Derrick Knowles)

September 18, 2021

bike clinics paddle board demos bike shuttles beer garden Live music Bike Races Kids activities MTB Jump Show Group Rides

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Thank you to our Sponsors!

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WEEKEND R MM JEEP TOUR. // PHOTO: S. MICHAL BENNETT

Central Idaho’s Epic Mountain Town: McCall, Idaho

By S. Michal Bennett MULTIPLE TIMES OVER THE PAST YEAR I’ve been asked, “Where’s McCall?” Situated almost exactly halfway between Coeur d’Alene and Boise, McCall, Idaho, is the largest city in Central Idaho’s Valley County. Originally a logging town, it’s now an outdoor recreation and adventure destination begging you to take a weekend trip south.

McCall is located on the southern end of Payette Lake and is surrounded by the Payette National Forest to the north and east and rolling meadows to the south. The best place to view the lake is from the sweeping granite cliffs at the far end of Ponderosa State Park, a verdant peninsula near downtown that also offers camping, hiking, and fishing.

At the top of the lake sits North Beach where the North Fork of the Payette River flows into the lake, an area sometimes referred to as “the Meanders.” This lazy stretch of river is perfect for swimming, kayaking, canoeing, and paddleboarding and is surrounded by soaring ponderosa pines, lush wetlands, and a wonderland of wildlife. Other water adventures await at Goose Creek Falls, just north of the town of New Meadows, and Zims Hot Springs a few miles up U.S. Route 95.

If you’re looking for less of a crowd, head 14 miles south to Donnelly and camp at a state park on the shores of Lake Cascade. Tamarack Resort, just up the road from the lake’s east shore, is nestled close to Mica Ridge, a difficult-to-reach but scenic peak. Visit McCall also has great resources for other hiking and mountain biking trails in the area.

If exploring the backcountry on wheels is more your style, you can rent an ATV from Mountain Meadow Adventure Rentals or drive up the rough road to the fire lookout on No Business Mountain. Mountain Meadow also offers boat, wave runner, SUP, and snowmobile rentals in addition to snowmobile, RZR (a sporty side-by-side), and Jeep tours in the Donnelly and McCall areas.

McCall isn’t just a summer and fall destination. With Brundage Mountain Ski Resort to the north, Tamarack Resort to the south, the Manchester Ice Center downtown, and Nordic ski trails throughout the area, there is plenty of play to be had during the winter months.

Just want to cozy up in a vacation rental, enjoy some great food and drink, and soak up the mountain town life? Here are some of my favorite McCall eating and drinking establishments: McCall Brewing, Evening Rise Bread Co., Café 6 three 4, Blue Moose McCall Drive Thru, Lonchera Rosita Mexican Food Truck, Rupert’s Restaurant (for cocktails), The Sushi Bar, and Frenchie’s on Third. For more McCall road trip resources, check out Visitmccall.org.

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OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

A FROSTY AUTUMN MORNING ON WENATCHEE'S SADDLE ROCK. // PHOTO: AARON THEISEN

Experience Fall Harvest and Adventure in Wenatchee

By Lisa Laughlin WASHINGTON IS RENOWNED FOR ITS APPLES, and there’s no better place to test that claim

than an orchard-centric Central Washington town come autumn. For a fall road trip filled with top-notch produce, hiking, mountain biking, and wine tasting, head three hours west from Spokane to the town of Wenatchee.

Located in the foothills of the Cascades, Wenatchee is a mix of arid basalt plateaus and forested hills, with the Wenatchee River churning through the heart of it. You’re likely to find more sun than rain as you explore this rain shadow area. Horse Lake Reserve is home to dreamy singletrack that will give you a stunning view of the valley. Mission Ridge, the local ski hill, doubles as a beautiful trail access point. Explore the 5.3-mile Devil’s Spur Trail just off Mission Ridge Road or take a short hike to Clara and Marion lakes. To stay closer to town, gain elevation in the Saddle Rock Natural Area for a great view of the Columbia River. These locations also double as mountain biking paths.

Between your morning and afternoon explorations, stop by the Pybus Public Market, a hub of local produce and goods such as wine, honey, cheese, artisan meats, seafood, gelato, and crafted works. This indoor market is open every day from 8 a.m. – 9 p.m. and is located on the paved, 22-mile Apple Capitol Loop Trail running through town. Families can take off on a bike ride, in-line skate adventure, or walk or run along the river, while younger kids can enjoy a miniature train ride at Wenatchee Riverfront Park. Another fun family venture includes a stop at Ohme Gardens, a hillside garden oasis complete with hidden ponds and a wishing well. It’s a great place to take in that late-afternoon fall glow as the sun gives nearby hills a purple tinge come dusk.

After a full day in Wenatchee, book a stay in the nearby Bavarian-themed Leavenworth village. Leavenworth is deserving of a fall trip on its own, so waking up here will be the perfect start to a Sunday of hiking on the Icicle Ridge Trail, bouldering at Icicle Creek Canyon, or perusing the many unique shops, restaurants and wine stops downtown. Depending on when you go, snow may already top the Enchantments in the background of this village, but the fall foliage will still be bright and full.

ROAD TRIPS THE GLOWING SNAKE RIVER OUTSIDE PULLMAN. // PHOTO: LISA LAUGHLIN

Find Fall Hiking, Biking, Food, Drink, & Family Fun in the Palouse

By Lisa Laughlin

GLAMPING IT UP AT TWIN CEDARS VACATION RENTALS ON LAKE PEND OREILLE // PHOTO: AARON THEISEN

Head to Lake Pend Oreille for Glamping and Fall Singletrack

By Aaron Theisen LIKE MOST LAKE TOWNS IN THE INLAND NORTHWEST, Sandpoint shines on shoulder-season

bike trips, after the crowds have gone home but before snow shutters the local singletrack.

Of course, lodging is a little easier to come by in the interval between summer tourism and Schweitzer’s ski season too.

Splitting the difference between beachside camping and chic hotels, Twin Cedars Vacation Rentals offers a Stargazer bell tent rental that sleeps four just a step from Lake Pend Oreille’s rocky shore. Replacing their popular tipi rentals, the bell tent (and its two-person twin just across the road) is fully furnished and fully waterproof—perfect for fall, when longer nights and later mornings require a little more stretching-out room than your pup tent.

If autumn is the grand finale to bike season, fall colors are the fireworks show. With a beachside basecamp on Hawkins Point on the north end of the lake, the birch forests of Mineral Point and Gold Hill are within easy reach, as are the huckleberry shrubs of the High Point Trail and the orange foliage of Upper and Lower Flo. You can also put your spring and summer conditioning to work on long backcountry days on the Beetop-Roundtop or CliftyKatka trails. The bedside coffee maker and outdoor shower with on-demand hot water take care of warming up pre- and post-ride.

The water is just as welcoming as the dirt this time of year too, made all the better by the dramatic dip in boat traffic. It’s fairly common to have temps in the 60s and 70s well into October, and while the water temperature may not be conducive to all-day swims, it’s warm enough for a post-ride dip off the end of the dock. That’s even easier when you have a fire pit or space heater to huddle around. Plan your trip to the Sandpoint area now for perfect fall riding conditions.

THE HILLS OF THE ROLLING PALOUSE, just south of Spokane, are a sight in any season, but they’re spectacular come autumn when grasses turn gold and brush flares red and orange.

It makes this a great time for a road trip through countryside that’s been compared to Tuscany. And there’s a lot more to do than just admire the view—the Palouse offers fall biking, hiking, fishing, disc golf, and more.

On the drive from Spokane to Pullman, take a quick stop at Steptoe Butte State Park, a tall quartzite bluff just off Highway 195 with a stunning 360-degree view of the fields around you.

With a paved road spiraling to the top, you can walk or drive your way up to the informational signs that explain some of the geological phenomena that shaped this area.

Once you’ve arrived in the Pullman/Moscow area, take in the fall scene at the Moscow Farmers’ Market (Saturday 8 a.m.-1 p.m.) Alongside artisan goods such as pottery and woodwork, produce will be on-point as local vendors bring in their harvest from the year. Locallyowned lunch spots include Humble Burger, Maialina Pizzeria, and Mikey’s Gyros. From Moscow, you can walk or run in the University of Idaho arboretum area, bike or hike the trails of Moscow Mountain, or hit up the paved, 8-mile Bill Chipman Palouse Trail spanning from Moscow to Pullman.

From the Pullman area, fish or paddleboard on the nearby Snake River, a wide body of water framed by steep hills. Bring your own disc golf set and play at the hilly Sunnyside Park course for a chill afternoon. If you’re looking for a hike, check out the 298-acre Kamiak Butte, an intersect of field and pines that will make it feel like you’re exploring a small, landlocked island.

