National Park Rangers Say "Take a Hike" and "Help a Trail" for National Trails Day

Release Date:  June 1, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Kevin Bacher, Volunteer Program Manager, 360-569-6567

 

JOIN PARK RANGERS FOR SPECIAL CENTENNIAL TRAILS DAY EVENTS

The National Park Service invites park lovers to visit Mount Rainier National Park this Saturday, June 4 to celebrate National Trails Day and participate in stewardship events that also honor the National Park Service’s centennial.

Winter snow accumulations have started melting out along lower elevation trails, but snow continues to cover high elevation areas of the park. For information about the park’s trails and a summary of current conditions, visit our wilderness camping and hiking page at www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/wilderness-camping-and-hiking.htm.

If you venture into the park’s backcountry this summer, be prepared for more difficult than usual conditions. As a result of winter storms, trail crews are finding that an exceptional number of trail bridges and foot logs have been washed away. Additionally, winter storms blew down a large number of trees over trails park-wide, with many root ends blocking entire trail widths. Conditions will improve as trail crews restore trails and bridges, but the work will require a considerable amount of time because of the extent of the damage. Visitors are cautioned to use good judgement in determining whether their planned route is safe under existing conditions. Of note: Due to winter damage the Grove of the Patriarchs Trail footbridge is unsafe for passage.

People can assist the park by volunteering in two ways:

·         On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 3-5, the Washington Trails Association (WTA) will lead trail maintenance work parties out of the White River Campground. Work crews will meet at 8:30 a.m., and those who wish to participate should sign up in advance by visiting www.wta.org and selecting the “Volunteer” tab. WTA will continue to lead volunteer trail maintenance parties every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through September. Sign up at wta.org. 

·         On Saturday June 4, volunteers will be doing restoration work in the Longmire Stewardship Campground. The work involves cleaning up and rehabilitating campsites damaged by a windstorm last November and is suitable for all ages. Participants should RSVP to Kevin Bacher at 360-569-6567 or Kevin_Bacher [at] nps.gov.

National Trails Day is a celebration of America’s extensive public trail system, and occurs annually on the first Saturday in June. National Trails Day is an opportunity to participate in trail-based events and activities that celebrate the importance of trails with friends, families, and communities.

To celebrate the centennial, the National Park Service is inviting all generations to discover or rediscover the special places that belong to all Americans. The National Park Service is challenging everyone to “Find Your Park” with creative events and activities throughout 2016. For more information visit: FindYourPark.com.

www.nps.gov 

Park information, announcements, and the Mount Rainier webcams are posted on the park’s official website, nps.gov/mora.

·         Get additional information and updates by joining the Mount Rainier community on Facebook: facebook.com/MountRainierNPS

·         Find out breaking news and road status updates through Mount Rainier’s Twitter feed:

twitter.com/MountRainierNPS

·         Explore the park and behind-the-scenes operations with our videos on YouTube:

youtube.com/MountRainierNPS

·         Share your own photos of Mount Rainier with other visitors in the Mount Rainier Flickr group:

flickr.com/groups/MountRainierNPS

About the National Park Service- More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 409 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities.

May 2016 Volunteer Newsletter

With the first Volunteer Newsletter of 2016 comes a new format!  Any feedback on the new design should be sent to Ian at his email.  Enjoy!

Each panel is an image, so click a page to enlarge it.

 

 

 

National Trails Day - Longmire Campground Volunteer Event

Starting in 2009, Volunteer Program Manager Kevin Bacher (an avid geocacher) has hosted an annual "spring cleaning" of the Longmire Stewardship Campground, supported largely by members of the geocaching community and their friends. This year, we have a much larger project on the roster, so we are reaching out to all our volunteers, inviting them (YOU!) to join us in celebrating National Trails Day by helping with the construction of 15 old-style wooden picnic tables and erection of the platform tents.

We will meet at the campground hosts' residence at the back of the Community Building at the north end of the Longmire Campground at 9:30 AM on Saturday, June 7. To find the project location, turn at the Longmire Museum and drive across the historic wooden suspension bridge. The Community Building will be on your left, approximately two-tenths of a mile from the bridge. There is plenty of parking out front. 

