May Newsletter

Volunteer Brunch Tomorrow!
Volunteers and potential volunteers! We would like to remind you to join us for the annual Volunteer Brunch this Saturday, May 16th! It will be held at the Mountaineers Clubhouse in Tacoma, 2302 N 30th St. Kevin Bacher and Crow Vecchio will be on hand to answer all those burning questions you've been wanting to ask, and will update you on all the things happening in the park this summer. If you can, please bring a breakfast/brunch dish to share.

Meadow Rover and MeadoWatch Training now June 13-14
Meadow Rover/Meadow Watch training dates and locations have been finalized, and are different than the tentative dates advertised last month. On Saturday, June 13th, MeadoWatch training will start at 10:30 AM to be followed by Meadow Rover training at 12:30 PM. Advanced Meadow Rover training will be held on Sunday June 14th from 9 AM - 3:30 PM. These trainings will all be conducted in the Longmire Community Building. Please join us there!

Welcome Back, Maureen McLean! Meadow Roving has already begun
The inimitable Maureen McLean rejoins us this season as Meadow Rover Manager. Ah, yes... those of you who have worked with her know exactly what I mean! And Rovers, she wants you to know that your services will be much in demand almost immediately. The number of visitors to our fragile meadows will be increasing rapidly as the little lingering snow disappears. Maureen has quite a summer ahead of her, so please join me in welcoming her back! Contact Maureen_McLean (at) nps.gov.

Spring Opening Starting now!
Spring Trail Opening is a huge task which involvs marking and maintaining trail locations by installing ropes and wands and shoveling steps to keep visitors on established routes and preventing meadow damage. Work parties will leave the Jackson Visitor Center at Paradise every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in May and June (and maybe longer). Note that this is different (and more strenuous) duty than Meadow Roving. Contact Maureen_McLean (at) nps.gov to sign up to help!

Part-time Campground Hosts Needed throughout the Summer
We're still looking for people to host volunteers at the Longmire Campground this summer. If you can help, even a few weekends, check out a calendar listing the dates we need help on our blog.

Interpretive Training June 1-12
If you regularly encounter visitors in your volunteer activities or even if you would just like to learn more about interpretation, volunteers will be welcomed at our annual Interpretive Training sessions during the first two weeks of June. A detailed schedule will be posted later, but we anticipate interpretive presentation training from June 1-5 and 12; history and cultural resource training on June 8; the ever-popular geologic history of Mount Rainier as presented by Tom Sisson on June 9; a geology field trip on June 10; and ecology training on June 11. Due to limited transportation resources, participants of the field trip may need to carpool among themselves. If you are interested in attending any of the sessions, please RSVP to Kevin_Bacher (at) nps.gov.

Washington Trails Association Work Begins June 5
Are you interested in trail maintenance? If so, you may want to sign up for one of the Washington Trails Association (WTA) work parties. WTA will be working in the Park every weekend (Friday-Sunday) starting June 5. Sign up as soon as projects are posted at http://www.wta.org/volunteer/trail-work-parties.

Mount Rainier National Park Associates: Next Project June 13
Mount Rainier National Park Associates (MRNPA) hosts monthly volunteer projects throughout the Park: trail maintenance on June 13 and August 15; invasive species removal on July 11; revegetation planting on September 12. Visit their website at mrnpa.org to learn more, or contact John Titland at volunteer (at) mrnpa.org.

Geocachers Kick Off the NPS Centennial June 13
Every year, local geocaching enthusiasts gather at the Longmire Campground for a "Cache In, Trash Out" volunteer event. Despite the name, the project usually involves setting up wall tents and helping with general maintenance in the campground and, occasionally, elsewhere in the park. This year's event will be followed by the kickoff of a two-year GeoTour sponsored by Visit Rainier in Ashford. Visit http://coord.info/GC5TFR7 and http://coord.info/GC5T8CD to learn more -- and note that you don't have to be a geocacher (yet) to participate in either event!

For a broader scope of volunteer activites for the summer months, please see our earlier blog post. There are dozens of ways you can take an active role in keeping Mount Rainier National Park the best place to visit in the Pacific Northwest!

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.

Tents Up!

A hard-working batch of geocachers and Mount Rainier Volunteers gathered together today in the Longmire Campground for the annual spring cleanup and installation of five platform tents which serve as temporary housing for volunteers throughout the summer months. The event was officially billed at Geocaching.com as a "CITO" (Cache In, Trash Out) and was the seventh annual gathering of this type at this location. The work went smoothly. Participants ranged in age from pre-school kids to senior citizens, each contributing their best efforts to the project. Go, Volunteers!

The Volunteer Program is hoping to enlist a second cleanup team to remove storm debris next weekend. Stay tuned to this blog for updates, and if you're interested in participating, please contact Kevin via Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov for more details.

Longmire Campground opening tomorrow -- both geocachers and non-geocachers are welcome!