Post-adventuring, Pullman offers beer tasting at Paradise Creek Brewery, wine tasting at Merry Cellars, and bites at local restaurants such as Birch & Barley or South Fork. It can’t go without mentioning that you can catch football at either university on a home-game Saturday to experience serious small-town passion for the sport.

In October, the city of Palouse puts on “Haunted Palouse,” an event with pumpkins, beer, live music, and a hayride where you may be chased through the haunted woods. Stay in any town you’d like in this area, but on day two make your way back to Moscow to The Breakfast Club for endless diner coffee and huckleberry-stuffed French toast.

However you decide to experience the Palouse, fall is the season to take it slow and take it in. // SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

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GEAR ROOM PIONEER 22 KIDS BACKPACK

We took our 5-year-old backpacking for the first time last summer and wish we would have had this pack. The 22-liter, Jack Wolfskin kids pack includes many of the same features as adult packs.

It has a main compartment with a cord closure and lid to keep gear in place. And there’s a water bladder pouch, straps

for trekking poles, stretchy external mesh pockets for water bottles and snacks, and an integrated rain cover. The pack is fully height adjustable, well ventilated, and has adjustable sternum and waist belt straps to fit little bodies snuggly. MSRP: $99.99. Us.jackwolfskin.com (Derrick Knowles)

OUTDOOR RESEARCH JANU SHIRT

I’ve spent some time staring at the pattern on this organic cotton blended shirt because it looks cool and draws you in, yet the hidden story the pattern tells still eluded me until I did my research. The Janu pattern that this shirt was named after was created by the artists of the Godnas Tribe of rural India and was leased

by OR from Roots Studio.

When you buy this Roots Collaboration product shirt, you support a sustainable livelihood for these talented artists and get to wear a comfortable, cool-looking shirt that you and others won’t be able to stop staring at while you contemplate its beautiful design and mysterious meaning. MSRP: $32.50. Outdoorresearch.com (Derrick Knowles)

PRINCETON TEC RECHARGEABLE HEADLAMP

This rechargeable, made-in-the-U.S.A., 450-lumen, LED headlamp covers the bases with all the features you want from a headlamp and then some.

The rechargeable lithium-ion battery gives you a burn time of up to 15 hours. And the flood beam and spot beam

options plus red LED provide specific lighting for different camp tasks with a push of the button. The one unique innovation that I really liked is the addition of a dial to more easily control the brightness of both light modes. MSRP: $59.99. Princetontec.com (Wil Wheaton)

JACK WOLFSKIN MOSQUITO-PROOF PANTS, SHIRT & JACKET

I hate mosquitos even though they evidently love me to no end.

And I’m not down with spraying DEET all over myself. So to say that I was stoked to put Jack Wolfskin’s Lakeside collection of mosquito-proof pants, shirts, and jacket to the test in a swarm of the little blood sucking bastards is an understatement. Take that Upper Priest Lake in June and mosquito-hell lake in the Selkirks in July!

The shirt, pants, and jacket all use a pro-

prietary fabric technology of tightly-woven organic cotton that is breathable yet impenetrable to mosquitos and other unsavory, biting insects. And unlike pesticide-treated bugproof clothing, Jack Wolfskin’s Lakeside Collection of mosquito-proof technology is biocide free, sustainably made, stays effective through endless washings, and provides protection from UVA and UVB rays (UPF 40+).

MSRP: $79.99-99.55. Us.jackwolfskin.com (Wil Wheaton)

SKIDZ KIDS MTB APPAREL

Skidz gloves, shorts, and shirts are mountain bike clothing for the next generation of riders. They're designed in California

by DH Racer Justin Schwartz, who is also the founder of the iconic Marin County, Calif., brand Mount Tam Apparel. Crafted with the lightest, most breathable fabrics, this apparel will wick 22

OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

sweat, breathe, and maintain the comfort kids ages 6-15 need.

It’s awesome for little riders to have mountain biking gear that looks like mom's and dad's, and my son Remi concurred when we pulled his new riding gear out of the box: “That’s so cool!” MSRP: $25-50.

Skidzmtb.com (Derrick Knowles)

ORCA WALKER 20 COOLER

This soft-sided cooler is your everyday cold food-and-beverage hauler.

It’s perfect for day trips and short outings where portability, durability, and bomber insulation is more important than volume (even though it still fits up to 20 beverage cans).

With proper ice packing, the Walker 20 can keep nearly a case of cans of your favorite beverages or up to 50 lbs of food cool for days. In addition to some

super-tough construction, there are some innovative features that make this cooler stand out: an easyopen handle on the zipper, magnetic closure handles for easier carrying, padded shoulder strap, and a mesh pocket and bungee straps for added storage on each exterior side. For a soft-sided cooler, this one is the most burly one I’ve had the privilege to put to the test. MSRP: $219.99. Orcacoolers. com (Derrick Knowles)

JACK WOLFSKIN EXPEDITION DUFFEL

Tough, feature-filled duffels like this one made by German outdoor gear brand Jack Wolfskin are a dream for road trips, dirtbag expeditions, and international travel alike. Standout features include super strong construction (Ballistic 1680D abrasion-resistant fabric with waterproof coating) that will withstand regular use and abuse, from the back of your gear-overloaded truck to baggage handling abuse at international airports.

It also has a plethora of pockets, which are critical for gear organization. The inside of the 65-liter duffel has three large zippered, mesh storage compartment, and there’s one zippered pocket built into the lid exterior. Multiple transport options are made possible by two attached handles and two adjustable or removable shoulder straps that allow for over-the-shoulder gear schlepping or wear it as a backpack. MSRP: $149.95.

Us.jackwolfskin.com (Wil Wheaton)

WATERCELL X WATER STORAGE BAG

If you spend multiple days or longer living out of your tent, vehicle, or camper on public lands, you know that being able to carry large amounts of clean water with you is key.

Even for campground camping where walks to the water spigot over and over become a pain, a large-capacity water storage bag like the Watercell X from Sea to Summits (they come in 4-, 6-, 10- or 20-liter sizes) makes camp life so much better. The lower-

capacity sizes are light enough that they're perfect for backpacking. The Watercell X is packable, tough, versatile, and BPA and PVC free, and the shower head feature is great for cleaning everything from dishes to your own stinky self. I also love the adjustable strap around the bladder that gives you multiple options for hanging it for filling and use.

MSRP: $39.95–69.95. Seatosummitusa.com (Wil Wheaton)

VOITED OUTDOOR PILLOW BLANKET

When I pulled this blanket made from recycled polyester out of its stuff sack, words to the effect of “wow, this thing is freakin’ awesome!” jumped out of my mouth. I have the CampVibes 2 in Legion Blue, and the design has some of my favorite color combinations (multiple blues, orange, red, and white) along with trees, mountains, and an arch of different phases of the moon. Voited’s Pillow Blanket will add some sweet style to your camper or car-

camping sleeping set up, and there are heavy-duty snaps that allow you to transform it into a sleeping bag. Finally, it can be worn as a warm, waterproof cape with a hood and transformed and zipped up into a pillow. This 4-in-1, machinewashable Pillow Blanket is made with 100% recycled 50D Ripstop REPREVE® fabric and is my favorite piece of new gear this year. MSRP: $99.90. Voited.com (Derrick Knowles) SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

23

EVERYDAY CYCLIST

Smoke Season Riding

By Justin Short

ILLUSTRATION

BY JUSTIN SHORT

H ANDMA DE - FA IR TRA DE - L O CA L

GET COZY AT

35 West Main

I LEFT MY HOUSE a couple of hours before dawn. It was my 47th birthday, and I thought it would be a great idea to ride the gravel route up Mount Spokane from my house for the first time. The air looked a little foggy, but as daylight began to appear, it occurred to me: “This is not fog.” It was the day that the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Spokane shot up to 393. For reference, they cancel professional bike races in China when the AQI reaches 300, and at the time the AQI scale stopped at 400.

Wind currents had blown into our region overnight, bringing smoke from wildfires in California, Oregon and British Columbia. It wasn’t all stale, previously choked-on smoke from far away, either.

There were plenty of fires close by lending the air a thick, freshly-charred quality. The ski lodge was not visible from the summit, but I was too thoroughly engrossed in the adventure to consider calling for a spouse Über pick up. That night, over margaritas at Rancho Chico, my wife broke into song in the spirit of Eric Clapton, “she can’t ride, she can’t ride, she can’t ride . . . Smokane!”

Great, now smoke season has a theme song I’ll never get out of my head.

Sadly, smoke season has become a modern reality that plagues commuters, racers, and event promoters alike. During last year’s horrifying smoke fest, I bike commuted to work, telling myself that I don’t breathe any harder than I do while driving because my route is flat as a pancake, but there are plenty of bike commuters here who don’t have the option to drive when the air turns toxic.