Camping is available at Longmire at no charge for volunteers, and if we get the platform tents built, you'll even be able to rest off the cold ground! Tents and small RVs (ideally 24 feet max) are also welcome. There are no hookups, but we'll have access to hot showers in the bath house. Please RSVP to kevin_bacher@nps.gov if you plan to camp, and let us know what kind of site you need. Entrance fees will be waived for volunteers participating on this project.

National Trails Day 2013

A Washington Trails Association volunteer
rebuilds a trail near Comet Falls in 2012

Looking for something to do on National Trails Day, June 1st? Consider joining the Washington Trails Association at Mount Rainier! We have two options to choose from:

• If you're just looking for a day project, meet up at the Ohanapecosh Visitor Center at 8:30 a.m. on June 1. The specific project location hasn't been set yet, but it'll be somewhere nearby. For details and to sign up, visit http://vols.wta.org/web/web.pl?sm+20435+WP.
   
• If one day is simply not enough, consider filling one of the last two spaces available in WTA's "Volunteer Vacation," working on the Wonderland Trail near Ipsut Creek. This is a week-long project running from June 1 to June 8. You provide the sweat, WTA will provide the food and comraderie. There is an additional fee involved. For details and to sign up, visit http://vols.wta.org/web/web.pl?sm+20126+WL.

WTA will also be leading other trail projects on National Trails Day, perhaps closer to where you live, so check out their full list of options at http://www.wta.org/volunteer/trail-work-parties. Watch the same list for more projects at Mount Rainier, too -- every weekend, in fact, for the remainder of the summer!

Have fun, and we'll see you out there!

Washington Trails Association Plans for Another Great Summer Helping Mount Rainier!

      Yesterday, Kevin and I had the chance to sit down with the Executive Director of the Washington Trails Association, Karen Daubert, to discuss this years upcoming volunteer projects they will be leading. Their partnership has meant so much to Mount Rainier National Park in recent years, with their continual efforts in keeping Mount Rainier’s trails beautiful! They have led a total of 314 days of volunteer trail maintenance projects over the last five years, and have another 68 days planned for this summer! Their contributions are irreplaceable to our park.

      This Saturday, June 2nd, is National Trails Day! WTA will be working on the West Boundary Trail. Last year, WTA crews worked on this trail by removing downed logs, repairing tread and other maintenance needs. This Saturday, they will work on restoring the trail back to good hiking conditions. While spaces are full for this work party, I will be in attendance and will be sure to let you know all about the progress made on the trail and all the fun we’ll have!

      Upcoming events with WTA include extensive work on the Comet Falls Trail! You will find WTA opportunities to work on the Comet Falls Trail throughout the month of June: every Friday, Saturday and Sunday between June 8th and June 24th! Come for one or come for them all, stay for the weekend and utilize the Longmire Volunteer Campground! On this trail, the crew will conduct regular maintenance and repair any damage done to the trail over the winter months. What a great opportunity to work on a trail that many claim holds the most beautiful waterfall in the park! 

      You can sign up for these work parties on the WTA website. Follow this link to view the different work party dates and assignments in more detail. Information on the work parties is only available three to four weeks before each trip, but there is a project every Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the summer! You can check for updates on future WTA projects using our volunteer calendar located at the top of this page or by visiting WTA's website using the link above.

      We hope you can make it out to help maintain our beautiful Mount Rainier trails!

June 5th is National Trails Day!

American Hiking Society's signature trail awareness program, National Trails Day (NTD), inspires the public and trail enthusiasts nationwide to seek out their favorite trails to discover, learn about, and celebrate the 200,000+ miles of outdoor trails in our country.

Mount Rainier's many trails provide access to the natural world for recreation, inspiration and education. Trails provide opportunities to breathe fresh air, get hearts pumping, escape from daily stresses and maintain overall health. NTD represents years of hard work, dedication and countless volunteer hours contributed by individuals, nonprofit groups and community organizations across America. During last year's NTD 2009 nationwide volunteers contributed nearly 180,000 volunteer labor hours to our nation’s trails, worth an estimated $3.6 million.

Here at Mount Rainier we have several projects taking place on NTD.

