Outdoors Blog

Mount Rainier's Paradise Inn to reopen on May 16

The historic Paradise Inn in Mount Rainier National Park will reopen on May 16 -- two years after closing for a major restoration of the landmark building.

The $22.5 million project put a modern foundation under the building, strengthened the inn’s timber frame and stone fireplaces and walls and replaced failing plumbing, electrical, mechanical and fire safety systems.

Paradise Inn is a gorgeous national landmark and well worth the drive to Paradise. It's a great place to spend the night after a hiking or climbing trip -- or to enjoy a meal with family and friends.

Paradise Inn will open for public tours at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. The inn will be open for overnight guests and dining from May 16 through early October. For more information, visit www.guestservices.com

Trapping of sea lions below Bonneville Dam suspended after illegal shooting

The states of Washington and Oregon put a halt to capturing and relocating salmon-eating California sea lions below Bonneville Dam after six of the big animals were found shot Sunday.

The dead sea lions were found dead on trapping platforms near Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.

The states of Washington and Oregon have federal permission to remove 85 sea lions from the Columbia near Bonneville each year for several years to ease predation on endangered salmon and steelhead runs.

The states have been live trapping the animals in preparation for sending them to zoos.

But someone couldn't resist shooting the animals, which is sad. The shootings are illegal and only pour another layer of controversy on the plan to reduce sea lion predation on salmon.

Lost in all this is the fact that humans are really to blame for the entire problem. We've backed salmon into a tough corner with dams, commercial fishing and habitat loss. The sea lions have found the dams -- which concentrate salmon -- an easy place to hunt.

You can see a similar deal below the Fourth Avenue Bridge and dam right in Olympia every summer and fall. Chinook salmon returning to the Tumwater Falls hatchery stack up below the dam and seals and sea lions have easy hunting.

Sea lions on the Columbia are a problem for struggling salmon, but commerical gillnets in the river take more salmon than the sea lions.

It's just crazy.

The winter that would not die roars back to life this weekend -- so get out and ski or board it.

Well, the Cascades are supposed to get another foot or so of new snow this weekend -- even as Washington ski areas prepare to start shutting down the lift bullwheels.

Ho, hum, I guess. There has been so much snow this winter!

Crystal Mountain closed April 13 with more than 10 feet still on the slopes. Crystal measured 481 inches of snow this winter, which is 40 FEET of snow from November through April.

White Pass is still open on weekends through the end of April, and the Summit at Snoqualmie is open at least until May 5. Both resorts should have some great powder this weekend. This is not a spring-skiing kind of year.

I say get out there and make some turns in primo snow in April! Crystal may reopen for weekends only in mid-May, but that is far from certain. Get out there now and revisit winter -- the best snow winter I've seen in my 12 years in western Washington.

Wolves remain protected throughout Washington

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has removed gray wolves from the federal endangered species list in eastern Washington, but the animals are still fully protected as a state endangered species.

It is illegal to kill, harm or harass a wolf. If you see a wolf killing your animals -- or just see a wolf -- call 1-888-584-9038. Wolves remain a very rare sight in eastern Washington, and I'm not sure any wild wolves have found their way into western Washington. Western Washington wolves remain on the federal endangered species list in western Washington.

And if you see what you think is a wolf, look twice. It's probably a coyote.

For more on Washington's wolf management program, visit http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/diversity/soc/gray_wolf/index.htm

Staircase to open late, other news from Olympic National Park

Staircase -- that stunning part of Olympic National Park that is soooo close to us in South Sound -- probably won't open until June 9 because of slides on the access road.

Staircase was scheduled to open on May 9 and close on Oct. 31.

Staircase, which is where the North Fork Skokomish River flows into Cushman Lake, is a beautiful spot with a great campground, river access and miles and miles and miles of hiking trails. There is no better place for a day trip in South Sound.

Olympic National Park is digging out from a second straight winter of flood and storm damage. Heavy snow -- it's still 10 feet deep in the high country -- will keep lots of trails closed for weeks to come. For more details, check out my outdoor column on Tuesday.

Local mountain climber to talk about first attempt to climb Chong Kumdan 2

Dr. Marlin Geist, an Olympia High School graduate, will talk about his experiences on the first expedition to attempt the summit of Chong Kumdan 2 on Friday evening at The Alpine Experience, 408 Olympia Ave. NE.

The talk begins at 8 p.m.

Chong Kumdan 2 is a 22,979-foot peak in the eastern Karakoram Mountains of Kashmir, India.

The expedition of 39 people and 50 pack horses took 11 days to reach base camp and had to cross raging rivers and make a path for horses across large glaciers.

Geist will talk about the connection between Chong Kumdan 1 and Chong Kumdan 2 and talk about his arrest by the Indian Army.

Dr. Geist currently lives in Visalia, CA, where he practices veterinary orthopedic surgery.

Nisqually Land Trust helps save old-growth woods near Mount Rainier National Park

I'm sure that most of us have noticed that big, beautiful block of huge trees that shades a half-mile of road near the main entrance to Mount Rainier National Park.

