Washington's second gray wolf pack has been confirmed in northeast Washington's Pend Oreille County, the state just announced. An adult wolf has been equipped with a satellite-telemetry tracking collar by state biologists.

State Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement Officer Pam Taylor steadies a male gray wolf in Pend Oreille that has been temporarily sedated so it can be equipped with a satellite tracking collar. (WDFW photo)

Here is the rest of the news release:

This morning, biologists with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife led by a wolf expert from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game temporarily captured a 105-pound wolf-believed to be the alpha-male pack leader-to equip it with a satellite-telemetry collar so its movements can be tracked. Two wolf pups also were temporarily captured, equipped with ear tags and released.

The collared wolf's movements will be monitored with periodic relocation data transmitted by satellite and downloaded on a computer. The Global Positioning System equipment allows monitoring without the aerial or ground tracking required in standard radio telemetry.

Biologists found earlier evidence of the wolf pack - they have named the Diamond Pack - through howling responses from multiple wolves of various ages, and from photos of up to four young wolves recorded on a remote, motion-triggered camera. A wolf pack is defined as two or more wolves traveling together.

Biologists with WDFW and the Washington Department of Natural Resources have been monitoring the area in recent weeks, after a DNR remote camera recorded images in May of what appeared to be an adult male and female gray wolf. The female wolf was lactating, indicating she was nursing pups. Subsequent genetic testing of a hair sample collected from a camera station indicated the hair came from a male gray wolf from the northwestern Montana/southwestern Alberta wolf population.

More recently biologists conducted howling surveys, and responding howls were heard from multiple wolves-both juvenile and adult.

Last summer, Washington's first breeding pair of wolves found since the 1930s was radio-collared in western Okanogan County in north-central Washington.

Gray wolves were removed from Washington by the 1930s as a result of trapping, shooting and poisoning, and later listed as both a federal and state endangered species.

Gray wolf populations in nearby Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have rebounded in recent years as a result of federal recovery efforts in the northern Rocky Mountains. Gray wolves were recently removed from the federal endangered species list in those areas and the eastern third of Washington, including Pend Oreille County. They remain federally listed as endangered in the western two-thirds of Washington and state endangered throughout Washington.

WDFW is in the process of drafting a gray wolf conservation and management plan, which will be circulated for public comment later this year, and will be considered for adoption by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2010. The draft plan was developed with a 17-member citizen working group composed of wolf conservation representatives, ranchers and hunters.

Anyone wishing to report a possible wolf sighting or activity should call a toll-free wolf reporting hotline at 1-888-584-9038. Those with concerns about possible wolf-caused livestock depredation should contact the USDA Wildlife Services office in Olympia at (360) 753-9884 or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Wenatchee at (509) 665-3508.

Click here to see a photo gallery.

The state is going to allow anglers to keep pink salmon caught on the Skagit River for three days next week.

Effective date: 12:01 p.m. Aug. 6 through Aug. 9.

Location: Skagit River from the mouth to Gilligan Creek.

Reason for action: Surplus pink salmon are available for harvest.

Other information: Salmon fishing is allowed only from the mouth to Gilligan Creek. All other portions of the river remain closed to salmon fishing. The daily limit is two salmon. Only pink and chinook salmon may be retained. Only one adult chinook may be retained. Night closure is in effect.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced its proposal to continue liberal hunting seasons for the upcoming 2009-2010 late waterfowl seasons.

Duck hunting season lengths would be 60 days in both the Atlantic and
Mississippi Flyways, 74 days in the Central Flyway, and 107 days in the Pacific Flyway, according to a news release.

Among the highlights area a proposed full season on pintails with a two-bird daily bag limit in the Pacific Flyway and a full season on canvasbacks with a one bird daily bag limit offered nation-wide. Additionally, the framework calls for a bag limit of three scaup in the Pacific Flyway for 86 days.

States select their season and earliest season beginning and latest ending dates from within the frameworks which establish the maximum season length and bag limits.

Here are the highlights of the proposed late-season frameworks for the
Pacific Flyway which includes Washington, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and portions of Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming:

Ducks: Under the proposal, states are allowed a 107-day general duck season between Sept. 26 and Jan. 31. The proposed daily bag limit is seven ducks, including no more than two mallard hens, two redheads, one canvasback and two pintails. In addition, an 86-day season for scaup can be chosen with a daily bag limit of three.

