Have a story to tell?

Story-worthy photo by Ed Hunds

As part of Mount Rainier's Centennial Celebration, the park will host a storytelling night at the Paradise Inn at 8:30 p.m. on the evening of August 6. Ranger Curt Jacquot is gathering storytellers for the event, which will be hosted by Ranger Jim Ross. If you are a volunteer and have an amazing or interesting 5-minute story to tell, please e-mail your story nomination, with a brief description, as soon as possible to Curt_Jacquot [at] nps.gov.

As the storytellers say, "may you have a story-worthy summer!"

Volunteers Leading the Star Party and Night Skies Program

Ever wanted to learn more about the stars that blanket our night sky? Volunteers from the Tacoma Astronomy Society will be hosting a Star Party and Night Skies Program this Friday, July 22nd!

Read the official NPS press release listed below for more information.

Star Party and Night Skies Program

Where: Paradise

When: 9:00 PM, Friday July 22, 2011

Families and individuals of all ages are invited to the Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park for a special program on Friday, July 22.. The event starts at 9:00 PM in the lobby of the Paradise Inn with a short presentation about the National Park Service “Night Skies” program. The National Park Service has come to embrace night skies as one of the many scenic vistas the agency is a steward of. It is essential to keeping a park whole and touches on almost every aspect that is important to us - from sustainability to stargazers, and animals to ancient ruins.

At 9:45 PM there will be outdoor star gazing in front of the Paradise Jackson Visitor Center with Tacoma Astronomical Society (TAS) volunteers and their telescopes. Astronomy Society volunteers will also assist with special children's astronomy activities. All ages will be able to make astronomy devices called "star finders."

If weather makes star gazing difficult, the party will move inside the Paradise Inn lobby for star finder making and a 45-minute film about the Milky Way galaxy.

If you have questions please contact Park Ranger Curt Jacquot at (360) 569-2211, extension 6577.

Information about the Tacoma Astronomy Society is found online at: http://www.tas-online.org/

Volunteer's paintings earn $650 for Mount Rainier

You may recall from last week that volunteer Allan Dreyer had donated four of his beautiful paintings of Mount Rainier landscapes to sell at the Washington's National Park Fund auction at the Paradise Inn. I'm pleased to announce that those paintings earned a total of $650 for the National Park! The auction as a whole raised $17,130 for the park. Our thanks to all who contributed!

In other news:

Our Conservation Corps has arrived! Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been great for getting a group photo yet, but I'll try to post one soon. These are the ten individuals who will be coordinating and leading volunteer projects all summer. They seem like great people (of course). For now, they're camping at the Mount Rainier Lion's Club in Ashford, while their tent sites at the Longmire Campground melt out enough for them to move in! Thank you to the Ashford Lions for their generous partnership!

The snow is gone in front of my office, at last! However, that doesn't mean we aren't having challenges with snow still at higher elevations. Some highlights from this week's management team meeting: Washington State DOT helped us get a lane open to the Owyhee Trailhead on the White River Road--thanks, guys!--before returning to their work on Chinook Pass. Our own plows made it to Box Canyon last weekend, but were still doing bulldozer work, which is unsual for that area. We're working on multiple fronts simultaneously: Stevens Canyon, White River Road, and the Paradise Valley Road, all of which have their own challenges and reasons to be considered a priority.

And if you're interested, the presentations by all of the various winners of the Cooperative Conservation Awards, including ours, are now posted online here.

Photos from the newly renovated Paradise Inn

I was up at Paradise on Friday, a magnificent day in every way, to take pictures of the grand reopening of the Paradise Inn. We had a lot of visitors, including Congressmen Dave Reichert and Norm Dicks, and led tours of the renovation. A few of us also got a sneak preview of the beautiful new visitor center. If you're interested, I've posted 141 photos of the event on my personal website:

www.flickr.com/photos/bacherfamily/sets/72157605108339436/

The News Tribune, by the way, has been covering this story in detail as well, and as always, they have some great photos and narrative. Start with Paradise lost? For two reasons, but no longer; then spin off to Paradise Inn's reopening revives many memories; then go back and read last week's article about the preparations to reopen, Paradise regained: Mount Rainier Inn to reopen after challenging renovation.