The smoke season calendar tends to be stacked with bike races and other events, and riders basically work on a bachelor’s degree

Monday-Saturday / 10 am to 5:30 pm Closed Sunday

shop online at shopkizuri.com 24

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in meteorology to figure out when they should take their training indoors or cancel travel plans to an event. Last September, when the Cross-Washington Mountain Bike Race got smoked out, I drove all the way to Utah looking for clean air to ride in.

To say nothing of pandemic-related complications, event promoters take a huge gamble scheduling events this time of year.

There are a lot of expenses involved in promoting an event that aren’t recouped until race day. The smoke magically blew out in time for the Midnight Century this year, an event with zero dollars invested, yet a week later, organizers of the River City Classic, Spokane’s biggest road race, had to pull the plug one day out. No doubt, Marla and Michael Emde, organizers of the Inland Northwest Cyclocross Series, are working on a Ph.D. in meteorology in preparation for cross season this year.

So, when do we ride or not ride? Local podcaster and the guy bringing the 24-hour mountain bike race back to Spokane (YES, IT’S COMING BAAACK), Pat Bulger, says, “I have a rule, but break it at times for specific reasons/events. Promoters are smarter than that, and don’t exactly want 200 cases of ‘black lung’ listed in the insurance report, or worse, as the reason they were sued into losing their house.” For further insight, there is a great article on the Data Driven Athlete Blog called “Air Quality and Cycling: When to Ride, When to Stay Home.”

Justin Short will be out there riding or indoors hiding from the smoke in preparation for The Big Lonely, a 350-mile bikepacking race in Bend, Oregon, in early October.

OutThere Kids 5 Tips for Healthier Kids

By Amy McCaffree

YOU’VE PROBABLY NOTICED—many kids, like adults, gained excessive weight during the pandemic. Thirty percent of surveyed parents reported that their child gained weight during the lockdown and school closures, according to researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Less structured eating schedules, more frequent snacking, less supervision at home, greater consumption of processed foods, a more sedentary lifestyle after sports and activities were cancelled, and increased screen-time all contributed.

Chronic stress and emotional and mental health issues, like depression and anxiety, can also cause overeating (or loss of appetite) and decreased energy, which can also lead to excessive weight gain, weight loss, or stagnant growth for children.

Every child is unique, and it’s always best to maintain regular wellness checks with a pediatrician to address any medical concerns. But as a parent who has consulted my children’s pediatrician many times, received guidance from therapists, studied adolescent psychology, and researched plenty, these ideas and strategies, while not intended to be expert advice, may help you work toward better health and wellbeing for your child.

1. BE CONSCIENTIOUS ABOUT HOW YOU TALK TO KIDS ABOUT THEIR BODIES (AND YOUR OWN). Critical comments often

cause kids to internalize negative stereotypes and have lower self-esteem and poor body image. Don’t shame and don’t express excessive worry—even if it’s only an expression of “concern.” Use terms like “growing up” rather than “getting big.” Especially with early puberty beginning at ages 9-11, bodies are changing in ways unexpected for kids.

There are many age-appropriate “body books” for kids to read that provide opportunities for discussion with them. My family’s pediatrician recommends “The Body Book for Boys” for age 10-15 and the American Girl series “The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls” (book 1 for age 8-10, book 2 for age 10-12).

a New York Times article about children’s weight gain during the pandemic say to not put children on diets or count calories, because this increases the risk of developing disordered eating behaviors.

3. BE MORE ACTIVE AS A FAMILY. Find new

and creative ways to move your bodies and exercise together. Walk to the park, go for a hike at a local conservation area, bike for an errand, learn how to ski this winter.

Experience endorphin highs by playing together—even if its Foursquare—and trying new sports and activities like biking and running. Encourage kids to be active with their friends when they get together, by doing activities such as riding bikes or walking to a playground instead of playing video games.

4. USE NATURE AND PUBLIC LANDS AS A 2. APPROACH WEIGHT GAIN AS “SOMETHING TO BE CURIOUS ABOUT, RATHER THAN AS A PROBLEM TO SOLVE.” According

to experts on the subject, keep in mind a child’s growth history and mental health.

Kids commonly “round out” before a height growth spurt.

Doctors and dietitians interviewed for

DESTINATION FOR BOTH MENTAL SERENITY AND RECREATION. Get out into nature by

visiting a state park, national forest, wildlife refuge, or conservation area. Hike along a river or around a lake. Visit places with more plants and dirt than concrete and people. Nature immersion decreases stress, blood pressure, and anxiety, while improving mood and self-esteem and boosting overall feelings of well-being.

5. MAKE HEALTHY CHOICES ALONGSIDE YOUR KIDS. When children see their parents

change habits and make better food choices, get more exercise, and limit screen-time, they will feel motivated to do the same.

Children are still dealing with chronic stress from the ongoing pandemic. Feeling better can easily start with having them climb more trees and get their clothes dirty outside. //

MORE TIPS FOR HEALTHIER KIDS

• Have children do “jobs” (aka chores) or volunteer work that encourage exercise, like raking leaves and shoveling snow, walking dogs at a shelter, or picking up litter while hiking.

• Participate in organized sports or activities. Extra-curricular activities provide physical exercise and social-emotional health. Team sports as well as individual recreation, like horseback riding or ski lessons, provide motivation for children to get outside with other kids in all weather conditions.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

25

PUBLICLANDS

GIVING BACKTO OUR PUBLIC LANDS

BY DERRICK KNOWLES & JON JONCKERS

FOR OUR SECOND ANNUAL public landsthemed issue, I wanted to highlight some of the hard-working non-profit organizations that make our public lands, and our lives, so much better. Rather than picking those groups and causes ourselves, we turned to some of Out There’s frequent advertisers for their input. In addition to making each issue of Out There possible, our advertisers are an incredible lot who don’t just do business here but also regularly give back to the places that make living here so special.

I hope you find their stories and insights inspiring and discover a new public lands cause worthy of your support. (DK)

says Dunau. For Lyte Balance founder Tim Cunninghamm, the decision to help with funds to pay for the care-taking of two river trail access points was a natural fit. “We are a local company, and we love our river. We love the pleasure and the peace it gives us,” he says. Lyte Balance also provides their electrolytes to volunteer river cleanup crews, adds Cunninghamm. “It’s probably one of the greatest assets we have in Spokane—that a river runs through it and that we all get to be on it.” (DK)

SPOKANE RIVER FORUM/

What They Do: Protect Our Winters (POW) helps passionate outdoor people protect the places and lifestyles they love from climate change. POW has grown from an idea into a worldwide network of more than 130,000 outdoor enthusiasts and supporters.

SPOKANE RIVER WATER TRAIL Spokanewatertrail.org

What They Do: The Spokane River Forum’s mission is to create materials, events, and activities that promote regional dialogues for sustaining a healthy river system. A major project of the forum and partners has been the development of the Spokane River Water Trail, including improved access along the 111-mile length of the river.

LOCAL SUPPORTER:

Lyte Balance Electrolyte Concentrate LYTEBALANCE.COM

The Cause: The 40-mile stretch of the Spokane River from Post Falls Dam in Idaho to Nine Mile Dam in Washington is largely non-motorized with a variety of recreation uses. Since 2010 when the Spokane River Forum and others created the Spokane River Water Trail, 18 river access points have been restored. Andy Dunau, founder of the Spokane River Forum, which brings diverse interests together to the benefit of the Spokane River, notes that river use since the trail was established has increased exponentially. “A lot of our attention now is on how do you maintain the river trail, keep the experience as safe as possible, and educate people,” he explains. “Keeping the river clean is a part of loving Spokane.”

Lyte Balance, a Liberty Lake-based company that makes an all-natural electrolyte concentrate that you can add to any beverage, was one of the first local companies to step up as a Water Trail Steward. Donors like Lyte Balance are critical to funding ongoing maintenance at water trail access points, 26

PROTECT OUR WINTERS Protectourwinters.org

RAFTING THE FREE FLOWING SALMON RIVER. //PHOTO SHALLAN KNOWLES

You just buy coffee and enjoy your morning, and we’ll donate your dollar.” Rebecca says she has also witnessed the impacts of climate change in Central America, but it was the farmers in Guatemala, where the beans for their DEEP coffee come from, who first started voicing concerns about climate change. And that caught her attention.

“They were asking what are we going to do about water shortages, what are we going to do about the severe droughts we’re facing?

They were the ones who motivated me,” she says. “We are seeing the impacts of climate change across the globe now, including in DOMA’s supply chain.”

It’s up to all of us to do whatever we can to reverse the impacts we’re having on the planet, adds Terry. “Whether you’re a hunter or fisherman or trail runner or skier, if you’re using the outdoors, it’s worth protecting. We all love the outdoors and need to do what we can to protect it so we don’t wake up one morning and it’s not there.” (DK)

LOCAL SUPPORTER:

DOMA Coffee Roasting Company DOMACOFFEE.COM

The Cause: In 2007, pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones saw more resorts closing from the lack of snow that had always been reliable. Since he couldn’t find any organizations focused on getting skiers and snowboarders involved to help combat climate change, he formed Protect Our Winters, which quickly brought together other concerned pro athletes, outdoor enthusiasts, and elements of the outdoor industry.

