20 Loads

A feature article by volunteer Russ Hanbey

The moon was just emerging from its ellipse on this August morning as we gathered around the shop area of Sahale Construction along Lake Union in Seattle. It was still dark, but the crew was going about its work with quiet efficiency, readying themselves for a long day in the mountains. We piled into the oversized rig and headed out.

Blending in with early morning traffic and the rough edges of Mercer Avenue, it was hard to believe that the five men in this truck/trailer would find their way to the exposed and icy slopes of Mt. Rainier, some 100 miles away and 10,000 feet higher. Instead of down coats and climbing boots, this crew was equipped with Carharts and work boots. No need for ice axe and crampons, when shackles, tie downs and cargo nets were needed. Working man’s hard hats would be required, not climbing helmets. The job for this 14 hour day was to top off a three year reconstruction job at Camp Muir, high camp for the southern climbing routes on Mt. Rainier. The day was full of promise, only slightly tinted by the specter of impending hazardous and hard work.

Camp Muir, way station over the decades for thousands, had gotten itself a face lift. Several years of planning and months of on-the-ground work had delivered significant improvements to this rag-tag village in the sky. Instead of the noisy, messy, dank hovels that served as the public shelter, cook shack and privy, newly rebuilt structures had revitalized those spaces with rustic allure and stability.

Camp Muir has housed the adventurous and the scientific for 86 years. It is strategically placed at 10,000 feet, some 4,600 feet above Paradise Lodge yet 4,000 feet below the summit. Named after celebrated wilderness sage John Muir, this narrow ridgeline between the Nisqually and Cowlitz Glaciers provides a sanctuary for the weary on stable ground, despite being fully exposed to the elements.

The Guide Shelter was built in 1916 and is the oldest rock structure in the Park. 1921 brought the construction of the Public Shelter, then the erection of the toilet by CCC workers in1936. All were failing and in dire need of reconstruction. Along came Ellen Gage and her crew of historians at the Park. Meetings were held, planning took place and eventually Sahale Construction won the bid for the high elevation work project.

As the truck bounced its way down past Tacoma and on through the endless strip of neon and traffic lights that defines Spanaway and Parkland, the sun began to lighten the sky. The early morning chatter of working people picks up. Behind the wheel is Aaron Nelson, young, confident and seemingly ready to take on the day. Filling up the back seat are Steve Howell, Marty Walz.and Keith Jellerson. Steve and Brian are regular employees of Sahale, but Keith, who runs his own business, is just along for the day.

Seated in the middle front is Carroll Vogel. Carroll is the Principal Manager, team guidance counselor and quiet inspiration behind the bridges, trails and special back country projects that Sahale has designed, fabricated and erected in difficult landscapes throughout the country. As with most people who manage complex projects, I expect his mind is preoccupied with the many details and arrangements that have to fall into place to make this day a success. Or maybe he is replaying the previous night’s loss to the Angels or thinking about his kids.

The road winds its way out of suburban sprawl into more scenic farmsteads and intersection businesses. The trees get taller and more tightly packed and soon we are approaching the gateway cities to Mt. Rainier National Park. These small towns seem relatively prosperous despite the dramatic flooding that had closed down the Park for an historic period of time just months previously.

Along the way, we get an occasional glimpse of THE MOUNTAIN, which is cloud free and glistening. Though unspoken, the work crew appears to be elevated by this sight, since bad weather in mountainous terrain makes for a very long workday. This is building to be a pristine work day in spectacular terrain, coming near the end of a long, wet summer that is almost history.

Adding to the buzz in the cab is the upcoming opportunity to spend the day working with Anthony Reese, legendary Cascade Mountain helicopter pilot. Tony is 71, in recovery from his first serious crash in 30 years of flying last spring, and the only person that Carroll and his crew trust to fly the tricky slopes of Mt. Rainier. Multiple trips loaded with both humans and unwieldy cargo are involved and no one wants to toss the dice on a pilot they didn’t know. Tony has a reputation with all of the regional National Forests and Parks as the person of choice for smaller, complicated lifts and deliveries in and around the remote traces of the Cascades and Olympics.

The truck rounds a bend and pulls into Ricksecker Point, a closed off viewpoint several miles below Paradise. Directly in front of us is the expansive west face of Mt. Rainier which starts low and continues upward over tier after dramatic tier until the summit snowfield of Rainier trails off into the heavens. Our destination for the day is up and out of sight to southeast over Mazama Ridge and atop the Muir snowfield.