Volunteer Allan Dreyer donates paintings for park fundraiser

If you've seen this fellow out on the trail, meadow roving with his hearing dog Damien, you'd never know that he also has another talent: painting!


Over the years, Allan Dreyer has painted dozens of pictures of Mount Rainier, from all angles and in all seasons. He has donated several of his paintings to Mount Rainier National Park already, to hang in the offices of rangers. We enjoy them when the weather is as cloudy and rainy as it is today; right now, I'm looking at a magnificent picture of Myrtle Falls surrounded by monkeyflowers, lupines, and paintbrush, with the Mountain rising majestically behind against a backdrop of blue with a few whispy clouds around it.

For the grand reopening of the Paradise Inn, Allan has donated four of his paintings to Washington's National Park Fund, which will auction them off to special guests at a fundraiser on the night of May 15th. Here's an exclusive first look at the paintings that will be auctioned. Of course, my photographs don't come close to capturing the artistry of the real things!

Rainier and Snow Lake from Tatoosh -
When I became deaf 17 years ago, my climbing days ended. Last fall when I hiked into Snow Lake in the southeastern area of the park, I looked up at the ridges of the Tatoosh and wondered what the lake would look like from on top. This painting is how I believe Snow Lake and Rainier would appear from near Unicorn Peak.

Tahoma - Emmons Route
Once while hiking around Naches Peak, I took a number of pictures of Mt. Rainier with a 300 mm lens with the idea of painting this picture. The painting shows Emmons glacier which was the route I climbed to the summit in 1986.

Mt. Rainier from Indian Henry's
One August day a few years ago, I stayed at the patrol cabin. As the sun started to set, I took some photos of Mt. Rainier and used them as a basis for this painting.

Nighttime Palette Knife Painting -
Many years ago, I was hiking on a snowy winter night to my igloo, when the clouds opened and allowed a full moon to illuminate the mountain. It was so quiet; the only thing I heard was the crunch of my snowshoes on the snow.

Catching up: News and links

I've been busy getting caught up from my trip to Washington D.C., so I have quite a bit to share with you that has come in to my "in" box over the past week:

Meadow Rovers Breakfast
Forty-two people showed up for the Meadow Rovers Breakfast at the Tacoma Mountaineers Club, including several people who had never volunteered before and were drawn to the brunch by an article in The News Tribune. We shared good food, brought everyone up to date on the goings-on of the volunteer program and the status of snow at the park, showed off our new award, and answered a lot of questions. Everyone is looking forward to the summer season! And speaking of looking forward, we already have the clubhouse reserved for next year's breakfast: Saturday, May 9, 2009. Mark your calendars!

Award Updates
The National Park Service issued a very nice press release about the national award we received last week. It was also featured on the NPS news digest. Another perspective can be found in the Pennsylvania Daily American, which has a nice article about the group award winners, the Flight 93 Ambassadors. Meanwhile, volunteer Greg Carstens writes, "Thank you for accepting the George B. Hartzog Jr. award for me and many of my fellow volunteers. It means a lot to me that I spent some time in a very critical year for Mount Rainier National Park. My only regret is that I didn't get to spend more time in 2007 helping out but I think ... I can go out and break my own record for hours spent in the Paradise Meadows this coming summer. I think 2008 will be an exciting year with not only the reopening of Paradise Inn but also the opening of the all-new visitor center."

By the way, remember my reference a while back to a Valor Award someone was rumored to be winning? It's actually a Citizen's Award for Bravery, it was presented to Phill Michael, and you can read all about it on Mike Gauthier's climbing blog. It was presented yesterday in Washington D.C. (another trip east for Mount Rainier personnel!) for the efforts of an individual who saved the life of a couple of people on the Muir Snowfield. That's some impressive spontaneous volunteer service.

Coming Up
As the snow melts, the number of ways you can get involved at Mount Rainier are beginning to grow exponentially! Here are a few new resources:

Trail Talk: With the Washington Trails Association: Find out all about WTA's schedule of activities this spring, including National Trails Day on June 7th.