Geese: 100-day seasons are proposed for the Pacific Flyway between Sept. 26 and March 10. Proposed basic daily bag limits are up to 10 light geese and four dark geese. In Washington, the dark goose limit does not include brant. For brant, the proposed season lengths are 16 days in Washington, with a two-bird daily limit.

Click here to find the proposed late season waterfowl frameworks, scheduled to be posted in a mid-August edition of the Federal Register for public comment.

Click here to see the "Status of Waterfowl" report and video as well as last year's harvest figures.

The National Park Service just announced it has restricted open campfires in portions of Lake Chelan National Recreation Area. Effective today, campfires are banned in the following three campgrounds along the NPS-managed portion of Lake Chelan: Flick Creek, Weaver Point and Manly Wham.

This restriction means that no campfires are permitted until further notice. This includes using wood, briquettes, or any other fuel in the fire pits provided or in any kind of open fire pan or barbecue grill or other device, said a Park Service news release. Pressurized liquid gas camp stoves and enclosed solid fuel fire that utilize a wick to distribute a flame are allowed.

The closure parallels a widespread ban on campfires in the lower portion of Lake Chelan in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. In the remainder of Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, North Cascades National Park, and Ross Lake National Recreation Area, open camp fires are permitted only in established fire pits in designated campsites as usual.

Open fires are not permitted in other areas at any time.

Visitors are urged to exercise great caution with all fire. Do not burn toilet paper. Discard cigarettes properly.

Oh, how a well-timed thunderstorm can save the day.

Like the rest of Puget Sound, Mount Rainier has been feeling the heat. At noon on Wednesday, the temperature reached 80 degrees at Paradise – that’s at 5,400 feet of elevation.

That’s when a thunderstorm rolled in.

The .12 inches of rain that fell in about two hours helped drop the temperature 15 degrees in the same span. It only warmed back up to 70 by 6 p.m.

But lightning caused some issues, including a strike that damaged some of the phone and electrical systems at the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center. Park staff were still assessing the damage this morning.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced late Wednesday that Lake Wenatchee will open for sockeye salmon fishing.

Here is the press release:

Effective date/time: Wednesday (one hour before official sunrise) until harvestable fish numbers have been caught.

Species affected: Sockeye salmon

Daily limit: The daily limit per angler is two sockeye 12 inches in length or longer.

Location: Lake Wenatchee in Chelan County.

Reason for action: The 2009 return of sockeye will be sufficient to provide for the Lake Wenatchee spawning escapement goal, and additional fish will be present to provide for sport fishing opportunity. While the sockeye run is relatively late throughout the Columbia River, a very robust Lake Wenatchee run is predicted.

Other information: Single point barbless hooks required. No more than three hooks may be used. No bait or scent may be attached to the hooks. Knotless nets are required. A night closure will be in effect. Legal angling hours are one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. Bull trout, steelhead, and Chinook salmon must be released unharmed without removing the fish from the water.

Release sockeye with one or more holes (round, approximately 1/4" in diameter) punched in the tail of the fish (caudal fin). These fish are part of a study and have been anesthetized; the FDA requires a 21 day ban on consumption of these fish.

The staff at Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest announced today a ban on open campfires and restricts smoking beginning tomorrow.

Here is the rest of the release:  

“We need to take precautions for public safety,” said Forest Supervisor Rob Iwamoto. “These steps are based on weather projections and conditions on the ground.”  Fuel moisture has been at historic lows and the National Weather Service predicts more hot and dry conditions ahead.

Wood and charcoal fires are only allowed in developed campgrounds that have established concrete or steel-grated fire pits or rings.  Campers can use portable stoves or lanterns using gas, jellied petroleum or pressurized liquid fuel sources for cooking or heat outside of designated campgrounds. Smoking is allowed within enclosed vehicles, buildings and developed recreation sites. Violators can be fined up to $5,000 and/ or imprisoned up to six months in jail.  

Click here for a list of campgrounds where fires are permitted.

Because of similar conditions in other areas of Washington, visitors are encouraged to check with state or local fire protection agencies to determine other campfire restrictions.

Click here for information about fires on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center provides general fire information.

Report fires to the Washington wildland fire hotline at 1-800-562-6010.