We are greeted by a man dressed in a flight helmet, orange jumpsuit and expansive smile. Rich Lietner is the Park Service ‘ground man’ for the day for their share of loads being flown back and forth to Camp Muir. Rich is a man of multiple talents, on the one hand having earned a Doctorate and on the other making himself an expert on high elevation toilets. Some of the Park’s earlier loads that day have been sealed barrels of semi-decomposed human waste. Camp Muir and the higher camp on Ingraham Flats produce a monumental amount of excrement, much of which, in previous years, worked its toxic way into down glacier watersheds. Now, most of it is collected and hauled offsite, paid for, in part, by the $40.00 climbing permit required to ascend Rainier.

Rich is the perfect person for the job. Highly competent, broadly educated, he is a jack-of –all mountain trades sort of Park Service seasonal employee. He is the kind of person that the previous administration felt compelled to eliminate and replace with task specific contractors several years previous. An outcry from Park Administrators and worker organizations thankfully nipped that in the bud before a bad idea became reality.

Pretty soon, the drone of a small helicopter increases in intensity, and approaching, off to the east, is our workhorse for the day. The four passenger Hughes 500 helicopter swoops in over the parking lot from on high, gently lays down another barrel, and flies off for its last load for the Park. Carroll’s crew holds back until the humming of the engine fades then starts setting up for their end of the work day. The plan is for Carroll, Eric, Keith and I to fly up to Muir for the day and package up the loads of left-over construction debris, leaving Brian and Steve at the parking lot to manage things as they are dropped off.

Back comes Tony 15 minutes later and gingerly sets the helicopter down as if it were a leaf off a tree in late fall. He approaches the waiting group with the type of confidence mixed with humility that people of substance exude later in life. Carroll stops the proceedings and presents Tony with a dedicated photograph acknowledging their work from the summer before. Neither man knows quite what to say, but the measured deference and affection between the two men is obvious. Since no politicians are present, the formalities are over in short order – it’s time to get down to the business at hand.

Tony gathers us all together and talks about the conventions and safety needs we’ll all have to honor when working around the machine. He semi-jokingly tells the group to treat the helicopter ‘as if it were trying to kill you’. This means to assume nothing, follow established protocols and don’t be stupid. Once said, he loads up our first human occupants and prepares to disembark. One of his biggest concerns is flying the chopper in tight spaces and thin air around Camp Muir, where there are dozens of people already gathered for their trips up and down Mt. Rainier. We’ll have to work with care and efficiency to set-up our loads safely since most of them will not be taken from the helipad but from around the reconstruction sites and groupings of people.

Depending on the helicopter’s level of fuel, we’ll have to gauge the size of our loads to about 500 pounds a carry. Each load will have to be netted up with a swivel clamp on top so that Tony can electronically release them at the parking lot below. The hazards for the pilot, and for all of us for that matter, are not only the lean air that reduces the effectiveness of the rotor blades, but unpredictable updrafts and downdrafts, intensely reflected sun off the glaciers, and ungainly loads that might throw the helicopter off balance. An extra added attraction will be rotor wash from the hovering helicopter which will kick up plumes of volcanic pumice and anything else not tied down.

Within an hour, Tony begins sweeping loads off the mountain. Each trip is called a ‘turn’ and represents a round trip. Each load is different enough that aerobatics and finesse are vital on each turn. Radio communications and hand signals keep all parties connected but in the end it is the skill of the pilot that kept the process safely flowing.

To our advantage on this day is the friendly weather at Camp Muir. It is mostly calm and surprisingly balmy. The views off in every direction are amplified by residual moisture in the air. Camp Muir itself is alive with climbing groups and guides, day hikers, Park service workers and us. In contrast, we are surrounded by absolute quiet punctuated only by the roar of the Hughes sweeping in and out every 20 minutes or so and the ‘Mountain’ itself delivering occasional salvos of rock and ice fall.