POW reminds us that we all need winter, and winter needs more of us who love the outdoors to get involved on its behalf.

Post Falls-based DOMA Coffee Roasting Company owners Rebecca and Terry Patano, both skiers and conservation-minded outdoor enthusiasts, heeded the call and began supporting POW after experiencing climate change impacts firsthand on a coffee sourcing trip to Peru. “We went into some places in the Andes and there was no snow, and no snow means no water and that whole cycle of things,” explains Terry. “And we said wow, what can we do back home that will have an impact? We knew a little about POW and looked into it a little more and liked the work that they were doing and said let’s get involved.”

That’s when DOMA created its DEEP coffee that supports POW with $1 from every can or bag sold, explains Rebecca. “If your views align with POW, we make it really easy.

OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

PROJECT HEALING WATERS Projecthealingwaters.org

What They Do: Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. (PHWFF), brings a highquality, full-spectrum fly fishing program to an ever-expanding number of disabled active military service personnel across the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, in military hospitals, and the Warrior Transition Command. Beginning in 2005 serving wounded military service members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, PHWFF has since expanded nationwide.

LOCAL SUPPORTER: Dry Fly Distilling DRYFLYDISTILLING.COM

The Cause: At its headquarters in the heart of Spokane, Dry Fly Distilling is committed to promoting public lands and conservation. Terry Nichols, VP of sales and marketing, reports that “Obviously streams, rivers and fish habitat are important to us.”

Dry Fly invests in more than a dozen public lands advocacy groups, including Spokane Riverkeeper, Casting for a Cure, and Trout Unlimited. Dry Fly also supports Project Healing Waters.

Known for a genius method of using fly fishing as a therapy for vets, Project Healing Waters provides the physical and emotional tools for disabled military personnel and veterans to seek healing through fly fishing.

PHWFF has become recognized as a leader and model of therapeutic outdoor recreation for the disabled, successfully using the sport of fly fishing as a rehabilitation tool. The outings are much more than a one-day fishing trip. For many participants, the personal interactions, time out in nature, and camaraderie are as important and healing as the fishing itself. (JJ)

1% FOR THE PLANET Onepercentfortheplanet.org

What They Do: 1% for the Planet is a global movement inspiring businesses and individuals to support environmental solutions to our planet's most pressing environmental issues. Business partners pledge at least 1% of their yearly gross sales to approved nonprofit partners.

LOCAL SUPPORTER: Townshend Cellar TOWNSHENDCELLAR.COM

The Cause: In 2002, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard helped create 1% for the Planet to encourage other businesses to donate to protect the environment. Townshend Cellar, located in Green Bluff, was one of the first Washington winery members of 1% for the Planet. It's local giving has been directed toward three Spokane-area nonprofits and public lands causes: Evergreen East, The Lands Council, and Spokane Riverkeeper.

Townshend Cellar’s journey toward supporting local public lands and conservation causes began with enjoying the outdoors and eventually being in a business position where they could give back, explains Michael Townshend, who co-owns the business with his brother Brendon. “We had been exploring ways to use our business to be a force of good for a while and in that process learned about 1% for the Planet. And that’s when we decided to commit to donating 2% of our total revenue to charitable causes that mesh with our values and ideals, and a major part of that is environmental causes.”

Those efforts locally include supporting The Lands’ Council’s Spocanopy program that works to increase Spokane's urban canopy by planting street trees for free in low-income neighborhoods, as well as lending a hand to Evergreen East Mountain Bike Alliance’s public lands trail building work. “For Evergreen East we have a bunch of heavy equipment we use up at our farm

FAR LEFT: PHOTO COURTESY OF TOWNSHEND CELLARS. // LEFT: SPOKANE RIVERKEEPER VOLUNTEERS AT WORK. // RIGHT: DRINK GREAT COFFEE AND SUPPORT POW. // BELOW: FREE THE SNAKE FLOTILLA

in Green Bluff that we loan to them to use for trail building at Beacon Hill and Camp Sekani and up at Mount Spokane,” explains Michael. Townshend also donates wine to events and contributes financially to those two organizations plus Spokane Riverkeeper.

“Wine making is ultimately an extractive thing,” says Michael. “We started thinking about how we can improve our business practices, reduce waste, and improve agricultural practices without sacrificing quality.”

Along the way, they learned that it is really hard and takes time to change some of these practices and decided a good first step was to be more involved with local public lands causes. “It all works in tandem together,” he adds. “We can’t create the best wine while ruining the planet.” (DK)

AMERICAN RIVERS Americanrivers.org

What They Do: American Rivers believes a future of clean water and healthy rivers everywhere, for everyone, is essential. Since 1973, it has protected wild rivers, restored damaged rivers, and conserved clean water for people and nature.

LOCAL SUPPORTER:

Northwest River Supply (NRS) NRS.COM

The Cause: NRS remains deeply connected to public lands and non-profit conservation groups. From the beginning, it has always invested in programs that promote the health and future of America’s rivers and streams. Mark Deming, NRS director of marketing, explains that “NRS has supported American Rivers in many ways over the years, including with the creation, funding and execution of the 5,000 Miles of Wild campaign (2016-2018), which helped result in thousands of miles of new wild and scenic river protections."

Most recently, NRS has partnered in a communications plan advocating for the removal of the lower four Snake River dams to help restore wild salmon and steelhead populations while promoting an economic revival in the Inland Northwest.

NRS also proudly supports Idaho Rivers United, focused on keeping drinking water clean, defending at-risk populations of fish, and minimizing the impacts of dams on Idaho's rivers. (JJ)

SPOKANE RIVERKEEPER

Spokaneriverkeeper.org What They Do: Spokane Riverkeeper is a vigilant guardian and advocate for the Spokane River and its watershed. The Spokane Riverkeeper works to protect the river’s ecological health, its aesthetic integrity, and the public uses of the river for future generations of our community. The end goal? A healthy, fishable and swimmable Spokane River.

LOCAL SUPPORTER: FLOW Adventures FLOW-ADVENTURES.COM

The Cause: The Spokane River is a beloved natural asset for the entire community, and the Spokane Riverkeeper’s first priority is to defend the river against pollution and to hold polluters accountable. Formed in 2009 to stop polluters from abusing the river, the group takes a hands-on approach that includes an active presence on the river and uncompromising advocacy. In addition to regularly cleaning up thousands of pounds of trash from the river with help from volunteers, Spokane Riverkeeper has stopped millions of gallons of raw sewage from entering the river each year and created a pioneering effort to keep toxic pollution out of the river. Anyone who spends time on the river owes them a big thank you.

It’s no wonder that FLOW Adventures is a major supporter of Spokane Riverkeeper.

The “FLOW” in the Spokane-based river outfitter’s name stand for “For Love Of Water.” FLOW takes clients on whitewater rafting trips on the Spokane and Salmon rivers, rents tubes and other inflatable craft, and runs tubing shuttles, and a clean river is essential to owners Jon and Jeanie Wilmot’s business.

“FLOW got started with Riverkeeper near the beginning,” says Jon. “It was a good fit, and the river is such a wonderful resource, and it needs all the help it can get.” FLOW helps out Spokane Riverkeeper in several ways, explains Jon, including having staff assist with cleanup projects on the river, using their rafts to haul out trash, donating auction items for fundraisers, and, more recently, donating a new raft to Spokane Riverkeeper to use for cleanups and other work to protect the river. “I’ve been floating the river for a long time, and it’s been a wonderful place to play,” he says. “I want it

to be a wonderful place to play forever and will do what I can to help keep it that way.”

Jon also emphasizes that Spokane Riverkeeper does a lot more than the important work of almost weekly volunteer-driven river cleanups, a sentiment that Riverkeeper program director Jule Schultz echoes. The organization spends the bulk of its efforts using science, education, advocacy, and the law to protect and clean up the Spokane River, he explains. And the organization’s citizen science program is a prime example.

Earlier this year Spokane Riverkeeper had volunteers out daily measuring sediment coming out of Hangman Creek during the rainy season when the creek regularly dumps tons of dirt into the Spokane River, says Schultz. This cloudy water is bad for fish, macroinvertebrates, and other wildlife that depend on them. “We are taking that scientific data we collect with volunteer help and are using it for both advocacy and policy making to protect the river,” explains Schultz. Participation in all of Riverkeeper’s volunteer projects has been tremendous in recent years, adds Schultz. “We are seeing more and more interest in the Spokane River and protecting it than ever before.” (DK)

SAVE OUR WILD SALMON Wildsalmon.org

What They Do: Save Our Wild Salmon (SOS) is a coalition of conservation organizations, recreational and commercial fishing associations, clean energy and orca advocates, and businesses and citizens committed to protecting and restoring abundant, self-sustaining fishable populations of salmon and steelhead to the Columbia-Snake River Basin.