Photography Classes: Brooke Childrey says "Last chance to sign up for the Photo class on May 16th. Class will be from 9 am to noon at the education center. This is the first class and will focus on photography basics. 2nd class is a field class out in the park sometime this summer. There will be a repeat of the first class on June 27th for those who can't make the May 16th class. It will also be followed by a field class out in the park sometime this summer (you and the instructors set a date and time for the field class)."

Other things to watch for: Our spring Conservation Corps will be arriving on Monday. These are the guys who will be coordinating and leading volunteer projects throughout the summer, so I'll introduce them to you here next week. Some of the projects we're already working on include greenhouse planting, snow removal, campground opening, trail marking, trail repair, National Trails Day on June 7, interpretive wayside installation, guided walks, viewpoint interpretation, and meadow roving. Watch our calendar for project postings by the end of the month.

Finally, don't forget the upcoming Paradise Inn reopening on Friday. Check out the park's press release, and plan to join us for tours of the newly renovated inn and the visitor center under construction at 1:00 and 4:00, as well as a ribbon-cutting and grand reopening ceremony at 3:00. Parking will be limited, so carpooling is recommended!

New links
For those of us who struggle to identify wildflowers at Mount Rainier, there's now a website to help out, created by Tracy Donovan. Now all you need is satellite internet access from the trailside at Paradise! Meanwhile, volunteer Kathy Sharman sends a link to her personal blog, which has a definite Mount Rainier slant to it! She's also participating in a breast cancer walk. You can find out how to support her effort on her blog. Finally, NPS Director Mary Bomar has just released a thorough and colorful report called "A Salute to Service," which celebrates the efforts of NPS employees, volunteers, and citizens in support of our national treasures. Our flood recovery efforts here at Rainier are featured at one point in the report!

Spring at Mount Rainier
Prospective volunteer Kyle Miller shares pictures from a hike to Mowich Lake in mid-March. I've created a separate blog entry for him dated 5/2, which is when he sent the photos to me. Send me your own pictures and stories and I'll post them here!

Meanwhile, our wildlife biologist, Jim Schaberl, sent out this e-mail a few days ago:

Heads-up on potential bear activities this spring:
There are a number of reports this season of bear tracks and observations in snow (for several weeks now). Bears are exceptionally hungry this time of year and the snowpack is still overwhelming. Natural foods are scarce and will be for a while. Please take extra precautions in the next month or two with food (and garbage) storage and opening up areas to visitor camping and picnicking. All food and garbage products need to be secured in bear resistant (bear-"proof") areas and receptacles.

The three biggest new items up here on the mountain, of course, are snow, snow, and more snow! While it is finally melting, and in fact the National Weather Service has issued a Special Weather Alert for unseasonably hot weather this weekend, there's still a long way to go in many places. Plus, the hot weather will contribute to high avalanche danger leading into the weekend. Be careful out there!

Because of the lingering snow, many of our opening dates have been pushed back. As of this writing, Cougar Rock Campground will not open until June 6th rather than Memorial Day weekend. (The snow plow guys said they were hampered by snow "over the box" of their plows last week.) Ohanapecosh Campground will open as scheduled, but the visitor center will not open until June 13th because of winter snow damage to the housing units over there. (We can't even commute from Longmire because Stevens Canyon is a long way from reopening and Skate Creek Road remains closed by two major landslides.) Sunrise opening is delayed as well; our staff is working overtime to get it open by July 3rd--though it will probably be at least another week beyond that date before the utilities get de-winterized. (We'll probably have some volunteer projects related to shoveling out facilities at Sunrise.)

The snow in the Longmire Campground is creating problems for our Conservation Corps, as well, who will not be able to set up their platform tents until they have bare ground. They'll spend their first week or two camped out at the Lion's Hall in Ashford, which has generously provided us with space and the use of their kitchen for a very inexpensive rate.

The Washington Trails Association has helpfully compiled a list of places that you can go to enjoy this weekend's warm weather, in spite of the heavy snowpack. Enjoy!

Lots of new news

I'm off to Washington D.C. tomorrow for a week of awards, workshops, conferences, and, yes, a little bit of sightseeing. But it has been a busy week, with lots of news to pass on to you.