"Mostly sunny, freezing level near 13,500 feet." That's the weather forecast for tomorrow in Mount Rainier National Park! If you're looking for something worthwhile to do on a gorgeous day, consider joining us for our annual Longmire Campground Opening volunteer project. We'll be setting up platform tents and picking up storm debris that has accumulated in the campsites over the winter. It's fun, low-key work, and only takes a couple of hours; by lunch time, we'll be ready to sit in the sun and eat our picnics along the Nisqually River.

As is our tradition, this year's campground opening is sponsored by local geocachers. However, the project is not limited to geocachers. And, it's also a great opportunity to find out about geocaching if you've been curious!

For more information, visit the geocache page for this event here. RSVP by sending an e-mail to Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov, or just show up at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 8. For those of you without GPS units, meet at the Longmire Campground. Enter Mount Rainier National Park by the southwest (Nisqually) entrance -- let the rangers at the gate know you're volunteering so that they don't charge you a fee -- and drive six miles to Longmire. Turn right just past the National Park Inn and follow the road marked "dead end" until it crosses a suspension bridge. A few hundred yards further you'll come to a small building and parking lot. Park there and follow the campground loop counter-clockwise to meet up with the volunteer team.

If you'd like to extend your weekend, consider camping in the Longmire Campground after your work day. Camping is free for working volunteers, and volunteers have access to the only public showers in the park!

We hope to see you there!

Longmire Campground Cleanup Event

Many of our Volunteers take advantage of the privilege of staying in the historic Longmire Campground while they're working on projects in the Park. Some come in motorhomes and campers. Others "rough it" in tents for a weekend or a week, depending on their assignments, but every winter brings down a new carpet of limbs, twigs and fir needles which need to be cleaned up before the campground officially opens.

For the last six years, members of Geocaching.com have contributed their efforts in tidying up for the June opening, and various other groups have pitched in later in the year, creating piles which now need to be consolidated for removal by maintenance crews. In addition, there is last winter's shed of branches to gather and rake up, and the platform tents need to be erected. Lots of work for many hands!

We're asking you to help! The date is June 8. The time is 9 AM. There will be a break for bring-your-own lunch, fun and games after the event, and of course there's the opportunity to socialize with your friends. Bring your own gloves, and keep an eye on the weather report to determine appropriate clothing. Please join us. RSVP to Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov or to Crow at Petrina_Vecchio@partner.nps.gov.

And just a reminder: we still need Volunteers to help clean up winter's deposits in the Longmire housing area on Tuesday, May 28. Event begins at 9 AM. RSVP to Crow if you'd like to participate.

Many Hands Make Light Work

For a sixth year, a small, dedicated group of geocachers got together with Park staff on June 9 to erect tents in the Longmire Campground for use by summer volunteers. This project has been plagued by a number of issues in the past, anything from late-lying snow needing to be shoveled away to parts having gone missing. This year was no exception as we discovered that the canvas tents had shrunk so radically that in a couple of cases, the poles did not fit. The good news is that the poles have now been shortened and standardized, and next year's "CITO the Mountain" should be the easiest one yet!

CITO the Mountain 2012

On June 9th, members of Geocaching.com will again be working in the Longmire campground, erecting the NEW tents and removing debris from sites and the road. This is the sixth year this group has organized a "CITO" cleanup ("Cache in, trash out") in the Park. Our own Kevin Bacher (K2D2 in the caching world) spearheads the operation.

You do not need to be a geocacher to join the party; just RSVP to Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov. Anyone who wishes to be part of the efforts should arrive at the Longmire Community Building at 9 AM for a short briefing. We may even be done by lunchtime, with plenty of time to socialize afterwards. "Many hands make light work!"

More details can be found on the cache page at Geocaching.com:

CITO the Mountain 2012!

Longmire VIP Campground Update

After a prodcutive spring clean up with CITO (Cache In Trash Out)this past Saturday (June 11th), the Longmire VIP Campground is cleaned up and ready for VIP tent and trail campers!

Just a head's up though, we currently do not have any platform tent sites available due to unexpected equipment difficulties. We do, however, hope to have them up and ready for people within the coming weeks.

A big thank you to CITO for sprucing up the campground!

If you would like to make a campsite reservation pleast contact Patti Poulin at 360-569-6588 or patricia_poulin@partner.nps.gov. Also, a quick reminder to please check in with Jean and Harry, our Longmire Campground Hosts, upon arrival.

CITO Pictures and Conclusion

It's Official: The Cache-In-Trash-Out event last Saturday was a huge success. More than a dozen Geocachers came and helped set-up nine platform tent, dig out a path to the accessible bathrooms, and clean and paint the accessible bathroom stall. With these tents up, housing volunteers will be that much easier in the future. This was the first big volunteer event of the summer, so it was great to see such a turnout. Just looks at the hard work and happy faces. I hear Geocachers have a term "First To Find", so in a way, they were the "First To Find" volunteering this summer.

So again, Kevin and I want to thank everyone that came out and give you a big round of applause. If you want to know more about the event and see some cool pictures you can check out this link for info and this link for photos.

So have a good week, a great Memorial Day, and come volunteer again soon.