Adventure briefs for Dec. 6

Best of Banff films return to South Sound

Once again, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour is coming to the South Sound.

The world tour showcases some of the best films shown at the annual festival, an international competition and presentation of short films and documentaries about mountain culture, sports and environment.

The Olympia showings, presented by the Olympia Mountaineers, is at 7 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Dec. 13. The doors open an hour before the program begins. It’s at the Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia. Different films will be shown each night.

Tickets are $15 general admission; $12 for Mountaineers, military, students and Olympia Film Society members (Dec. 13 only); and $26 for both nights.

For more information, call 360-956-1699.

Kids can help find the yule log

The Friends of Schafer and Lake Sylvia State Parks will have a yule log hunt Dec. 13 at Schafer State Park near Elma.

This annual activity began in the 1950s, as families head into the forest to help find the yule log that has been marked with a sprig of holly. Once the log is found, participants can gather along a long rope and help pull it back to the fire.

The child who finds the log will get the honor of chopping it in two (with adult help and supervision) The ax has been used for more than 50 years and the finder’s name will be put on the handle.

A fire will be in the great hall, along with hot spiced tea and holiday music. Visitors are asked to bring holiday treats to share.

The event will be from 1-3 p.m. at the park, 1365 W. Schafer Park Road, Elma. A Discover Pass is needed for vehicle access to the park, but the activities are free.

More information is available at fosls.org.

Park Service announces free days for 2016

The National Park Service has expanded the number of days in 2016 that it will waive entrance fees as the agency prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary. There will be 16 days on which visitors will be able to enter for free any of the 127 of 409 Park Service sites that charge admission. That includes Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks.

The free days will be:

Jan. 18: Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

April 16-24: National Park Week.

Aug. 25-28: The service’s birthday and following weekend.

Sept. 24: National Public Lands Day.

Nov. 11: Veterans Day.

“Fee-free days provide an extra incentive to visit a national park, especially during next year’s centennial celebration,” said Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said in a prepared statement. “We added extra fee-free days so that everyone has a chance to join the party. With locations in every state, finding a national park is easy. The hard part might be deciding which ones to visit.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 9:15 PM with the headline "Adventure briefs for Dec. 6."