Donations: First, check out these awesome paintings painted by volunteer Allan Dreyer! Four of these paintings have been donated by Allan to Washington's National Park Fund, to be auctioned off at our gala reopening ceremony at the Paradise Inn next month. Allan has a real gift for painting Mount Rainier's landscapes, and capturing the play of light on snow and trees. If you're attending the auction, watch for his work. Some of the remaining paintings will be donated to offices at the park, and others will be available for sale.

Wonderland Repair: Plans have been released for repairing the Wonderland Trail in the Carbon River Valley. You're all encouraged to comment on the proposed environmental assessment. Find the complete press release here, and submit your comments online at parkplanning.nps.gov. (Choose Mount Rainier from the drop-down menu.)

Potluck Brunch for Meadow Rovers: If you're a Meadow Rover, or think you might like to be one, join us for brunch at the Mountaineers Clubhouse in Tacoma on May 10:

May 10, Sat., 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. – Potluck Brunch hosted by the Tacoma Branch Hiking & Backpacking Committee and the Mt. Rainier Sunrise Volunteers In the Park (VIPs), at the Tacoma clubhouse, 2302 N. 30th Street, Tacoma, WA 98403. All Mountaineers members are welcome to attend this event to find out about volunteering at Mt. Rainier National Park and to help the Sunrise VIP's kick off the 2008 Meadow Roving season. There are a number of Tacoma Mountaineers who volunteer at Sunrise during the summer, as well as other Mountaineers who volunteer at Paradise and in the backcountry on a year round basis. Opportunities at the Park abound - check out the volunteer opportunities listed on the Park website, http://www.nps.gov/mora/supportyourpark/volunteer.htm. It's a terrific "job"! If you have just a couple of days a month (weekends or weekdays) there is something for you to do at MRNP. If you've done all the trail maintenance and rebuilding that your body can handle, meadow roving might be just the ticket to get you out and let you give something back to the Park. Bring something yummy to share for brunch. We'll plan to start serving food at 9:30 a.m. Doors will be open by 8:00 a.m. if you want to come early to slip your treat into the oven to heat it up. Coffee, tea, juice, tableware will be provided. Questions or for directions, contact Amy Mann, agmann@comcast.net, 253-759-2796 or Martha Scoville, garyandmartha@harbornet.com, 253-752-5014.

News links: Perhaps some of you saw the notice on the Washington Trails Association blog or in the News Tribune newspaper about the ski hut that burned down near Ashford. Many of you, I know, love to ski on these trails, so this is a great loss. The Akron, Ohio newspaper had a short feature on our lead climbing ranger, Mike Gauthier. And Volunteer Eric Degerman has a detailed post on the blog of the Tri-City Herald, commenting on our especially snowy year here at the park.
Still snowing: Speaking of snow, it remains very snowy at Longmire, with more in the forecast. Paradise, of course, has been snowy too, though not quite on the record pace we've set at lower elevations. Ranger Stefan Lofgren writes, "There has been some interest in how this year's snowfall is shaping up compared to other years. We have just over 800 inches currently and two more months. If we get average amounts for April, May, and June, that will put us up to near 900 inches by June 30th." Here's a breakdown of the top 10 years so far:
1. 1971-72: 1,122
2. 1973-74: 1,071
3. 1970-71: 1,027
4. 1955-56: 1,000
5. 1998-99: 963
6. 2001-02: 855
7. 1975-76: 854
8. 1968-69: 829
9. 1974-75: 820
10. 1996-97: 795
Digital Photography Class: Our Museum Curator, Brooke Childrey, writes:

Hi Folks:
Last year I tried to schedule a photography class for park staff with John Chao and Loren Schmidt our VIP Photographers. Well, we finally have a class date--Two actually and field sessions.The class will be held on May 16th and repeated on June 27th. The class is a half day (9am -noon). Field sessions will be scheduled for July and August with each of the participants in the class, so that the groups are small and work with your summer schedule.

This class is open to all park employees (Perms, Terms, Seasonals, VIP, Interns, SCA, etc.). No camera is necessary at the first class. For the field classes, I will try to have extra digitals available for those who do not have one. If interested in attending, Please check with your supervisors first and then drop me an email or voice mail letting me know whether you want to attend the May 16 class or the June 27 class.

That's all for now, folks. More news rumored to be on the way later today, and I'll try to post an entry or two from Washington next week as well.