Washington Trails Association
For those looking to spend some time specifically on the trails the WTA is planning on working at Glacier Basin Trail. The Glacier Basin Trail sustained extensive damage during the storms of November 2006. Volunteers have spent the last three summers helping the park relocate the trail away from the river and on to the hillside. We still need your help to complete this approximately 2-mile relocation, which will include fun new trail construction tasks!

Longmire Campground Cleanup

We are looking for volunteers to help get our Volunteer Campground ready for the summer season. Anyone interested can meet at the Longmire community building at 9:30am on June 5th.

To join this work party click here.

REI of Tacoma - *Closed to the public
This group will be joining us on NTD to work at Kautz and Twin Firs Trail. If your company or group is interested in volunteering together we will have more opportunities throughout the summer. Give us a call and we'll set up a project for you!

Planning for National Trails Day

National Trails Day is June 5, 2010. As that date approaches, several projects are beginning to take shape. Pencil these into your calendar, and watch for details, coming soon on this blog!

Glacier Basin Trail Construction: Our major "Trail" project will be on the Glacier Basin Trail under the direction of our partner, the Washington Trails Association. This project isn't on WTA's project calendar yet, but it's being planned, and will be one of the major kickoff events for this year's trail volunteer program.

Longmire Campground Opening: Utilities are tentatively scheduled to be turned on in the Longmire Volunteer Campground about May 22nd. We're working on final arrangements to hire a pair of campground hosts who would begin about that time, and who could use some assistance, off and on through the week, in getting winter storm debris picked up and the bath house cleaned and ready for volunteers to use. On June 5, we'll tip the plywood platforms down onto their foundations and set up our collection of wall tents. Unlike last year, there shouldn't be any snow to shovel first in order to make that happen!

Picnic Table Relocation: A long-term goal for the Longmire Campground has been to install historic-style picnic tables (the heavy "half-round" log style common throughout the park) in the campground's 32 sites. Funding for this project, and for installation of additional concrete grills, has been hard to come by; but a solution has finally been approved (one first suggested by a volunteer a year ago): Dig out the picnic tables buried in silt at Sunshine Point, and move them to Longmire. This will be a major project, involving digging, carrying, transport, and probably disassembly and reassembly.

Signing up: As soon as WTA posts its National Trails Day event, volunteers can sign up through their website. Watch this blog for details of how to register, as an individual, for events at Longmire, which will be posted as soon as we work out the logistics of our projects. Groups should call me to express their interest, at 360-569-2211 ext. 3385, with information about approximately how many people to expect.

Making a Difference on National Trails Day

For another perspective on the Washington Trails Association's participation in National Trails Day, including another great photo of volunteers at Mount Rainier, check out the Signpost blog on the WTA website.

Glacier Basin Adventures with the WTA

Bonjour everyone,

I hope you had a great weekend, and managed to get outside on Saturday aka National Trails Day. I know I made the most of it. That morning I made my way up and over to the east side of the mountain, where I joined (it was lunch by this time) the Washington Trails Associations in their rerouting of the Glacier Basin trail.

Actually, I just got in their way and made a general racket. I could never keep up with these guys and gals, they really get the job done. But while I'm not so handy with the tools, put me behind a camera and I can do a decent job, and work crews look good in the spotlight. I got some good pictures, so enjoy the slide show at the end of the post.

The WTA had a great showing, with more than two dozen people coming out. For those of you who have never heard of the Washington Trails Association, they're one of the driving public forces behind trail protection and maintenance in this state. They started in 1966 as a newsletter for hikers, and while their main focus is still informing people about trails, they are now a top volunteer organization that helps to keep the trail you use in the condition to be used. You can find out more at http://www.wta.org/.

They will continue to be working on the Glacier Basin Trail throughout the summer, so if you missed this event, be sure to check the blog calendar for the rest. You can also check the WTA website for events in other National Parks, National Forests, and throughout the state. So if you're a hiker, do yourself a favor and check them out.

