Mount Rainier Volunteers Work to Reopen Trails, Repair Damages

Complete story at The News Tribune, September 28, 2007:

“If we didn’t have the volunteer assistance, a lot of miles of trail most likely would not have been open or would be opening now,” said Carl Fabiani, the park’s trail supervisor. “If you count all the youth corps and volunteer support we had, it was at least half the work we got done.”

Volunteers Rescue Ravaged Mount Rainier National Park

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 28, 2007:

The Mount Rainier recovery estimate was $36 million, but volunteerism and fiscal management likely will bring costs down, possibly allowing funding to shift to other hard-hit national parks like Olympic or North Cascades, said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

The Calm before the Storm...

National Public Lands Day is just four days away. More than 120 people have signed up so far, and there's still room for more! Congressman Norm Dicks may join us at Longmire to kick off the day, and other representatives are considering doing so as well. It'll be a great way to end this Season of the Volunteer, adding several hundred more hours to a total, now past 67,000, that has already shattered all previous records. Meanwhile, volunteers and park rangers continue to work hard on trails, campgrounds, and restoration projects, knowing that winter's snows may be less than a month away in some places.


"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." - Anne Bradstreet, Meditations Divine and Moral (1655)

Volunteers work in Mount Rainier's rugged backcountry

From The Olympian, September 25, 2007:

The sounds of traffic melt away just as the sounds of the creek burble up the trail. The creek pours through narrow slots in giant, bedrock boulders when it first comes into view. At that moment, you stop thinking about the hike back up to the car — and start thinking about what wonders are ahead. On this day, the biggest wonder was a crew of five Student Conservation Association workers.

Celebrate National Public Lands Day this Saturday

From the Washington Trails Association, September 25, 2007:

Fall is a great time to volunteer on trails. Okay, so it's not completely sunny out, but think how much cooler you'll be as you heft those grub hoes and Pulaskis while you're helping fix our trails.

Special dinner celebrates hard work of volunteers

From The News Tribune, September 25, 2007:

People will have one last chance for the season to do flood recovery work at Mount Rainier National Park on Sept. 29, which is National Public Lands Day.

Trail Notes

From John Walsh, Paradise Meadow Rover:

New snow on the mountain - certainly a harbinger of winter. Quite beautiful to see. When arriving at Paradise, clouds parted enough providing spectacular views of the mountain. Trees appeared to be "frocked" -- it was quite beautiful. Snow actually on the ground and slush on the trails as you approached Pebble Creek. Trails above Pebble were interesting, new snow covered normal routes so a little dicey up there. Coming down was rewarded with some cool things; actually sat and watched a pika from about 2 feet away, had not had that opportunity before as they usually are pretty elusive; also watched a falcon hunting the meadow. He apparently had very little concern I was there and swooped fairly low over me. The best was as I was standing above the Golden Gate trail, I heard this very pronounced "swoosh ... swoosh ... swoosh" and turned east just in time to be face to face with a very large bird of prey flying directly at me about 10 feet off the ground. He shot like a fighter plane right over my head and dove down the hill with the switch backs. Very cool ...

Rebuilding Mount Rainier

"It's a good workout, and you don't have to pay gym prices," [Derek] Mulvey said as he walked off to a boulder field a few hundred feet away for more rocks. "And I want to make sure that there are trails to hike on Mount Rainier."

Read more of this article by Chester Allen on The Olympian’s website!

Summer cools down, repairs heat up!

The summer is quickly coming to an end, but storm recovery work remains in high gear.

Read more on the Northwest Parks and Public Lands Storm Recovery Coalition's blog!

Field Notes

• Registration for National Public Lands Day is up to around 80 people--not bad for still being 10 days out! There's lots of room for more, so remember to sign up here, either for a work project, or for the evening barbecue and celebration, or both.
• Thank you to all of our sponsors! Numerous local businesses are helping us make National Public Lands Day exceptional. Partners so far include the Student Conservation Association, National Parks Conservation Association, Washington's National Park Fund, Washington Trails Association, Mountaineers, REI, Mount Rainier Guest Services, International Mountain Guides, Ranger Doug's Enterprises, Starbucks, HSBC Bank, Nature Valley, Glacier Water Company, PCC Natural Markets, and Columbia Crest School.
• Documented volunteers numbers are now up to 1,529 individuals who have contributed 56,773 hours of service. (Why do I keep saying "documented hours?" Many volunteers are still working, and won't turn in their hours till next month. Some have yet to turn in their records for August. Some turn in their hours in one lump sum at the end of the year. A few have to be reminded a time or two before their numbers come in. So, the total will definitely be higher... but we're already more than 600 individuals, and almost 13,000 hours, over last year's totals through September 30!)
• Statistics quantifying the work we've done are hard to track. For instance, I asked Trails Foreman Carl Fabiani a few days ago, "how many miles of trail have we repaired this year?" He looked at me quizically and said, "260?" Every trail in the park has had work this year, though obviously, some more than others. SCA's Mount Rainier Recovery Initiative, alone, has documented 31,970 feet of brushing... 59,560 feet of raking... 2,410 feet of tread repaired... 7,328 feet of side ditches cleared... 1,127 drains cleared... 8 retaining walls constructed... more than 104 stumps pulled... 23,157 invasive plants pulled... and 222 road culverts cleared. What do these numbers really mean? I have no idea. But they certainly sound impressive.
• Speaking of accomplishments, here's a (very) preliminary summary of our volunteer program's highlights this year.
• In the larger context, here's a PowerPoint presentation about Mount Rainier's flood recovery efforts, including the work completed by both park staff and volunteers. (Warning: It's 26.2 megabytes in size.)
• And finally, for those of you planning to join our end-of-season projects on National Public Lands Day, here's a little teaser of something you might see on the trail that day... it's just one of many surprises that we have planned throughout the day for those who participate. See you there!