This was posted on the National Park Service Web site today.

On the afternoon of Thursday, July 23rd, a 17-year-old boy from New York disappeared while hiking with his family on a southwest section of the Wonderland Trail. The family hiked west from Longmire on the Wonderland as far as Pyramid Creek that morning, then began their return hike to Longmire, retracing their earlier route. The boy was last seen by his family at the Kautz Creek crossing, where he moved ahead of the group. A ground search was conducted on Thursday evening and resumed on Friday morning. When ground searchers were unable to locate the boy, a helicopter was called in to assist. He was spotted by the helicopter team in the Kautz Creek drainage near the point last seen just after 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon. He was air lifted to the Kautz helibase and was reunited with family members at Longmire. He reportedly attempted to shortcut on a social trial which took him north, further up the drainage and above the initial search area. A total of 29 park staff and a helicopter and crew from Northwest Helicopters were assigned to the incident. Laura Bellasalma was incident commander. [Submitted by Patti Wold, PIO]

Wednesday is the last day to register for the second Paddle Kitsap, a two-day paddle trip around the north end of the Kitsap Peninsula.

Whether its a kayak, canoe, rowing, or other human powered craft , participants can enjoy the natural beauty, challenge of the course and making new paddling friends.

Paddlers will leave from Port Gamble and paddle around the north end of the peninsula to Kingston on the first day. Day two continues on to Poulsbo.

Paddle Kitsap is for all levels of paddlers. You do not have to be an expert to paddle this course. It is fully supported so you can paddle a little or all of it depending on your ability and how you are feeling. Most of the course does not leave the shoreline and the open water crossings are short in duration.

The cost is $175 per person.

Click here to learn more about the event.

Families headed to North Cascades National Park Complex can let their children take part in a renewed Junior Ranger program.

The park complex has relaunched the free program with four new age-appropriate activity booklets.

The Junior Ranger program goals are for children to have fun in the park and to foster a lasting relationship with the North Cascades, said park superintendent Chip Jenkins.

“The free Junior Ranger program is a great way for families to explore the park together,” Jenkins said in a news release.

The Junior Ranger booklets introduce the unique natural and cultural history of the North Cascades, through a series of activities organized around a specific theme to build connections and knowledge of the park, the release said.

Each booklet also has a “totem animal” that helps guide kids and families through the activities and offers instruction, hints and ways they can explore the North Cascades. Activities are grouped by ages 3-5 (Pacific Tree Frog), 5-8 (Black Bear), 8-11 (Raven), and 12 and older (Mountain Goat).

Children can earn Junior Rangers badges, patches and certificates by completing at least six activities in the Junior Ranger booklet. The booklets are available at any of the six visitor information centers in
North Cascades National Park Complex.

Stevens Canyon Road should reopen by 5 p.m. Thursday.

Acting superintendent Randy King said final inspection of the repairs done to the flood damage stretch at milepost 14.1 is scheduled for earlier today. If all goes well, the road across the southern portio of the park will reopen that evening.

This road, east of Backbone Ridge Viewpoint, was damaged during a January storm and has been closed to through traffic all season.

South Sound reisdents wanting to access the southeast corner of the park have been forced to use Highway 7 and U.S. 12 or Skate Creek Road.

More than 40 volunteers spread across Mount Rainier National Park today to talk with park visitors about the trouble caused by people feeding animals.

I joined the group and just got home from the park.

The park is making a real effort to communicate to park visitors the problems created when animals become habituated to humans and conditioned to learn that people mean food.

Alyssa Herr, who led the program for the park, cited a 2006 study of observed animal behavior. Of the animals observed, 54 percent relied on food foraged left behind or taken from humans and 11 percent were fed by huamns. Just 35 percent relied on natural forage.

Herr talked about a chipmunk that has learned to come out when the tour buses stop at one location and how the foxes at Paradise are teaching their kits to work the roadways for handouts.

The volunteers visited popular locations on both sides of the park to caution people against feeding animals and to watch for instances where people were actively feeding animals.

All the groups I talked to were receptive to the message and promised the only wildlife they would feed were the anxious children sitting at the picnic tables.

Staff at Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest have posted photos from the Mineral Park fire. Thunderstorms and lightning have started multiple small fires in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, about 40 miles east of Granite Falls.

