Step up your training for summer hiking A Publication of Washington Trails Association | wta.org Spend Less. Hike More. How to fill your pack on a budget Battle of the bugs: A 4-step system May+Jun 2017 Weekend perfection near Roslyn NATIONAL TRAILS DAY JUNE 3 On June 3, join WTA and take part in the nation’s largest celebration of trails: National Trails Day. Work with fellow WTA volunteers and give back to the trails you love to hike. LAKE WHATCOM PARK — BELLINGHAM RIDLEY CREEK — MOUNT BAKER UPPER DUNGENESS RIVER — OLYMPIC NP WHITE RIVER — MOUNT RAINIER NP DIRTY HARRY’S PEAK — NORTH BEND PRATT RIVER TRAIL — NORTH BEND SCHMITZ PARK — WEST SEATTLE ANTOINE PEAK — SPOKANE SIGN UP AT wta.org/volunteer Photo by Britt Lê 2 WASHINGTON TRAILS / May+Jun 2017 / wta.org FRONT DESK: Executive Director Jill Simmons /
[email protected] Playing in the mud Powered by you Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. —Aristotle Washington Trails Association thanked my lucky stars that, despite a forecast for heavy rain, is a volunteer-driven skies were only cloudy when I arrived for my first-ever WTA work membership organization. party in early March. But that didn’t mean the ground was dry. As the nation’s largest state-based hiking nonprofit, The trail was wet and mucky as we made our way to the work WTA is the voice for hikers in site. Some of the more seasoned volunteers explained that Washington state. We engage Taylor Mountain in the King County foothills is notorious for and mobilize a community mud, thanks to heavy use by hikers Iand horses that turns the clay soil of hikers as advocates and stewards—through into sloppy tread during the winter collaborative partnerships, months.