The reconstruction of three of the primary buildings at Muir is inspired. The exteriors have been rebuilt to reflect the design and look of the original buildings. Rock extrusions along the rooflines called crenellations mimic the sharp rock outcropping nearby. The exterior of each building is dressed in locally collected rock and just below roof line are cantilevered timbers that act as roof joists on the interior and ornamentation on the outside. The interiors of each building have been efficiently redesigned to maximize space, storage and insulation needs. Door frames have been moved to face warmer southern exposure and are adorned with attractive and practical iron mongery. Even tubular sky lights have been installed to lighten interiors and concrete spread on the roofs for durability and water proofing.

One trip leads to another until it is time for Tony to gas up. We fuel ourselves with lunch and enjoy the sustained silence for awhile. Off on the horizon are Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens puffing away. All of the ridgelines and watersheds that connect them are distinct on this clear day. Over our shoulder are groups of climbers snaking their way up and down the hillside, their routes clearly defined in the snowfields. We lay back as silent observers, enjoying the show.
After freighting down 20 loads and 10,000 lbs. of debris, the work day is drawing nigh. As we pull away, we are encouraged by the now more natural and uncluttered look of the place. This, of course, will be taken for granted by subsequent legions of visitors to Muir. This is as should be – come in, do the job, and leave no trace. For us, the flight down is as dreamy as this world of ice and snow. We buckle everything down and head out for our head bobbing, joke filled commute back to the city.

DRAFT Interpretive Training Schedule

Hey volunteers, we've started nailing down the schedule for the Interpretive Training, but let me emphasize that this remains a DRAFT. Each day has a theme of sorts, and I've broken the days into morning (AM) and afternoon (PM).

Tues 6/2 - Day 1: Climate Change

AM: Introduction, Paperwork and Orientation
PM: Speaker - Climate Change

Wed 6/3 - Day 2: Geology
AM: Presentation & Demo
PM: Field Trip

Thur 6/4 - Day 3: Ecology

AM: Presentation
PM: Demo's

Fri 6/5 - Day 4: History & Culture

AM: Presentation & Field Trip
PM: Demo

Sat 6/6 - Day 5: Informal Interp, Living History & Ecology

AM: Technique, Practice & Demo
PM Walk & Presentation

The tenitive plan is for the day to start at 9:00 AM, breaking for an hour lunch at 12:00 PM and ending at 4:00 PM. Remeber, this schedule is only a DRAFT is is subject to change.

Volunteer and Employee Photo Contest

I just found out about this contest, it sounds like a great opportunity for both Volunteers and Employees of the park to have some fun and maybe win an awesome new digital camera (courtesy of Olympus) for the park. All you have to do is take pictures of NPS Staff and Volunteers in their natural habitat: the park, and engaged in any scientific, educational or interpretive activities related to the parks natural resources. Pictures of visitors enjoying the park are also encouraged.

You can find the entry form and rule here.

So get out there and start taking those pictures, lets win this one for the home team.

Big Project Funding coming to Mt. Rainier

Cash, money, moolah, bling, whatever you call it, Mt. Rainier has some more coming it’s direction this year, courtesy of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A little over $3.3 Million dollars is going towards the funding of nine projects including:

• Improved public access to the Carbon River Area.
• The replacement of exhibits at Sunrise Visitor Center and improving access from people with disabilities.
• The repair of storm damaged trails.

This one will involve lots of you - the volunteers. Members from the Washington Conservation Corps, EarthCorps, Northwest Youth Corps, Student Conservation Association, as well as volunteers from the Sierra Club and Washington Trails Association will all be working to help bring these trails back to their former glory.

• Stabilizing the riverbanks and repairing damaged pavement on the Longmire back road.
• Replacing the electric power line at Narada Falls overlook.
• Building an accessible trailhead at the new Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center.

This is also real cool, the plan is to have our volunteers in the Japan Volunteers-in-Parks Association (J-VIPA) program work on building the trailhead when they come over in August and September.

• Fixing structural problems in historic buildings.
• Installing a grid-tied solar system on park buildings.

In keeping with the goal of having Mount Rainier National Park carbon neutral by the 2016 Centennial of the National Park Service, money is going towards the installation of a photovoltaic cells on the Longmire Emergency Operations Center.

And this is just a fractions of the $750 million and nearly 800 projects to be completed on National Parks across the country.

If you like to see a full list of the projects happening at parks across the nation check out http://recovery.doi.gov/nps

Volunteering Rates Dropping? Perhaps...

Hey again, Nick here,

Now, the post title maybe a little worrisome, but I think there is more here than meets the eye.