LOCAL SUPPORTER: Eco Depot SOLARENERGYSPOKANE.COM

The Cause: The Columbia-Snake River Basin was once the most prolific salmon producing regions on the planet with returns of adult wild salmon and steelhead exceeding 16 million fish annually. In recent years those populations have plummeted, and SOS and many scientists lay the blame mainly on the many large dams built on the Columbia and Snake rivers over the last century. Consequently, all four of the remaining salmon and steelhead populations in the Snake River Basin are at risk of extinction.

SOS works to restore salmon and steel-

head in the Snake River Basin in two main ways: 1. Securing removal of the lower Snake River’s four high-cost and low-value dams and restoration of a free-flowing river as a cornerstone of a lawful Columbia Basin Salmon Plan along with other measures.

And 2., securing a modernized U.S.-Canada Columbia River Treaty that expands its purpose to include ecosystem-based function or health of the river as co-equal with the treaty’s other purposes of energy production and flood management, as well as ensuring that Columbia Basin Tribes and First Nations are treated as full partners.

Bruce Gage, co-owner of Eco Depot, a Spokane-based commercial and residential solar installer that’s been helping people create energy from the sun since 1999, was first introduced to the plight of Northwest salmon by Save Our Wild Salmon. Gage admits he didn’t know much about the campaign to remove the four Lower Snake River dams when he first met SOS’s Inland Northwest director Sam Mace, who is now his partner.

“I was into solar and Sam was into salmon, and that’s kind of how I got interested in the whole idea of using solar to save salmon,” explains Gage.

Eco Depot has been a financial sponsor of SOS and provided event support for all five years of the Free the Snake River Flotilla events (now known as the Nimiipuu River Rendezvous), where hundreds of salmon advocates gathered on the Snake River in boats to rally for dam removal. Gage says Eco Depot has also signed onto letters from business owners supporting dam removal, including hand delivering one such letter to Senator Murray’s office in Washington, D.C. And then there’s the salmon and solar connection, adds Gage. “By installing more solar all around the Inland Northwest, we are helping to counter any argument that those four damns need to be kept for energy production, even though they produce so little power in the first place.” (DK)

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

27

PUBLICLANDS

FROM PRIVATE TO PUBLIC CONSERVATION CHAMPIONS PROTECT OPEN SPACES FROM DEVELOPMENT AS THE NATURAL WORLD AROUND us changes rapidly, our relationship with it is changing too. These stories represent families and individuals who view land not just as a commodity but as a partner, a sustainer, a life-giving force. Protecting land for its own sake—for the sake of the animals and plants that rely on it, for the sake of clean water and air, and for public enjoyment now and for future generations—rarely makes sense solely from a financial perspective.

Thankfully, there are private land owner conservation champions who see former working forests and ranchlands as so much more than short-term dollar signs.

JAMES T. SLAVIN CONSERVATION AREA, SPOKANE COUNTY, WA

“It went from a love/hate relationship, to more love than hate, and then once the county took over, now I can just love it,” says Jim Slavin, Jr. as he sidesteps a pile of skunk scat in the trail and points out memorable landmarks on the 628-acre conservation area that bears his family’s name.

Jim’s father, James T. Slavin, Sr., was the son of a hops farmer in the Yakima Valley who eagerly homesteaded his first 160 acres of farmland south of Spokane in 1965. Over the subsequent decades, he added to his spread when land became available, putting in a canal to channel water to hayfields and provide grazing land for cattle. “This was his sanctuary,” Jim Jr. says of his father, who preferred to spend the day on this land with “a dog, a gallon of water, and a bag of apples,” over time at a country club or other public setting.

The Slavins’ four children and Joanne, the matriarch of the family, got used to driving old cars with doors prone to falling off since investing in their beautiful agricultural land 28

was Jim Sr.’s top priority. As the kids grew up, Jim Jr. was the only member of the family to live on the property, and he has many fond memories of coming home to his family’s own 600+ acre slice of heaven during his college and early career days.

“When he was in his 70s,” Jim Jr. says, “it just became a lot to manage.” In 1998, the land went up for sale and to be sure it didn’t turn into a subdivision or mobile home park, the family worked with Spokane County to protect it as a conservation area in perpetuity. When the county purchased the land, they returned the water to its natural state, allowing a shallow, meandering wetland to host hundreds of waterfowl, migratory birds, eagles, coyotes, deer, and the occasional elk.

In addition to working to put this land into conservation status, the Slavins contributed $100,000 in an endowment to help care for and maintain the area for years to come.

A striking part of the James T. Slavin Conservation Area story is how relationships with land change over the years. “I remember bucking hay bales and thinning trees,” Jim Jr. shares. “And that was hard work.” Now, he leads tours of young people, community organizations, and friends who want to learn about the flora and fauna, the history of the land, or just enjoy watching flocks of geese and pelicans settle in during a Spokane summer sunset.

“This place is special, and he wanted to see it protected so the community could use it,” Jim says of his father, a stalwart farmer and lover of the land to his last breath.

CABINET VIEW NATURE AREA, SANDERS COUNTY, MT

“I want to save little places where nature can prevail over human destruction,” says Judy Hutchins, daughter of environmental

OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

advocate Ruth Powell Hutchins. Much of her life has been dedicated to the business of real estate, just not for the usual reasons people get into real estate. A wildlife biologist by training, after stints in New York City and Ann Arbor, Michigan, she landed in Heron, Mont., and never looked back. “It felt like coming home,” she says of her first visit to Montana from her childhood home in western Colorado.

Western Montana beavers and other wildlife have Hutchins to thank for the 76-acre Cabinet View Nature Area, which is home to a thriving spring-fed beaver complex.

Throughout her life, Hutchins has purchased or otherwise worked with land in Colorado and Montana in order to put lands in conservation easements, which are legal agreements that protect private land from future development. Hutchins’ strategy of buying land, putting those acres into conservation easements, and then reselling the real estate, has protected 10 pieces of land including wildlife corridors, wetlands, and habitat including the Cabinet View property.

As a member of the board of the Kaniksu Land Trust (KLT), Hutchins worked with the organization as they transitioned to a community land trust model, and when she saw

the need for public places in which to educate local residents about land and water, she knew she’d found the perfect buyer for this pristine wetland. Thanks to funding through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act and tireless work by KLT, the land was purchased in June of 2019 and opened to the public. Mindful of disturbing the animals living on the land, KLT put in a trail system and signage to encourage responsible use and enjoyment.

“Although somewhat off the beaten track,” says KLT’s conservation director Regan Plumb, “the Cabinet View Nature Area has served local junior high and high school students as an outdoor classroom for many years. The land also offers a location for quiet walks and wildlife viewing for area residents and provides high-quality habitat for diverse wildlife species.” From extensive water-storing wetlands to healthy timber stands, wildlife habitat, and scenic trails, this property provides myriad benefits to the twolegged and four-legged (and feathered) residents of our community, says Plumb. “And it would never have been protected without the generosity and foresight of the previous landowner, who recognized many years ago that there was something very special here.”

MAJESTIC VIEWS OF THE CABINETS, PRISTINE BEAVER HABITAT, AND NATIVE PLANTS MAKE THIS PLACE SPECIAL. // PHOTO: KANIKSU LAND TRUST BELOW: ONE OF THE HISTORIC BUILDINGS ON THE SLAVIN RANCH

BY CAROL CORBIN As the natural world around us changes rapidly, “It’s comforting,” says Hutchins, “to look up at the mountains and realize they’re unchanged. Things will change, but rocks, rivers, mountains will survive.” Hutchins’ investment in those special places, those pockets of nature, give us hope and a fighting chance for the beautiful lands and waters we all love.

PHILLIPS CREEK, DISHMAN HILLS CONSERVATION AREA, SPOKANE COUNTY, WA

Hiking down a path littered with bones, where the wind howls at night, even when everything else is still, is a lure so powerful that teenagers can’t resist. This proved true for Andrew Phillips as he and childhood friends tramped around the property his grandfather homesteaded in 1904. Nights spent sleeping under the stars—or, more accurately, lying awake wondering what massive night monster was about to have dinner at his expense— helped Andrew get to know and fall in love with the Phillips Creek land in Spokane Valley.

Phillips Creek, adjacent to the Glenrose Unit of the Dishman Hills Conservation Area, with its basalt outcroppings, grassy hillsides, and overgrown orchards speaks to the agricultural history of the area, but it also tells a story of Welsh immigrants who moved to Spokane Valley to build a future for their family—a future founded on farming and ranching. “My sons made a camping area out there,” Andrew says as he reminisces about memories made on the land throughout his youth and then as he raised his own family. Although Henry Lloyd Phillips, the second-generation owner of the Phillips Creek property, had planned to sell the land for development, he was unable to because

of zoning regulations. When Phillips passed away and the family was working to settle his estate, they decided its value as green, open space was higher than yet another housing development.