Click here to see the photos.

Two lightning-caused fires are burning in the upper Duckabush and
Dosewallips River valleys, in the eastern section of Olympic National Park.

One fire is 10 acres while the second is one acre. Both are located deep within the park and in wilderness areas.

Here is the rest of the park news release:

“These fires were ignited by early-season thunderstorms and are a natural part of the Olympic ecosystem,” said Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin. “Considering their size, extremely steep surroundings and location well within park and wilderness boundaries, we are managing these fires for resource benefit through confinement and continued monitoring.”

Lightning storms on June 13 and July 11 resulted in over 30 lightning strikes within the park, with four fires known to be ignited. Two of these fires are still known to be active.

The Constance fire in the upper Dosewallips drainage is currently 10 acres and was ignited by a lightning strike on July 11; it was first reported on July 17. Its remote location and extremely steep terrain makes access for firefighters very difficult and would require technical climbing skills, presenting significant risk to any firefighters. Given these factors, park crews are managing the Constance fire through a confinement strategy, in which existing barriers like rock outcrops, trails and ridge tops are used
as natural firebreaks. Crews will continue to monitor this fire.

The Lake Constance Trail is closed due to hazardous conditions including falling trees and rocks.

Under clear conditions, the Constance fire smoke column is visible at times from the Silverdale area, and can be observed via a private webcam at www.drdale.com.

In the upper Duckabush Valley, the Ten-Mile fire was reported by a hiker on June 23 and has been monitored by members of the park’s fire crew since then. The fire is believed to have been caused by a single lightning strike to a tall old-growth Douglas fir on June 13.

Two other small fires in the upper Dosewallips drainage were reported on July 11 and smoke columns were easily visible from Hurricane Ridge. Smoke has not been visible from either of these fires since July 13.

Warm, dry weather continues to prevail throughout the park and is forecast through the next 10 days, raising the possibility of increased fire activity.

Managing these fires for resource benefits meets guidelines as outlined in the Olympic National Park Fire Management Plan, approved in December 2005 after extensive public review and comment. Naturally occurring fires create a patchwork of different forest types and provide a mosaic of habitats for a wide variety of plants and animals.

Recreatioanl sturgeon fishing in the Columbia River estuary will run another three days, starting Friday. Fishery managers from Washington and Oregon announced late Thursday the joint decision after assessing catch data through July 19.

Here is the rest of the news release:

By their action, the two states will allow anglers to catch and retain legal-size white sturgeon Friday through Sunday (July 24-26) between the mouth of the Columbia and the Wauna powerlines near Cathlamet.

Those additional fishing days are designed to give anglers an opportunity to catch up to 2,400 sturgeon still available for harvest after a six-day opening earlier this month, said Brad James, a fish biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"Fishing was generally good, but we didn't get the turnout we expected because a lot of anglers decided to fish for salmon off the coast," James said. "That left room for some extra fishing days."

This year's catch guideline for the estuary fishery is 15,529 fish. James said this week's three-day opening is not expected to cause the catch to exceed that guideline.

The daily catch limit is one white sturgeon, with a fork-length measurement of 41 inches to 54 inches. All green sturgeon must be released.

Jeff and I teamed up to write a story about our favorite food stops after a day in the outdoors.

No fine dining here. Just fine burgers, fries, shakes and cherry pie a la mode (Twede's famous pie pictured to the right).

Check it out and see if your favorite was included. If not let us know about your favorite. We'd love to check it out.

(Picture by Drew Perine)

I was at Mount Rainier Monday afternoon to see the donation to the park of the 1937 Kenworth Touring Motor Coach by Gig Harbor men Art Redford and Frank Pupo.

There were 50 some park visitors, family, friends and park staff on hand when the big red coach pulled in front of the old gas station in Longmire.

The coach was used to bring park visitors from Tacoma and Seattle from 1937 to 1962.

Dean J. Koepfler / The News Tribune file Otis Hay, a retired firefighter from Tacoma and former driver for the Rainier National Park Company enjoyed seeing the 1937 vintage Kenworth that was park in front of Paradise Inn when it reopened in May 2008. Hay used to drive sheparding tourist from Tacoma to the mountain.

I have to admit it was pretty neat seeing the gleaming red vehicle park in front of the gas station.