Au Revoir,

Nick

Volunteers for work parties needed for National Trails Day | The News Tribune

Volunteers for work parties needed for National Trails Day | The News Tribune

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National Trails Day

This Saturday is National Trails Day, a perfect time to get outdoors and take advantage of the amazing and beautiful Pacific Northwest (or East if you like it a little dryer), maybe even give back a little. Organizations everywhere are planning volunteer events, not just at Mount Rainier but around the entire state. Some of the events include:

• A Glacier Basin Cleanup hosted by the Washington Trails Association. Here is the link to join.

You can also check out these groups for volunteer events. It doesn't matter where you volunteer, so long a you get out there and do it.

• American Hiking Association
• Volunteers for Outdoor Washington
• Mount Rainier National Park Associates
• Washington Trails Association

So get out and give back this Saturday, it's time to say "thanks" to the trails that have given us such a good time. See you on the field!

Those amazing geocachers

WOW! I just checked out the page for the Washington Geocachers event at Cougar Rock Campground yesterday, for National Trails Day. I am absolutely floored by the amount of work those guys accomplished! For comparison, here is what the campground amphitheater looked like when I stopped by at noon:



Now here's what it looked like at the end of the day (I've also UPDATED the image above with a photo from the exact same location):

Check out all of their photos here.

I had seriously thought maybe we wouldn't be able to do evening programs in the campground until September. It's looking a lot more optimistic now. One member of the group estimated they must have moved 50 tons of snow! I especially like this comment by TotemLake:

I'm making the rare move to count this as an ATTENDED WITH PRIDE to have worked as hard with a great bunch of people in the Geocaching community and with a very impressively energetic organization such as the SCA.

The members promise to post more photos and videos later, which I will link to here, so stay tuned. THANK YOU, Washington Geocachers!!

National Trails Day on YouTube

Here's a short (7-minute) video from our National Trails Day events near Longmire yesterday. Enjoy -- and check out our full collection of videos on our new YouTube page!

National Trails Day at Mount Rainier!

It's National Trails Day already! At Longmire, seventy volunteers didn't let a little snow stop them from putting in some hard work preparing the trails for the summer. Today's crew included members of a Boy Scout Troop; the Washington State Geocacher's Association; and several groups of Student Conservation Association crew leaders in training.

Meanwhile, up at Carbon River, two teams led by the Washington Trails Association were hard at work on the Boundary Trail... but I don't have pictures from that project! Here's a selection of the images I captured today. For the complete set, check out our Picasa photo album.

New news and previews of coming events

April and May are always busy months for our volunteer program. I'm getting at least half a dozen calls and e-mails per day from people with questions about volunteering, and we're busy planning projects and training for the coming season. Here's where we stand:

New Volunteers: I've received dozens of calls and e-mails in the past two weeks while I've been traveling from people interested in joining our volunteer program. Thank you all for your interest! I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment getting caught up from being away, but responding to your inquiries is high on my priority list. Please be patient, I intend to respond to each of you, hopefully within the next week. This is a good place to remind you, too, that I would be extremely grateful for some help keeping up with the start-of-season flood of paperwork and correspondence related to new volunteers. Some of it (the correspondence especially) could even be done remotely. If you'd like to help, send me an e-mail.

Projects: Meanwhile, we're making progress on a project calendar for the summer. My partner on the SCA side, Jill Baum, will be sending me a list of upcoming projects, which I will post here on this blog. We have few specific dates yet, but hope to have them soon. Most of the work will begin in mid June, with a few earlier projects; you can, for sure, set aside June 7, which is National Trails Day and will have a bunch of projects scheduled.

Training: We're also closing in on a training schedule. I have a tentative schedule, at least, for our beginning-of-season interpretation training, our volunteer program management training, and our Conservation Corps training. Volunteers are welcome to participate in any or all of that. I'll post those tentative calendars later today or tomorrow, so stay tuned and watch for it in a later blog entry.

Surveys: Don't worry, I haven't forgotten to get back to you with the results of the volunteer survey. It has been such a gold mine of information that it's taken some time to compile. I'm about halfway through preparing a PowerPoint/PDF summary of the key insights we've gleaned from the survey, and will share that with you, along with the raw data, as soon as I get it finished.