For years, neighbors had used the Phillips Creek area as if it was public and the family’s concerns over liability grew. They wanted friends and neighbors to enjoy the beautiful place as they had, but didn’t have the capacity or desire to maintain it for public use. And so they decided to work with the Dishman Hills Conservancy and Spokane County to put the 179-acre piece of land into public ownership and management in perpetuity in 2018.

“I enjoyed growing up there,” Andrew says, “and I wanted to keep it natural—to give others the chance to experience it as well.” Like Jim Slavin, Jr., Andrew says his love/hate relationship with the family farm—loving the place but not having the time for the endless hard work—has turned only to love since he can now hike the trails, listen to the birds, and look out across the valley, knowing the land is cared for and protected forever for the good of the community.

If you or someone you know is interested in creating a lasting conservation legacy for an important piece of private land wildlife habitat here in the Inland Northwest, contact one of our region’s hard-working land trust organizations.

Carol Corbin lives, plays, and writes in the Inland Northwest. She also works for Inland Northwest Land Conservancy, one of many non-profit organizations working to protect natural spaces throughout the region for wildlife, clean air and water, and climate resilience.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

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Last seasonChance to sa Passes ve on is Nov. 10!

We teach the love of snow.

PUBLICLANDS

KEEP IT WILD #TAGRESPONSIBLY

BY AARON THEISEN

Register now for youth and Adult multiweek programs & Camps.

Learning to ski or snowboard is more than just a new hobby, it’s a lifetime skill that teaches values such as confidence, patience, and persistence. You’ll make new friends and be part of a unique and fun community. At Mt. Spokane, we offer the most comprehensive ski school in the region with a wide range of lessons and programs for the whole family.

Register online at www.mtspokane.com.

2021 Fall Compost Fair October 23, 2021

Learn how to reduce yard waste and earn a free compost bin!

Spokane County residents can learn about home composting and earn a free compost bin at this popular annual event.

(Limit one per household.) This year’s compost fair may take place in person at Finch Arboretum, be held virtually, or both.

For more information closer to the date, call 509-625-6580 or email solidwaste@spokanecity.org.

I HEAR IOWA IS NICE this time of year, full of granite pinnacles and glittering lakes. The mountain biking and high-alpine backcountry skiing are firing, maybe all-time.

That’s according to my friends in Idaho, at least.

In recent years, it’s been increasingly common to see Idahoans in regions experiencing rapid growth—the Boises, McCalls, and Teton Valleys—tagging their photos on social media with “Iowa.” It’s a 21st century joke that stems from an older one, in which, for most of the country, Idaho and Iowa (and sometimes Ohio) were essentially interchangeable. Today, those locals would gladly have you trade their state for somewhere in the Midwest. Or anywhere else, really.

It’s all part of a broader “Tag Responsibly” movement, which asks that social media users refrain from highlighting the specific locations of their scenic shots. That movement comes in response to unprecedented growth in the Mountain West, whose cities occupy many of the top spots for skyrocketing populations and property values and whose parks see record-breaking visitor numbers year over year. The Tag Responsibly movement simply asks that social media users use discretion when highlighting sensitive backcountry areas where increased traffic could be disastrous.

The counter-argument suggests that con-

Know what you’re walking into.

Sponsored by the Spokane County Master Composters/Recyclers

www.spokanecountysolidwaste.org

Spokane County Regional Solid Waste System Partial funding provided by WA State Dept of Ecology.

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OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

cealing one’s location is a form of gate-keeping, of flaunting one’s privileged access to the best spots. But there’s a difference between gate-keeping and hanging out a neon sign, a difference between studying a map or guidebook or a local’s time-tested suggestions and baby-birding backcountry beta.

I used to sit on a state grant committee that allocated funding for, among other things, maintenance of public recreation sites. In 2017, the land managers for a subalpine lake in the Central Cascades that shall not be named came in front of the committee pleading for increased maintenance funding. They showed us photos of vehicles overflowing the trailhead parking lot and stretching more than a mile down the road.

Then they showed us a graph of visitor numbers: it looked like the tip of a pencil. Traffic to the lake had increased exponentially in the middle of the decade; land managers attributed it almost entirely to Instagram.

I’ve made a vocation out of guiding the public towards desirable trails and destinations. I often feel conflicted about that. On the one hand, many people can’t love and cherish wild places—and, in turn, advocate for their protection—without seeing them firsthand. On the other hand, all those firsthand visits have resulted in places being loved, if not to death, at least to life support.

But, divorced of all context, an endless scroll

Fire damage? Road clearance?

Water sources? Conditions change fast. File a trip report to keep each other safe and in the know.

Trail: Kettle Crest Trail Location: Eastern Washington Trail condition: Limited water Description: Unique beauty Photo by laceme

wta.org/tripreports Washington Trails Association is a nonprofit powered by hikers like you.

of location-tagged photos is nature’s clickbait, exploiting both the viewer’s curiosity and the landscape at the same time.

Many Central American churches prohibit photography within their walls, a practice stemming from Mayan beliefs that mirrors (and, by extension, cameras) steal a piece of one’s soul with every exposure. In the same way, our wild places lose a bit of their soul with every location tag, diminishing what attracted us there in the first place—a form of backcountry gentrification.

The solution may lie less in tagging

responsibly than recreating responsibly, picking our destinations not for their social media value but for their intrinsic value—for their ability to engage us rather than their ability to generate engagement.

After all, not everywhere can be as immediately attention-grabbing as Iowa. // Aaron Theisen has contributed to a number of mountain bike magazines, including Freehub, Mountain Flyer, and Dirt Rag. He wrote about biking in the Methow Valley for the July/August Out There.

domacoffee.com SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

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PUBLICLANDS

LOVE IN THE

BY SUMMER HESS

Survival 101 Come walk with me and I will show you how to be comfortable in the woods.

50 years of experience!

PLANNING A WEDDING can generate stress and anxiety for many couples—and not just because of the expense. In an industry where an extravagant version of perfection is expected, some people are choosing to simplify and dig deeper. They want their venue to be more than a beautiful backdrop, and they want their memories to be rooted in what matters most.

Here are two stories from couples who love the outdoors so much that public lands were integral to growing their relationships, framing their wedding days, and inspiring their ongoing love stories. Their nuptials show that while identity is grounded in friends, family, heritage, and tradition, it can also be rooted in place—the geography of hills, lakes, trees, and ridges that inspire us.

AN ELOPEMENT AMONG THE LARCHES

Contact me direct to arrange a couple of days to schedule in the woods. You can even select an area in the INW that you specifically want to learn in!

Ladies, my wife will come along.

Fred Houck 509-385-3224 32

OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

Ryan Craig describes his elopement in October 2020 as “a scene out of a Nordic warrior film. Misty and stormy, windy with tall granite peaks over us and a really cold lake below.”

His wife, Alyssa Chamberlain, continues, “The big focal point was all the larches. I don’t know how we timed it so perfectly. It was all beautiful gold.”

The only person at their self-officiated private ceremony in the Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness was a friend and professional photographer, Brighton. Their plucky and adoring pup, Harold, also made the hike in.

Harold was one of the reasons they picked that spot, since most places with larches

don’t allow dogs.

Many couples experience a lot of pressure regarding where they should host their wedding. But Alyssa explains that the people who are closest to her know that “I’ve always wanted to elope. I think the ceremony is more about the person you're with.” She feels that she’s not a strong public speaker and that saying everything in front of a lot of people would have been hard.

“COVID-19 gave us a nice cover.” She explains that they decided together, “Oh, now we really have to elope!”

The foursome hiked up together the night before the intimate ceremony. Ryan hung his suit on hanger in a garbage bag and attached it to the outside of his backpack. Alyssa folded her dress into a packing cube. She had hand dyed the bottom gold with the help of a friend to match what she hoped would be a stunning stand of fiery larches.

“When we hiked in, it was 55 degrees and beautiful and calm. We woke up to 35 degrees and rapid dropping temperatures and wind. It was pretty cold,” remembers Ryan. Alyssa wore leggings under her dress, hiking boots, and wrapped a warm blanket around her shoulders.

The words they shared that day were for each other, lifted up by the wind and carried over the hills and valleys. The symbolisms fits what their love is built on. For example, the dried flowers in their bouquet and boutonnière were plucked during hikes they had taken together on both the East and West coasts. Even her wedding ring represents

PUBLIC LANDS ELOPEMENT AMONG THE LARCHES. PHOTO COURTESY OF RYAN CRAIG AND ALYSSA CHAMBERLAIN.

OUTBACK their love of wild places, with a mountain skyline carved into it.

