Volunteer on the Centennial - August 25th

Join us on August 25^th at 9am for volunteer projects to celebrate the 100^th year of the National Park Service. There will be celebrations at all of our visitor centers throughout the day, which means plenty of time to get in some hours of service and to soak in the celebration.

Project details:

Meet at 9:00am at the Longmire Museum for campground maintenance projects.

Meet at 9:00am outside the Jackson Visitor Center at the Muir staircase for a trail brushing project.

Please RSVP to Mark_Loper@partner.nps.gov for more details or if you plan to attend. We will accept walkup volunteers but would like to have an idea of numbers for these volunteer projects.

Upcoming WTA Trails Projects

The WTA (Washington Trails Association) will be conducting work parties throughout the summer and have party-size limits in place. If you'd like to join them in working on the trails, the following dates still have space available.

June 6-8: Help maintain the West Boundary Trail on Mount Rainier near Carbon River. The crew will help get this trail back into shape, removing downed logs and repairing any damaged tread. When the work is completed on the West Boundary Trail, we'll move on to the Mine Trail.

June 14-15 : Continued work on the West Boundary Trail and Mine Trail.

June 20-22: The crew will be working on sections of the Wonderland near Longmire in the southwest corner of the park. This project includes annual maintenance including drainage, tread repair and brushing. If/when work on the Wonderland trail is completed, we will move on to do maintenance on other trails in the Longmire area.

June 28-29: Continued work on the Wonderland Trail near Longmire.

July 4-6: Continued work in the Longmire area.

As always, volunteers for these events may camp for free in the Longmire Stewardship Campground. Please make your reservations at least one week in advance by contacting Campground Host Jim Cherry james_cherry(at)partner.nps.gov. Platform tents will not be available until June 7 (see previous post if you'd like to help put up the platform tents).

MRNPA Work Party - May 17

The second Mount Rainier National Park Associates trails work party for 2014 will be held on Saturday, May 17th. That's a little over two weeks away. Trail crew leaders are still evaluating potential projects and will provide details in about a week. Keep watching this blog for updates!

The crew will meet at about 8:30 AM (location to be determined) and should be ready to move out by 9:00 AM.  When you enter Mount Rainier National Park, tell the attendant at the gate that you will be working on a volunteer project. Volunteers enter the park for free.

Be prepared to hike to the work site. Bring a lunch and plenty of fluids to drink, work gloves and safety glasses, and a full set of rain gear. During May, it is common to have rain or wet snow falling at Mount Rainier, so bring warm clothing as well.

If you plan to attend this work party, please reply to John Titland at volunteer(at)mrnpa.org indicating that you are coming and tell him how many volunteers you expect to accompany you so that he can be sure there are enough tools to go around.

PLEASE NOTE: There are safety equipment requirements for all MRNPA trail work volunteers. (These rules apply to all trail workers.)  Anyone using an aggressive tool like a Pulaski, ax, shovel, etc., or anyone working near them is required to wear a hard hat and safety glasses. People working with or near less aggressive tools are not required to wear a hard hat, although it is encouraged.  If you own a hard hat that you can wear, please bring it.  If you do not have a hard hat, MRNPA and the NPS have hard hats to loan for the day.

Wearing safety glasses is encouraged at all times. Not all safety glasses are comfortable for everyone and some will not fit over eyeglasses. For health and safety reasons, please supply your own safety glasses for your personal use. A serviceable pair of new safety glasses will cost about $10 and may be found at hardware stores. Be advised that shatterproof eyeglasses do not meet the requirement for safety glasses.  Safety glasses have side protection which eyeglasses lack.