From the National Park Service:

Mount Rainier National Park will conduct a test of the Geohazard Warning Siren at the Nisqually Entrance on Saturday, February 28, 2009, at 12:00, noon. The park is testing the new system and attempting to familiarize visitors, local residents and staff with the siren in the event of an actual geohazard.

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Our photo editor, Jeremy Harrison, is compiling daily slide shows from the Tour of France (Yes, Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis are both in the race). The tour wraps up Sunday.

Levi Leipheimer of Montana won the last two tours and is teaming with Armstrong on Team Astana this year.

Check out the pics here:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/static/photo/sportsgallery/sports.html

The lack of fresh snow in the last few weeks has been a mixed blessing for winter visitors to Mount Rainier National Park.

It means they’ve had weekday access to Paradise but there was been little fresh powder in which they can play, ski or snowboard.

After a slide took out part of one lane of the road to Paradise on Glacier Hill, park staff announced weekday openings of the road would be limited to those days when conditions are “near perfect.”

It seems as if conditions have been good, if not near perfect, much of the time since the road reopened.

I spoke Wednesday with acting superintendent Randy King about the road situation. He said there has been only one weekday in which the road wasn’t open.

He said drivers have been doing a good job of going through the damaged areas without backing up traffic in areas prone to avalanches.

Even with the road being open much of the past month, winter park visitation is down significantly, said chief ranger Chuck Young.

Checking park stats, I found that January’s recreation visits total was 14,765, down 32.31 percent from 2008. December visitation was 13,929, down 39.15 percent from December 2007.

State fishery managers have scheduled three days of razor clam digs in late March, with two digs scheduled for April.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife will open four beaches for clam digging if the state Department of Health certifies that razor clam samples tested for marine toxins are safe to eat.

If clams are safe to eat, Twin Harbors and Mocrocks will open March 27-29, while Long Beach and Copalis will be open March 28-29. With low tides occuring in the morning, all digging on those beaches must be completed by noon.

In April, Twin Harbors would be open April 10-12 and April 25-27. Long Beach and Twin Harbors would be open April 11-12 and April 25-27. Copalis and Mocrocks would be open just April 26-27.

It appears there will be no digging this season at Kalaloch, said the state’s coastal shellfish manager Day Ayres. The beach was closed last season because the population there was extremely low. The numbers at Kalaloch rebounded for this season, but the clams were too small to harvest.

Ayres said recent test digs showed the clams have not grown to harvestable size.

The spring digs are taking place even though thousands of diggers came out for the February opener.

"The weather really cooperated during February’s opener and most people got their limits," Ayres said in a prepared statement. "Even better, we have sufficient clams left to offer folks more digging opportunities this spring."

Ayres said more digs will likely be announced following the April digs.

"There’s a good chance we’ll have enough clams to offer additional digging opportunities on some beaches in May," he said in the release.

Here are the low tide times for the proposed digs:

March 27, 7:49 a.m. 0 feet; March 28, 8:29 a.m. -0.4 feet; and March 29, 9:12 a.m. -0.6 feet.

April 10, 7:45 a.m., -0.7 feet; April 11, 8:25 a.m., -0.7 feet; and April 12, 9:05 a.m., -0.5 feet.

April 25, 7:27 a.m., -1.3 feet; April 26, 8:10 a.m., -1.6 feet; and April 27, 8:55 a.m., -1.7 feet.

The state Department Fish and Wildlife late Wednesday announced a fishing rule change for the daily limit for salmon in Deep River in Wahkiakum County. Here is the rest of the news release:

The limit may not include more than one adult hatchery chinook salmon during those days when the adjacent Columbia River waters are open to retention of salmon.

Effective date: March 1 through April 30

Species affected: Salmon

Location: Deep River from the mouth to town bridge.

Reason for action: Makes the salmon daily limit the same in Deep River as in the adjacent mainstem Columbia River during those days when the Columbia River (in the area below the Hayden Island west tower powerlines) is open to retention of salmon.

Additional information: Waters of the Columbia River adjacent to Deep Creek stretch from the west power lines on Hayden Island downstream to Buoy 10. Those waters are open to salmon retention seven days per week from March 1-15. From March 16 through April 18, salmon retention will be limited to three days per week, Thursdays through Saturdays.

All other permanent regulations apply.

An increase in the clam population because of natural recruitment and enhancement by the state will allow digging at Dosewallips State Park to open a month earlier.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced late Wednesday that the sport clam fishing at the park will open March 1. The season, open for all clams, will run through Oct. 31. Last season, digging at the park didn’t open until April 1.

Department employees have augmented the natural population with additional Manila clams, said an agency news release.

The park is located in Jefferson County on the west side of Hood Canal, just north of Brinnon.

Seahawks coach Jim Mora love the Cable Line Trail at Tiger Mountain for his workouts. It's a challenge, for sure, but if you want something tougher in the same area try Mailbox Peak.
I hiked the trail a few years back while I was training for Mount Rainier. Here's my account. Find trail info at the end of the story.

Not since the days of the Pony Express has checking the mail been such a workout.

To get to the two mailboxes on the summit of Mailbox Peak, you’ll have to climb 4,000 feet in just 2.9 miles. Of all the training hills around North Bend, this is the steepest.

It’s also significantly less popular than neighboring Mount Si, which is exactly why we picked this 4,842-foot peak for our workout.

We are here for the same reason so many hikers use the easily assessable steep hikes along Interstate 90. We are training for something bigger - Mount Rainier.

In less than a month eight of us will depart the Paradise parking lot on a two-day climb to the summit. It will be the first attempt at Rainier for six of us.

There is no better way to train for hauling a loaded pack up a mountain than hauling a loaded pack up a mountain.

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