The Allen Estate's huge Douglas firs are among the last few stands of old forest outside of the park boundary near Ashford. The trees were slated for logging, but the Nisqually Land Trust and the state Department of Natural Resources found a way to raise $780,000 from the federal government to buy the land and save the trees.

Natural Resources will have a permanent conservation easement on the 142-acre parcel. That is technical lingo that means the land will not go under the chainsaw and will always remain a place for big trees and wildlife. According to Natural Resources, the land provides habitat for spotted owls and marbled murrelets, which are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

By the way, I'm not related to the people who owned and sold the land.

The Natural Resources press release says that Oscar Allen, a Yale University botany professor, homesteaded the land in the late 1890s. The land was later the site of the home of Grenville Allen, Mount Rainier National Park’s first superintendent, and his brother, Edward, the first forest ranger in the Pacific Northwest.

For more information on the Nisqually Land Trust, call 360-458-1111 or visit www.nisquallylandtrust.org.

Olympic National Park decides against fee increase -- but is this a good thing?

Olympic National Park won't increase entrance fees until 2010 at the earliest.

Like anyone else, I'm happy to get a bargain, but I'm not sure that this is the best deal for the park. I think the park could use the additional money a fee increase would bring in.

Olympic National Park proposed increasing the one-week entry pass last year -- from $15 to $25 for each vehicle and from $5 to $12 for a person walking or cycling into the park. That would have been a big increase, but the park would still have been a screaming deal. One week -- 7 days -- for $25 works out to $3.57 per day. That's less than most of us pay for a fancy cup of coffee, a movie or a Big Mac meal at McDonald's.

And the park uses entry fees to pay for services and keeping the place going. According to a park press release, entry fees pay for about $1.8 million in park upkeep and services each year. We're talking about trail maintenance, replacing bridges, restrooms, campgrounds, exhibits and so on.

The park does need work -- especially on trails that get hammered every winter. I hope that the park comes back to the public with another proposed fee increase for 2010. Our national parks are precious, but we've got to do a better job of taking care of them. Our parks need to take better care of buildings, campgrounds and trails. We need more rangers to protect our parks and park visitors. People from around the world visit our national parks -- which they consider miracles.

I do think national parks should have a one-day entry pass -- say for $5 or so. Lots of park visitors don't spend a week in a park. Yellowstone, Glacier and other giant national parks are possible exceptions to this trend. It is harder to pay $15 for a 7-day visit when you're at Olympic National Park for a one-day visit to the Hoh Rain Forest.

Of course, visitors can also buy annual passes. A year-long pass to Olympic is $30.

Our parks do need more money, and it looks like the federal government isn't about to start surge in park budgets. It is hard to pay money to visit lands we already own, but I've started thinking of those fees as upkeep -- just as we pay for oil changes and tuneups to keep our cars and trucks going.

Those entry fees keep our parks going.

Chester Allen

I should have called in sick Monday and gone surfing

I went outside Monday morning and it was dead calm -- not a breath of wind. That little voice we all carry around in our outdoor-addled heads whispered: "If it's calm here, it may be calm in Westport."

So, I went online to www.westportgrayland-chamber.org/surfing_info.htm and checked out the surf situation. The photos showed a nice swell with very clean, very smooth waves. It looked like Hawaii or Baja.

I was tempted to fall prey to a sudden stomach malady -- hmmm... perhaps I ate some bad chicken the night before? I know that calling in sick when you're not sick is wrong. But the idea felt so right.

But the sane part of my brain kicked in, and it was off to work. I kept checking the surf report, and it was epic all day. Westport usually has a pretty good swell, but it also usually has a ripping west wind -- the same wind that pushes in all the winter storms. A onshore wind blows up waves and pretty much wrecks surfing.

But when we get a rare winter high-pressure system -- when it's sunny and cold and still -- the waves come in clean and cold and world-class. It's even better if a breeze comes out of the east -- an offshore wind. An offshore wind stands up the waves and grooms them perfectly for surfing.

Well, my daughter's boyfriend, Josiah, came over Tuesday night and told us about an epic day surfing. I could hardly stand it.

I'm going to start keeping a good eye on the weather forecasts, as we should start seeing more pockets of high pressure over western Washington as spring slowly -- so slowly -- creeps toward us. I'd like a few hours of riding clean waves before summer kicks in -- even if it means encasing my body in the thickest wetsuit, booties, gloves and hood that I own.

But I should have gotten sick on Monday. I'm surf sick right now.

Mount Rainier National Park to open road to Paradise on Sunday

Sunday will be a good day to head up to Mount Rainier, as the road from Longmire to Paradise will open for the first time in 10 days.

The road has been closed since Feb. 7 when days of heavy snows created avalanche dangers. More than 10 natural avalanches dumped heavy, concrete-like snow on the road between Longmire and Paradise.