The couple just returned from a week in Vermont, where they celebrated their commitment to each other with East Coast family. It was a beautiful celebration, but after dealing with the stress of COVID-era travel, they are happy to be back hiking around local public lands with Harold.

LOCAL HIKE TO A WEDDING

Ella Kerner’s description of the weather on her November wedding day in 2015 is most brides’ nightmare: “It rained a little bit. It was windy.” Then, there was the tardiness of the guests. “We had to wait for 45 minutes for a couple stragglers to make it up the hill.” But, in her eyes, “It was perfect.”

She married Nathan Leach (now Nathan Kerner) “huddled behind the wind break of the boulders” at Rocks of Sharon, which is one of their favorite Spokane hikes. “[Rocks of Sharon] is a very excellent viewpoint,” says Nathan. “It’s gorgeous and expansive.” It’s a view that both of them love in the summer and winter. Nathan continues, “On one side you can see Spokane Valley and the freeway leading to Spokane. You can also see the Palouse, and there are just a few barns and houses out there.”

About 40 people joined them for the hike and ceremony, and dozens more met them at their reception in town afterward.

The couple’s friends and families were not surprised that they chose a hike to commemorate their lifelong commitment to each

other. Ella explains, “We knew we wanted to get married on a mountain, but one that was accessible to most people. I had done the hike a dozen times before we got married. It’s such a great trail. It’s a great reward for not much work.”

One of the best parts of the day was watching guests mingle in an unconventional setting. “Everyone got to chat on the way up,” she says. “It was fun. Even [the stragglers] talked about that as a good day.”

At first, Nathan jokes about getting married in one of the bleakest months of the year.

“I’d rather be cold than be hot.” But then he reflects on why it was so special to get married up there. “Buildings are temporary, but the outdoors is permanent. If we want to revisit the place we got married, it will still be there.”

Ella explains how the location has become a place of importance for their entire young family. “We took [our firstborn] Charlie (age 4) up when he was a baby. He was 6 months old, and we carried him up.”

They haven’t yet taken their newest arrival, Del (age 2), but they will soon—perhaps this November. They plan to do the hike every year on their anniversary, even though they missed it last year due to COVID-19 and child chaos.

As Nathan points out, it will always be there for them when they need a refresh and to get a perspective on what matters most. // Summer Hess is the former managing editor of OTO. She still contributes content from her new home in Wenatchee.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

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SPOKANE STUDENTS WRITE FROM THE WILDS OF YELLOWSTONE

PUBLICLANDS

PIONEER SCHOOL STUDENTS LEARNING IN THE FIELD AT YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. // PHOTO COURTESY OF PIONEER SCHOOL.

SPOKANE STUDENTS WRITE FROM THE WILDS OF YELLOWSTONE

Every other year, 4th and 5th grade students from Pioneer School make a handson learning expedition to Yellowstone National Park. Pioneer School is a K-5 accredited, non-profit school for gifted and highly-capable learners in Spokane Valley, and with small class sizes and a thematic approach to learning, Pioneer students take frequent field trips to learn about history, science, and other topics they cover at school. But the semi-annual, week-long Expedition Yellowstone trips are a favorite of Pioneer students and teachers alike.

Expedition Yellowstone is a National Park Service program where school groups get to choose a theme, such as history, ecology, and wildlife, says Pioneer 4th and 5th grade teacher Nicole Bronson. “The kids are outside all day everyday despite the weather,” she says. “I usually start getting them ready for the trip two-to-three months before we go, so by the time of the trip they have a huge wealth of knowledge, and then they get to do field work and there are the hikes and the games that they play. It’s like a capstone trip for my class.”

The Expedition Yellowstone trips and inclass learning at Pioneer cover a wide range of topics that can change from year to year, but one of the main themes Bronson says they always try to touch on is the idea of Yellowstone as a supervolcano. “It’s pretty crazy. It’s this massive bubble of magma down in the ground, the biggest one in the world, actually, and it’s still active. That’s why there are so many hydro-geologic features there.”

Bronson says they also cover the concept of conservation and how it’s been evolving throughout the history of the park. One example she cites is how the bears in the park were once fed and treated like circus animals. Today, she explains, feeding wildlife is strictly prohibited and bears have returned to their natural food sources, which is much better for the bears, and conflicts with people have decreased too. According to Bronson, getting to view the park’s incredible wildlife is a major highlight of the trips. “Every year we go we see either bears or wolves and other species you don’t often see, like pronghorn, bison, and elk.”

Writing about their Expedition 34

Yellowstone experiences is also a part of the trip, and the following Pioneer School 4th and 5th grade essays from this year’s trip provide a window into the park’s wildness and unique history and geology through the eyes of several students. (Derrick Knowles)

Yellowstone's Thermal Features

BY BENSON SIDE

Yellowstone National Park is home to four kinds of weird thermal features. The Earth is hot in Yellowstone because it is an active supervolcano caldera. Yellowstone is where half of the geysers in the world are found!

There are approximately 500 geysers in Yellowstone National Park, and that's a lot.

Geysers are cool (the water is not cool, though). They are activated by pressure and heat in a chamber below the ground. Water that collects there is heated up beyond boiling, which is extremely hot. It’s a big chamber with a little opening, kind of like a teapot.

It builds up pressure until it can’t hold the pressure any more, and it goes ka-bluey!!!!

There are two types of geysers: cone and fountain geysers. Fountain geysers are practically the same thing as a cone geyser underground. Cone geysers erupt in an upward spout from a mound or cone of sinter rock, but fountain geysers erupt from a hot spring.

Fountain geysers look like a pool that has a bomb exploding under the water, if you can picture that.

Yellowstone’s hot springs are an amazing sight. They are beautiful puddles or pools of steaming water that often have colors.

Those colors aren't just for decoration, they are little baby bacteria that can only survive in different temperatures. The bacteria that needs the hottest water is dark blue, the second ring of color is turquoise and the second hottest, the third ring is yellow and is the third hottest, and the fourth ring is the fourth hottest and it is orange. These bacterias are called thermophiles, which means heat-loving. You are not allowed to swim in the hot springs because the oils on your skin will kill the bacteria, which is bad!

Mud pots are weird and satisfying. They are satisfying because they bubble slowly and make interesting sounds. Mud pots can be stinky because of the hydrosulfide that is dissolved in the water. Mud pots sometimes don't have much color, but when they do have color they are called paint pots.

OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

They get their color from minerals that mix in the mud pots. Fumaroles are vents that steam because of geo-heated water below the surface of Earth’s crust. There is some water deep in the fumarole, which evaporates before it gets to the surface. Fumaroles are found in many sizes. I hope that someday you will go and see the awesome geology at Yellowstone. It is so worth the trip!

Artists in Yellowstone—Thomas Moran

BY NYOMI MEINHART

Thomas Moran was born February 12, 1837, in Bolton, England, but he lived to play an important role in American conservation of wild places. At age seven, his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and later to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

When Thomas was 16 he began his artistic training in a wood engravers shop. At 18, he left woodworking and began painting.

Thomas made illustrations for Scribner's Magazine, and in fact he found out about the Hayden Expedition through Scribner’s.

The Hayden Expedition went to Yellowstone as the first scientific exploration of the area in 1871. Thomas went with another artist, Willaim Henry Jackson, a photographer.

Once in Yellowstone he made sketches of the Gardiner River, Mammoth Hot Springs, Liberty Cap, Tower Fall and The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Once he had a portfolio of sketches and watercolors he went home to fix up his finished paintings. Jackson later wrote, “The wonderful coloring of Moran’s paintings made all the difference.” His art convinced Congress to preserve Yellowstone as our first national park in 1872!

Moran’s 7x12 foot painting of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was purchased by Congress for $10,000. It hung in the White House for many years. Together they helped give America its first national park, and as they did so they became known across the country for their journey and their artwork.

We will ALWAYS remember Thomas Moran as the first person to paint Yellowstone.

Yellowstone Wolves

BY VANSH AMIN

Wolves are a very crucial part of Yellowstone. Did you know that at one point in Yellowstone’s history all the wolves were extinct!?!? Most people would think

that wouldn’t affect anything, but it had a huge impact on the Yellowstone ecosystem.

Since the wolves weren’t there, many of the hoofed mammals, like deer and elk, overpopulated. This was the reason people killed the wolves, because they wanted more deer and elk. But it was very bad because the deer and elk eat trees, especially deciduous trees. This destroys riparian habitat for animals like birds, beavers and otters who can’t hide behind trees while resting, drinking or raising their young.

Also, the deer and elk would eat all of the food.

The Yellowstone biologists decided to reintroduce wolves in 1995. They couldn’t just bring in some new wolves from anywhere. After 80 years of wolves being gone, they had to find wolves that were used to the habitat and prey found in Yellowstone. That is when they got the idea to bring in wolves from Canada just north of the Montana border where they also hunt elk and bison. The wolves have repopulated Yellowstone and have changed the environment in a good way. Riparian plants and trees like aspen grew back, which brought back the beaver.