I’m planning to do a story about the coach at a later date, but I need some help. Did your grandparents or parents ever ride the coach to the park? Did they work for the company that ran the coach and other vehicles to the park?

If so, I would love to talk to them for my story. Contact me at 253-597-8640 or jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com.

The members of the Washington Army National Guard's 286th Engineer Company headquartered in Yakima, recently completed their two-week summer training. While the trainig takes place every year, this year's work will be of interest to outdoors enthusiasts.

The engineer unit worked with the Okanogon-Wenatchee National Forest to create a rock crawl area for ATV and off-road vehicle riders. The unit also worked to improve some of the roads in the area and repair damage done previously by ORVs.

Click here to watch a video the Guard did on the project.

I hiked about 13 miles in Stevens Canyon this morning. Yes, the road is still closed at Box Canyon, but it scheduled to open by Aug. 1.

Including today's hikes (and the hiking Sunrise package that runs Sunday) I've hiked 69 miles in the park this summer. The goal is 110 miles in honor of the park's 110th anniversary.

Here's a pic I snapped from Bench Lake.

Backpacker Magazine just announced its Best Cities to Raise an Outdoor Kid.

Seattle made the list - coming in at No. 6 - even though it's still easier to get to Mount Rainier and the Olympic Mountains from Tacoma.

We're not bitter.

Boulder, Colo., was No. 1 on the list. Hood River, Ore., is No. 13.

From Mount Rainier National Park:

On July 20, Mount Rainier National Park will become the official owner of the vintage 1937 Kenworth Touring Motor Coach pictured above. This coach transported visitors to Mount Rainier between 1937 and 1962 from the historic Winthrop Hotel in Tacoma and Olympic Hotel in Seattle. The bus is being donated to the park by owners Art Redford and Frank Pupo of Gig Harbor. The coach was purchased by Art Redford in 1985.

An informal donation ceremony will be held at Longmire in front of the historic Longmire Gas Station at 2:00 p.m. on July 20. Mr. Redford and Mr. Pupo plan to drive the coach from Tacoma to Longmire for the ceremony.

According to the owners, the “coach” is one of only five built by Kenworth between 1937 and 1938. Three still remain active, one in Sitka, Alaska, one in Montana and the one pictured above.

During the past several years, the owners have generously allowed the park to use the coach for its Centennial celebrations in 1999, in 2007 when the park reopened after the six-month closure due to the destructive November 2006 floods, and again in May 2008 when the historic Paradise Inn reopened to the public after two years of rehabilitation.

The park plans to have the coach on display at various times throughout the summer.

The future job status of Mount Rainier National Park superintendent Dave Uberuaga remains unchanged, and unclear.

Uberuaga, a 25-year veteran at Mount Rainier, has been serving since January as interim superintedent at Yosemite National Park while the National Park Service looked for a new superintendent at the iconic California park. When we last spoke in May, Uberuaga told me he hoped to learn by June whether he would be staying onboard at Yosemite or returning to Mount Rainier.

Obivously that announcement has yet to be made.

I was wondering if the announcement Friday that Jon Jarvis, a former Mount Rainier superintendent, has been nominated to become the next director of the National Park Service might break the logjam.

In an e-mail to me, Uberuaga said things remain the same. Uberuaga said he hopes Jarvis can move things along, but is unsure how much authority Jarvis will have until he is confirmed.

I also asked if he would be interested in Jarvis' old position as Pacific regional director for the Park Service.

Uberuaga reiterated that he plans to return to Mount Rainier unless given the Yosemite position. In saying no, he wrote, "I think the fun and challenges of running a national park on the ground is just the best and most rewarding."

Randy King has been serving as acting superintendent at Mount Rainier while Uberuaga is at Yosemite.

I crossed the finish line of the 30th Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic a couple of hours ago, wet and dirty after 95 miles of cycling in the rain.

As Gary Brooks, one of my riding partners said, “We look like we just finished a mountain bike race.”

Of the 10,000 riders who did this year’s 202-mile STP, the happiest had to be the 2,000 or so who did the entire ride Saturday.

The rest of us spent Sunday morning eating the muddy rooster tails of the cyclists in front of us as we wrapped up our ride.

My usual riding partners bailed on me this year so in May I posted a plea for riders on Facebook and heard back from two friends.