Representing Mount Rainier: As we announced recently, Mount Rainier National Park has received the George B. Hartzog Jr. Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. Superintendent Dave Uberuaga and I will be traveling back to Washington D.C. next week with volunteers Eva Meassick and George Coulbourn to receive the award on behalf of our volunteer program. Thank you to Eva and George for agreeing to represent us at this prestigious event! It will be a luncheon ceremony at noon on May 8th, attended by the Director of the National Park Service.

Eva and George are both patrol rangers in the Carbon River/Sunrise areas of the park. Both have been volunteering for years and have received our Superintendent's Award for Lifetime Achievement. Eva has passed the 10,000 hour mark for volunteer service since 1987, while George is closing in on 5,000 hours since 1997.

More from the EarthVision Summit: The EarthVision Summit I attended last week, sponsored by the Student Conservation Association near Washington D.C., was incredibly energizing. More than 400 youth attended, and their commitment to service on behalf of the environment was inspiring. I'm still sorting through my own pictures, but meanwhile, if you're interested, you can find loads of images, videos, and stories at SCA's Conservation Nation blog.

In the News: Also out there in cyberspace: The Washington Trails Association now has a YouTube page; spring opening is a struggle at Olympic National Park (no surprise, since we're dealing with lots of lingering snow issues ourself); and Mike Gauthier has posted a "year in review" summary for the Mount Rainier climbing program. I hear also through the grapevine that a citizen climber on our mountain will be receiving a Valor Award next week for help in saving the lives of a couple of other climbers. I'll try to get more details on this and share it with you. Meanwhile, Mount Rainier is one of many national parks nationwide that will receive Centennial Initiative funding to help improve the park; the park is still accepting input from the public about proposed repairs to the Wonderland Trail near Carbon River; and a news website in Massachusetts (!) listed WTA-led volunteer projects at Mount Rainier as one of six examples of Earth Day activities nationwide.

That's all for now; I'll get those training calendars, project lists, and survey summaries posted as soon as I receive them.

National Trails Day, HUGE SUCCESS!

Last Saturday was National Trails Day. Nearly 300 people volunteered to repair trails, bridges and other facilities throughout Washington's National Parks and Forests damaged during last fall's storms...

Read more on the Northwest Storm Recovery Coalition Blog!

New Photos

I've posted several photos from National Trails Day on our photos page (high resolution, suitable for publication), in the Flood Recovery Volunteers folder. Check 'em out!

National Trails Day

We had volunteers all over the park today for National Trails Day. I spent the afternoon checking out two different projects near Longmire. I am continually stunned by the extent of the damage caused by last November’s floods—on the Wonderland Trail sections we were working on today, a full 2,000 meters of trail was affected, with trees down, chunks of trail missing, and long stretches ruined by water erosion.

I am also continually amazed at the energy of our volunteers, and their willingness to jump in, learn new skills (tread repair, using a crosscut saw), and get the job done. In one spot, in the space of three hours, half a dozen volunteers (out of a larger group four times that size) transformed a rough cut through the forest into something strongly resembling a National Park Service quality trail. In addition, the remains of the old trail were covered with brush, and many of the forest plants growing in the new trail corridor had been carefully transplanted. The finish project looks amazing.

Our SCA-led Flood Recovery Corps had three projects going today, while our partners with the Washington Trails Association led others. Meanwhile, Carl Fabiani, Mount Rainier’s trails foreman, was in Stevens Canyon, evaluating the options for another section of the Wonderland Trail that needs to be rebuilt, either with a long reroute or a shorter but more difficult reconstruction along a steep hillside. The amount of work that remains to be done parkwide is sobering. But the energy that I see on the trail, brought by our volunteers, gives me a lot of hope that we’ll make good progress this summer.

Speaking of which, there are several new positions posted on our long-term volunteer opportunities page, from managing cultural landscapes to developing computer databases. I’ll be posting a few more shortly, including ongoing opportunities to help with soundscape monitoring and breeding toad surveys. Exciting stuff. We’re looking for people who want to help out a day or two per week, or a few times per month. If you know of such individuals, spread the word and send them our way!

Whatever you’re able to contribute, from one day per summer to one day per week, we’re grateful for your help. If you hike the Wonderland Trail from Longmire to Carter Falls any time soon, you’ll be grateful, too.