This benefitted the whole wetland ecosystem and all the species that need that habitat.

This is why wolves are a keystone species.

The average wolf pack size is about 10 wolves. They inhabit most of the park.

When they are active the most is at dawn and dusk. Many other animals benefit from wolf kills. For example, when wolves kill an elk, ravens and magpies arrive pretty much instantaneously. Coyotes arrive soon after, waiting nearby until the wolves leave. Bears often attempt to chase the wolves away, and are often successful. Another benefit is that the wolves are also keeping the elk population in balance, otherwise the elk would overpopulate and it would mess up the food chain. Also the ravens, magpies, vultures and other scavengers wouldn't have as many sources of food, and then they would starve and food chain would be even more out of order. Wolves help keep wildlife populations healthy just by hunting and surviving. // Editor’s Note: These student essays were printed as they were provided by Pioneer School and were unedited by Out There.

To learn more about the school, visit Pioneerschool.com.

WE ARE NEIGHBORS, STEWARDS, LEADERS. Connection to the land is at the core of Kalispel culture, and we’ve worked for generations to protect, restore, and care for our natural resources. The Kalispel Tribe of Indians lives in harmony with nature, leading the way in wildlife conservation and restoration in Pend Oreille County and beyond.

We are Kalispel.

LEARN MORE AT KALISPELTRIBE.COM

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

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PUBLICLANDS

LOCAL ARTIST TAKES INSPIRATION FROM NW PUBLIC LANDS

BY CHRISTINA DEUBEL

THE ARTIST’S RECENTLY COMPLETED MURAL AT CAMP SEKANI PARK. PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHRISTINA DEUBEL

AS AN ARTIST AND SPOKANE NATIVE, I am endlessly inspired by the beauty of our local landscapes. To sit beside an alpine lake and watch the sunbeams kiss the mountains, to slumber amongst giants in an old growth forest . . . such places, just beyond our doorstep, are breathtaking. I was raised on the trails, mountains, and lakes of our surrounding area and took my son for his first backpacking trip at the age of seven.

After my son graduated this year, being an empty-nester and not even 40 got my wheels turning. There's a big old beautiful world out there waiting for me to explore and paint!

I converted an old Chevy van into an art studio on wheels and decided to immerse myself in the wild places that offer me such inspiration. I set out to explore every inch of the Northwest. Admittedly, that's an impossible task. With millions of acres of public

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lands, from state parks, national forests, and wilderness areas to BLM, DNR, and county and city park land, I feel like a kid in a candy store. The Northwest has it all: vibrant colors, moody atmosphere, rich textures, and curious wildlife. The opportunities for adventure and beauty are endless.

I strive to create works of art that capture the places I visit and people I meet.

But my deepest goal is to capture that feeling of love for the great outdoors with my paintings. I paint not with brushes like most artists but instead by using my fingers and hands. You will often find mountain landscapes, vibrant sunsets, hikers, bikers, paddleboarders, and wildlife in my paintings. These works, in which I'm literally elbow deep in paint, are expressions of pure love, passion, and admiration for the outdoors.

The trails and public lands I’ve been

OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

visiting offer me such inspiration that I decided it was time to give something back. I began doing volunteer trail work with Washington Trails Association, and then after riding the trails at Beacon/Camp Sekani, I knew I wanted to paint a mural there. I worked with Evergreen East and Spokane Parks & Rec to get permission for the painting, which ended up being on the garage door at the entrance to the park.

Inspired by an image by Spokane photographer Aaron Theisen, I painted a vibrant, explosive piece depicting one of our local riders (Alex Anderson) sending it into the sunset.

The mural at Beacon was my first public work of art, and while there painting, I was inspired by all of the people out enjoying the trails. This 46-mile trail system is one of the largest in the state and has rides for all abilities. Unfortunately, much of Beacon's epic

trail system is still on privately owned land.

Evergreen East Mountain Bike Alliance has been working with the public lands agencies that manage the land as well as some private land owners to raise the funds needed to acquire some of the properties that many of the trails pass through. If they succeed, their efforts will combine what are now four separate chunks of park land into one large park and trail system that will be protected for generations of riders and trail users. To learn more about Evergreen’s efforts to make Beacon public or to make a donation, visit www.evergreeneast.org/trails/campsekanibeaconhill.

Christina Deubel is a Spokane artist currently traveling around the Northwest in her van.

You can find more of her work by following her on social media at @mnttidings or on her website Mountaintidings.com.

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SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

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LAST PAGE They Were Car Camping in a Datsun

By James P. Johnson

ONE OF THE AUTHOR’S MINIMALIST CAMPSITES.

IN THE MID-1990S, my wife, two children, and I were setting up camp at a Mount Rainier National Park campground when a couple driving a tiny, well-kept Datsun B210 drove past. It was rare to see a ‘70s-era Datsun still on the road, and I took notice.

They pulled into a campsite, and the couple, who looked to be in their 70s, moved with the agility of twenty-somethings, quickly putting up a small tent.

I admired not only their apparent good health, but also their simple and frugal

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ways. When huge RVs were the norm for retirees, driving an old economy car and camping in a tent really struck me.

I thought to myself, that’s how I’m going to be when I’m their age.

Twenty-five years later, I’m not far from being there. How am I doing with that pledge I took? This millennium, I’ve gone through two Japanese economy cars that I bought used and kept until they had 250,000 miles. Frugality-wise, I think that rates even with owning an old Datsun. And I’ve used a 2-person tent I bought over 25 years ago so often that I have no idea how many times I’ve put it up. I count us even in the tent department, too. I’m still several years away from reaching their age, though, so I’ve got to keep it going to match up.

I was impressed watching that couple so long ago, but frugality has always been part of my mindset. I was probably destined to tread the same path as them. After divorcing in the early 2000s, I moved into a smaller house and left my 16-year job for one that was less demanding, more enjoyable, had greater freedom, and paid much less. I had just reached the top of the pay scale and had 20 years of maximum earning potential

OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM / SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021

ahead of me, and I gave it up. I’m sure 9 out of 10 financial advisors would have told me I was foolish.

My new job was part time and my income was one-fourth of my old job. But my frugality allowed me to pay off my mortgage and have no debt when I made the transition. Several times over the years, I ran into former work colleagues who complimented me for doing what I did. The field I worked in, teaching in public schools, had become very challenging. A few expressed a desire to do what I had done; however, nearly all of them could not swing it financially.

I consider it fortunate to have positioned myself to make such a big change. I’d always pined for greater freedom, and having a demanding job infringed on that. Part of my rationale for being frugal was that if I limited my acquisition of things and saved enough money, I could purchase some freedom. And that’s exactly what I did.

The desire to live simply and give greater value to time instead of earning money had always been part of my make up. I’ve never regretted making the change. My new job took me all over Eastern Washington and North Idaho. After my workday, I’d often hike near the town where I was staying.

Sometimes I brought my bike for post-work rides. I got to know our beautiful Inland Northwest so well, I could give advice on where to hike just about anywhere.

Overseas trips and air travel are rarely part of my vacation plans, though I’m not so strict I’d rule them out. There is so much to see in the Northwest, even for a nativeborn like myself, that I’ve found plenty of enjoyment and novelty taking frequent trips in our corner of the country. I’m inclined to take the back roads, which has taken me to new, impressive vistas.

The freedom to pursue my outdoor interests has kept me in good physical condition too. I hike just as often and as far as I ever have, and I have the time to indulge in other hobbies as well. My downsized lifestyle has proved very satisfying, and perhaps several years from now, when I’m 70, the circle will be completed when that one person watches me put up an old tent next to an aging economy car and says, “I want to be like that guy when I’m his age.”

Jim Johnson is the author of “50 Hikes: Eastern Washington’s Highest Mountains.” He wrote about turning your yard into a native plant sanctuary for Out There back in 2016.

Tree hugger sniffer.

Meet Hazen Audel: host of Primal Survivor on National Geographic, teacher, artist, and STCU member.

If you’re like Hazen, you don’t just hug trees, you give ‘em a big whiff.

Especially ponderosa pine trees — they smell like rich butterscotch.

And while you’re lovin’ on some trees, you could take out your eco-friendly STCU app to deposit a check or switch to paperless e-statements to save time and trees.

All your money stuff, almost anywhere.

Here for good.™ stcu.org/mobile | Insured by NCUA.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021 / OUTTHEREOUTDOORS.COM

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we our public lands As one of the first Washington winery members of 1% for the Planet, we at Townshend Cellar are committed to giving back to both people and our planet as we believe the health of both are intrinsically linked. We are beyond proud to partner directly with local environmental organizations such as Evergreen East, The Lands Council and Spokane Riverkeeper. We encourage our community to get outside and support, advocate for and experience the magic of these lands we love.