One, Brooks, didn’t even own a bike. The other, Mark Grover of Portland, is so physically fit he doesn’t believe in training. (Earlier this year he ran a 1:50 half marathon without training, and his 22-mile daily bike commute was his only STP training.)

Neither had cycling experience comparable to riding even half an STP.

I figured we might be slow, but at least we’d have fun.

We did have fun, and, as it turns out, our pace was quite respectable (About 18 mph on the open road).

Considering Brooks was on a bike he borrowed from a friend two months early when he started training and Grover was in cross-training shoes, I was quite impressed with both of them.

Our little adventure couldn’t have started more ominously. Grover and his wife, Tina, picked me up early Saturday morning and on our way to meet Brooks a coyote walked in front of the SUV.

=> Read more!

Former Mount Rainier National Park superintendent Jon Jarvis will be nominated by President Obama to be the new director of the park service, according to a statement released today by the White House.

Jarvis served at Mount Rainier National Park from 1999 to 2002. He is currently the Pacific West Region director for the park service.

Here's a statement from the National Park Service:

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today praised President Obama’s announcement that he intends to nominate Jonathan Jarvis to be director of the National Park Service. Jarvis, a 30-year veteran of the Park Service, currently is the regional director of the agency’s Pacific West Region.

“President Obama has made an outstanding choice for director of the National Park Service,” Salazar said. “There is no substitute for experience, and Jon Jarvis has three decades of hands-on experience in our parks that will be invaluable as we seek to reinvigorate and improve our National Park System in time for its 100th anniversary in 2016.”

=> Read more!

OK, if you're riding the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic tomorrow morning you better check the forecast.

The National Weather Service is calling for highs of 84 in Centralia on Saturday and a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms along the route Sunday.

In other words drink lots of fluids and be prepared for everything.

I'll be riding with a couple of friends doing their first STP (This will be my fourth) and I will post something from Portland ... if I make it that far.

So I took my son along yesterday morning for a little hiking at Rainier for part of the Rainier 110 project. This is the 110th anniversary of Mount Rainier National Park and I'm celebrating by hiking 110 miles in the park. I'll be posting dispatches here and in the paper.

So far I've bagged 56.9 miles.

Here are pics from the four hikes I did with my 8-year-old son, Alex.

1. Deer Creek Falls, 1 mile (Off Highway 123)

2. Grove of the Patriarhs, 1.5 miles (Near Ohanapecosh)

3. Silver Falls Loop, 3 miles (At Ohanapecosh)

4. Dege Peak, 3 miles (Between Sunrise and Sunrise Point.)

From Mike Archbold's "Word on the Street" blog:

The state’s three national parks are receiving $200,000 in grants from Washington’s National Park Fund, the fund announced this week.

The grants to Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic national
parks come from another successful fund raising year by the fund. The fund is the official philanthropic partner for the state's three national parks and collaborates with them to obtain support
for priority projects.

=> Read more!

The 30th Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic is Saturday and Sunday which means you can expect to find some Washington roads from Seattle to Longview packed with cyclists.

The 204-mile ride sponsored by Seattle’s Cascade Bicycle Club has been sold out since June 1. The ride will include 10,000 cyclists, more than 2,000 of which will try to finish the ride in one day. Last year participants from 46 states and seven countries rode in the event.

The start line at the University of Washington opens at 4:45 a.m.

While the ride is two days, all of the riders are expected to travel at least as far as Centralia on Sunday.

The Washington Department of Transportation issued a traffic advisory for the event. The advisory asks for drivers to be diligent and constantly aware of cyclists and to be prepared for delays.

Roads in King, Pierce and Thurston counties that are part of the route include Highway 181, Highway 7 in Spanaway, Highway 507 from Spanaway to Centralia. County and city roads in Puyallup are also used for the route.

I'll be riding the event for the third year in a row, this time with a couple of first-timers, and will post dispatch here on Sunday night.

Please feel free to share your stories here too.

J.T. Wilcox of Wilcox Farms recently celebrated the family business' 100th anniversary by climbing Mount Rainier. He learned that the mountain can be ruthless.

Wilcox passed along a story about the trip, which pushed him to the limit.

By J.T. Wilcox

Why do you climb a mountain?

"Because it is there," said Mallory, but he's been lying frozen on his mountain since 1924, so this is an unsatisfactory answer for a happy, middle-aged father of three.