Kevin recently passed on to me a rather interesting article written by the AP and published on MSNBC.

The gist of it is this: ever since September 11th youth volunteering has been growing, but a recent report released by a Tufts University volunteer research group called CIRCLE shows that in 2005 volunteerism reached its high point with one in three youths volunteering, but in 2006 and 2007 this number dropped to 29 and then 28 percent.

Now, these numbers reflect a variety of conditions, including the impact the current economy has on Nonprofit organizations. In some cases Nonprofits are turning away volunteers because of staff reductions. So it might not be that less people are volunteering, it's that the economy is hurting Nonprofits.

The article also talks about kids and students who once volunteered now having to go find jobs. And the struggle of getting them involved.

A silver lining for Washington at least.

Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, Utah and Washington were among those with the highest percentages of 16 to 18-year-olds (all above 40 percent, when combining the 2006 and 2007 samples).

So read the article, and keep on volunteering, I know that at least up at Mt. Rainier we always have room for more.

Disclaimer: "Room for more" does not necessarily translate into physical space...
:)

Full Article

Introductions!

Hi everyone, I'm Nick Abel, and I'm Kevin's new Volunteer Coordinator Intern. I'm new to the volunteering game, or at least to the management (that word sounds so... harsh) side, so I figure the best way to break the ice would be an - Introduction Post!

I'm so excited to be working at Mt. Rainier with Kevin this season. I'm a Washington native, coming down from Sammamish (right up the hill from Issaquah), so I have grow up to love an appreciate the beauty of Mt. Rainier and Washington in general. While not interning for Kevin I usually reside in Moscow, Idaho, where I go to school at the University of Idaho.

Expect to see me posting as often as possible, and I hope to see some of you up at Mt. Rainier in the coming months. Looking forward to a great season full of great volunteerism.

-Nick

Junior Ranger Program volunteers needed at Ohanapecosh

Volunteers needed to help with Junior Ranger Programs at Ohanapecosh

Volunteers are needed to help provide hour-long children's activities on Mondays and Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. throughout the summer. Assistance is also needed on weekends at the same time, but the greatest need is for Mondays and Tuesdays.

Housing is not available, so this opportunity is only open to those within commuting distance, though free camping is available in association with your days of volunteering. Volunteers should be willing to undergo a background check. This opportunity is open to both new and existing volunteers!

If you're available and interested, please contact Julia Pinnix by e-mail or by phone at 360-569-6048, or submit an online application.

Happy Earth Day!

President Barack Obama works with Student Conservation Association volunteers on Earth Day

A New Patriotism

Following up the President's signing of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, here's a great commentary I came across, by Alan Khazei, addressing our need for "Big Citizenship" rather than "Big Government."

In developing a new approach to addressing our 21st Century challenges, we need to look to what has always been America's greatest natural resource - We the People. From our revolutionary citizen soldiers, to the numerous voluntary associations that so impressed De Tocqueville, to the abolitionists, the suffragists, trade unionists and the civil rights marchers, it has always been citizens that have led great change in America.

The whole article can be read here.

National service, volunteer vacations, and Junior Rangers

Several items caught my eye in the news this morning:

First, President Obama plans to sign the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act this afternoon, tripling the size of Americorps and setting a broad bipartisan priority for volunteerism in the coming years.

Second, an interesting article on MSNBC.com about "volunteer vacations," a growing trend among people who want to contribute in a positive way as part of their time away from work. Here at Mount Rainier, the Washington Trails Association's volunteer vacations are wildly popular each year, and our own volunteer program is working to develop regularly scheduled volunteer projects that would better lend themselves to people who want to plan ahead to participate.

And finally, an article about Junior Rangers, also in MSNBC. Not directly related to volunteerism, perhaps... but watch later today for a volunteer recruitment notice for someone to help with our own Junior Ranger programs here at Mount Rainier!

Meanwhile, from the recent mailbag:

• Articles about efforts to increase "green" practices and sustainability at Mount Rainier and other local parks, in WTA's Signpost Blog and The News Tribune;
• Word from the National Parks Traveler blog that the next Director of the National Park Service will be Jon Jarvis, currently the Pacific West Regional Director and previously Superintendent of Mount Rainier National Park; and
• Several volunteer positions being advertised in local national forests, including base camp managers and experiential education apprenticeships.