The park’s road crew began clearing the road on Monday -- and had to use heavy equipment, such as bulldozers -- to more the snow, which was more than 10 feet deep in some spots.

Park workers are getting Paradise’s snowplay area ready for use. Mount Rainier National Park is also waiting for good marks on a water supply test, which should happen on Saturday.

If you can't make it up on Sunday, a trip to Longmire -- which is awash in head-high snowdrifts -- is worth the drive. Mount Rainier National Park will be open to Longmire on Saturday. The National Park Inn is open with lodging, food, a gift shop and ski and snowshoe rentals . Rangers will lead snowshoe walks from Longmire at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sign up for the walks at the Longmire Museum.

Visit www.nps.gov/mora for more information and great pictures of the Paradise area under snow.

The story behind the elk photos in Saturday's paper

I've had a lot of people call or e-mail with nice words about the elk story and photos we had in Saturday's paper.

But there is a story behind those terrific and moving images of hungry elk. My friend, Tony Overman, took those pictures. I've worked with Tony for years -- and at two different newspapers. Tony will do whatever it takes to get the shot. I've seen Tony crawl through mud, get ready to breathe in tear gas or shiver for hours in the cold to the the shot you see in the paper or online.

On this day, Tony stood in the bed of a jolting, jouncing pickup truck. It was bitter cold outside, and snow pelted right in his face. Mashed, half-frozen alfalfa hay coated the truck bed. Sometimes Tony jumped out of the truck and sprinted down the rough gravel road -- cameras bouncing on straps -- to get the shot.

Tony never mails in his work, and that's why his photographs so often catch the moment so perfectly.

Heavy snowfall suffocating access to winter spots

It's hard to imagine a skier or snowboarder or snowmobiler whining about too much snow, but we may be getting to that bizarre situation.

This winter's heavy snowfall -- and it contiues to fall -- have closed the road to Paradise in Mount Rainier National Park and many Sno-Parks are getting snowed in.

It's a very good idea to check ahead of time before heading into the high country.

Here's what's going on in the Sno-Parks:

Marble Mountain and Cougar Sno-Parks on the south side of Mount St. Helens remain closed until further notice because of heavy snowfall and downed trees.

Forest Road 83 is closed at the junction with Forest Road 90 junction. Travel on Forest Road 90 to the 83/90 junction is a bad idea because of dangerous conditions. Forest Road 90 is closed east of the junction with Forest Roads 83 and 90.

The Wind River Road near Carson is closed north of the junction with the Government Mineral Springs road -- which has cut off access to the the Upper Wind River Winter Sports Area. Visit www.fs.fed.us/gpnf for updates.

Sno-Parks near Trout Lake -- including Atkisson, Pineside, SnowKing, and Flattop --- are open. Skate Creek, Johnson Creek, and Orr Creek sno-parks in the Randle/Packwood area are open.

State Route 504 on the west side of Mount St. Helens is closed east of Milepost 34 because of heavy snow. Drivers should be on the lookout for ice in the shade and bridges.

Mount Rainier National Park has closed the road from Longmire to Paradise because of avalanche danger and the tough task of keeping the road plowed when 13 feet of snow fell in the past 11 days.

The snow is expected to continue through the weekend. Mount Rainier National Park plans to plow and reopen the road to Paradise when the weather breaks.

To check road and weather conditions at Mount Rainier National Park, call 360-569-2211 and then select 1.

This dog really gets into powder snow

I was gliding around the web last night, as sleep was eluding me.

I went to a favorite fishing site, which had a Youtube link to a video that had nothing to do with fishing -- but a lot to do with having fun in the outdoors no matter what the weather.

It's about a dog -- it looks like a Dalmation mix -- chest-deep powder snow and pure joy. We're marching through a tough winter right now, and some people tell me it's hard to get motivated to go outside in wet, windy, cold conditions.

Check this out. It may inspire you. I know it will make you smile.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sUL0KCIc48

If you're reading this during the day, well, you should be sliding on snow

This is an old-school, snow-for-days-on-end winter for sure.

As I write this, Interstate 90 is closed because of avalanches and avalanche danger. That's what happens when five feet of snow falls over five days. It's snowing right now up in the Cascades, and epic powder is everywhere.

White Pass and Crystal Mountain are showing off shots of skiers and boarders floating through chest-high powder. Wow.

So, why aren't you skiing or snowboarding right now? The Super Bowl on Sunday is NOT an excuse.

It's a white winter everywhere

I've lived in South Sound for 12 years now, and I've never seen a winter with so many snowfalls.

More snow fell this morning, and the weather forecast calls for more this week.

I got snowed into Hood River, Oregon last weekend. It started snowing in the morning, and it just didn't quit. The forecast called for an inch or two, but a bubble of cold air hovered in the Columbia River Gorge, and all the clouds from the south rolled in and dumped snow.

We got a foot of snow in about 10 hours, and Interstate 84 was closed Saturday night. The heavy snow glowed under the streetlights and turned the entire town into a soft, white, silent world by dawn. It was gorgeous.