"To prove I am tough enough to do it," would be a more accurate answer for me, if I was honest enough, or maybe if I had a few tumblers of Laphroig, but wasn't yet at the verbose philosopher stage. Yes, I might have said that before I climbed the mountain.

"Do not take the mountain lightly," was Bill Vipond's frequent advice. Bill is a slightly older guy whom I met a couple of years ago. Bill is a nearly perfect friend, not just to me, but also to a multitude of others. In fact, he's been like a brother over the last year. Although he has a slight tendency towards pontification, Bill's unusual personal openness, enthusiastic desire to help and the sense that he has a mission in life make him one of the most endearing people I have ever met.

It would be hard to exaggerate the respect that I have for him, but this story is about the mountain, so I'll leave my relationship with Bill for another time after just adding that he has climbed in many areas across the world and is one of those who believes strongly in the spiritual aspects of being in danger with guys in exposed places. The rope team, Bill, John Colleran, Rob Coyne, Henry Liebman and I had been training hard for more than three months. We'd meet twice a week to do the Cable Route, an agonizing climb straight up Tiger Mountain, a couple of miles long but with around 2,500 feet of vertical gain. We did this with at least 20 lbs on our backs and our times went from about 65 minutes to around 50 minutes at best for me.

=> Read more!

According to an article in The Olympian Friday's brush fire in Capitol Forest was arson:

BY MATT BATCHELDOR
The Olympian

A wildfire that started Friday in Capitol State Forest was the result of arson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources said Saturday.

Koshare Lomnicki, a public-information officer for the department, said the agency found evidence of “an incendiary device” near a pile of brush. She didn’t characterize what the device was but said there were not multiple fireworks at the scene.

She said the fire had grown to a dozen acres by Friday night, but firefighters had contained it by creating a perimeter around it.

=> Read more!

Thurston County fire department personal responded to an ongoing brush fire in Capitol Forest according to the county dispatcher.

Fire fighters are currently handing over the incident to the Department of Natural Resources. Capitol Forest is a popular destination for campers, hikers, mountain bikers, horsemen, ATV riders and other trail users in Thurston County. The forest is controlled by DNR.

Noted mountain climber Ed Viesturs is scheduled to appear on tonight’s “The Colbert Report.” The show airs at 11:30 p.m. on the Comedy Channel and is repeated at 2 a.m.

Viesturs recently reached the summit of Mount Everest for the seventh time. The Bainbridge Island resident also has climbed all 14 of the world's highest mountains, without the use of supplemental oxygen. In doing so, he was the first American and the fifth person in the world to accomplish this.

The state has announced it has set a maximum size limit for kokanee on Cle Elum Lake. Here is the rest of the release:

Action: Adopt a maximum size limit of 14 inches total length for retention of kokanee (landlocked sockeye salmon) in Cle Elum Lake.

Effective date: Immediately through Oct. 28, 2009

Species affected: kokanee

Location: Cle Elum Lake in Kittitas County

Reason for action: The Yakama Nation and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are beginning the reintroduction of anadromous sockeye salmon in the upper Cle Elum Basin with the transfer to Cle Elum Lake of 1,000 adult sockeye salmon trapped at Priest Rapids Dam on the Columbia River. A percentage of the fish will be released with radio-tags so they can be tracked in the lake to understand their pre-spawning behavior and later this fall when they migrate into the upper Cle Elum River to select spawning habitat. Few anadromous sockeye will be smaller than 16 inches, and few landlocked kokanee are greater than 12 inches; therefore a 14-inch size threshold will allow the kokanee fishery to proceed this summer without inadvertently harvesting valuable sockeye dedicated to the reintroduction effort.

Other information: The kokanee daily limit remains the same (16 kokanee, no min. size); see Page 87 in the 2009-10 sport fishing rules pamphlet.

Forest Road 99, which provides access to the popular Windy
Ridge and Spirit Lake viewpoints on the east side of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, will open in time for the July 4th holiday weekend.

Monument staff just sent out the release. Here is the rest:

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A climbing ranger was airlifted from the northern slopes of Mount Rainier on Wednesday afternoon after he fell about 40 feet into a crevasse, park spokeswoman Lee Taylor said.

Sam Wick, 27, broke through a snow bridge at about 10,000 feet while skiing down from Rainier’s 14,411-foot summit. Fellow ranger Cooper Self, also a member of the Crystal Mountain Ski Patrol, was skiing with Wick and was the first to respond. Both men were on their scheduled patrol.

An off-duty climbing ranger and a guide from Ashford-based International Mountain Guides also assisted in removing wick from the crevasse, Taylor said. Guides from Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International also helped with the rescue.

Anne Keller, a former Crystal ski patroller, was the lead guide for the IMG party that helped with the rescue, IMG co-director George Dunn said.

An Aerostar helicopter landed on the Emmons Glacier and lifted Wick off the mountain at about 3:50 p.m. Wick was taken to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center.

Wick may have a broken leg, but his injuries did not appear to be life threatening, Taylor said.

Wick is in his fourth season as a climbing ranger on Mount Rainier and is stationed with Self, 28, at Camp Schurman, located at 9,510 feet on the north side of mountain. Wick was honored by the park in 2007 for giving more than 1,000 hours of volunteer service.

Mount Rainier rescue rangers are reportedly working to rescue a skier who fell in a crevasse.

Our news partner, KIRO-TV, is broadcasting live footage from its chopper.

Click here to check it out:

http://www.kirotv.com/video/19919667/index.html

The 2009 Summer Speaker Series at Mount Rainier National Park kicks off Saturday and includes programs at Ohanapecosh for the first time.

The series feastures preentations from speakers with a connection to the park.

Among the scheduled spearkers are Rex Derr, now director of Washington State Parks, but a former Mount Rainier ranger; Loren Lane and Jim Ross, who worked as interpretive rangers at Ohanapecosh for years; and. Gerry Tays, a former assistant superintendent.

The talks will be held in the Paradise Inn main lobby at 9 p.m. on Saturday nights in July and August, as well as Sept. 5. The Ohanapecosh Campground amphitheater programs will be given in August at 8:30 p.m. on Saturdays, as well as Sept. 6.

Here is the schedule of events:

Paradise Inn

Saturday: Todd Smith, Olympia City Parks, will discuss his research on the history of the National Park Service.

July 11: Joe Kane, Nisqually Land Trust, will discuss the trust’s cooperative efforts to protect the entire Nisqually watershed

July 18: Pat Pringle, author of the new “Roadside Geology of Mount Rainier National Park and Vicinity” will talk about the park’s geology.

July 25: Keith Dunbar, National Park Service-Seattle, will talk about the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, newly established by Congress.

Aug. 1: Brian Luther, Puget Sound Mycological Society, will discuss mushrooms.

Aug. 8: Alton Byers and Jon Riedel will discuss climate change as seen through glaciers worldwide and regionally.

Aug. 15: Todd Cullings, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, will talk about Pacific Northwest volcanoes.

Aug. 22: Derr and his wife Anne will reminisce about their time on the mountain.

Aug. 29: Joyce McCloud and family members will share their Nisqually tribal culture and connection to Mount Rainier.

Sept. 5: Carolyn Driedger, USGS, will talk about the geologic story of the mountain.

Ohanapecosh

Aug. 1: Heidi Walker, will talk about the “Adventurous Women of Washington” including Fay Fuller, the first woman to summit Mount Rainier.

Aug. 8: Lane will share stories from his many years as a ranger at Ohanapecosh.

Aug. 15: Tays will talk about his experiences on the mountain.

Aug. 22: Ross will look back at his time at Ohanapecosh.

Aug. 29: Cleve Pinnix, a former Mount Rainier ranger and now volunteer, will share tales of his time at the park.

Sept. 6: Smith, Olympia City Parks, will present his Park Service research.

I rode the Tour de Pierce on Sunday morning with my brother and some buddies. The ride has a reputation for being super easy, but this year the course was altered to make it more challenging.

That, of course, means hills.

The new course climbed up to Lake Tapps, the Tubbs Road hill in South Prairie and a third hill at Prairie Ridge.

While the relatively short distance (the longest ride is 50 miles) still makes it doable for those who haven't trained it was enough work the legs of those who push themselves.

The course is definitely worth checking out. The Dan Henry's (directional indicators) are still painted on the streets and course maps are available on the ride website.

And if you don't like hills the map shows several shortcuts for avoiding the climbs