WWW.MOUNTAINEERS.ORG SUMMER 2017 • VOLUME 111 • NO. 3 MountaineerEXPLORE • LEARN • CONSERVE The Big Beach Cleanup by Heidi Walker PAGE 22 Rebuilding History & Hearts by Allison Swanson PAGE 28 Registers and Canisters A Grand Northwest Tradition PAGE 34 Complacency in the Outdoors by Rachel Delacour PAGE 38 tableofcontents Summer 2017 » Volume 111 » Number 3 Features The Mountaineers enriches lives and communities by helping people explore, conserve, learn about and enjoy 22 The Big Beach Cleanup the lands and waters of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. by Heidi Walker 28 Rebuilding History & Hearts by Allison Swanson 34 Registers and Canisters A Grand Northwest Tradition 38 Complacency in the Outdoors by Rachel Delacour Columns 7 MEMBER HIGHLIGHT 22 Courtenay Schurman 8 PEAK FITNESS Extended Plank 11 MOUNTAIN LOVE Andrew and Roseanne 12 YOUTH OUTSIDE Every Kid in a Park 14 VOICES HEARD Celebrating Identity 28 16 BOOKMARKS Found: A Life in Mountain Rescue 18 TRAIL TALK The Hills are Afoul with the Smell of Poo 20 CONSERVATION CURRENTS A Public Lands Cry for Help 43 IMPACT GIVING Maiza Lima’s Story 44 RETRO REWIND Mary Anderson 48 GO GUIDE Activities and Courses 58 OFF BELAY Remembering members 59 LAST WORD 38 Stewardship Discover The Mountaineers If you are thinking of joining — or have joined and aren’t sure where to start — why not set a date to Meet The Mountaineers? Check the Mountaineer uses: Branching Out section of the magazine for times and locations of CLEAR informational meetings at each of our seven branches. on the cover: Allison Swanson repairs the lookout on Mount Pilchuck. story on page 28 AREA photographer: Ethan Welty - www.weltyphotography.com 2 mountaineer » summer 2017 tyingin The Mountaineers is a non- An Appreciation for Washington Stewardship profit organization, founded in 1906 and dedicated to the My wife Peg used to travel to Mexico to teach responsible enjoyment and English at a couple of universities in the southern protection of natural areas. state of Oaxaca. I would typically visit a few times BOARD OF DIRECTORS during her assignments and we would travel and OFFICERS explore nearby environs. During one of my visits, President Geoff Lawrence we planned a trip to the idyllic seaside village of Vice President Lorna Corrigan VP of Branches Tab Wilkins Mazunte, with a stop in the town of San José del VP of Properties Tom Varga Pacífico. This town sat at an elevation of nearly VP Publishing Eric Linxweiler 9,000ft in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range Secretary Carry Porter Treasurer Brian Young between the interior high savanna and the rugged coast to the south of the state. DIRECTORS AT LARGE Evy Dudey Knowing we’d be staying a couple of nights in the Chloe Harford mountains, I eagerly researched hiking opportunities Martina Kozar Steve McClure to tackle during our visit. To my surprise, my John Ohlson Geoff and Peg in Mexico research turned up precious little in these incredibly Kara Stone beautiful mountains that feature frequent vistas Steve Swenson of the Pacific Ocean through the haze, other than several non-specific accounts that Steven Yi Gene Yore “there’s good hiking in the pine forests.” I finally stumbled on a blog that described a walk BRANCH DIRECTORS up in the mountains, and we set off early the morning after we arrived for our hike. We VACANT, Bellingham started walking up a rural road punctuated by a few houses, a ubiquitous church, and many Matt Vadnal, Everett chickens. The graveled road gave way to a rutted dirt track scarred by numerous borrow Cheryl Talbert, Foothills pits and collections of refuse, and after a mile or so narrowed to single track path and then Sue Labrie, Kitsap Henry Romer, Olympia petered out into underbrush. Patrick Mullaney, Seattle As we walked, I thought about hiking back home in Washington and reflected on how a walk Jim Feltus, Tacoma in the forest there would probably start at a kiosk at a trailhead, on a trail well maintained by WTA, the PCTA, or other great organizations. It made me realize how fortunate we were CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER to be able to readily enjoy public lands and beautiful wild places, protected and available Tom Vogl for access by all. I thought about how I could spend a lifetime exploring and enjoying EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER protected areas in the state of Washington alone, perhaps without trekking the same Helen Cherullo terrain. I recognized that protecting our land does not happen without effort, making DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS me so appreciative of the individuals and organizations who steward the land, including Bill Ashby The Mountaineers that have fought to protect our wild places and to preserve access for DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS future generations. The Mountaineers played an important role in the establishment of the Kristina Ciari North Cascades National Park, and continues to advocate for wilderness preservation and DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT recreation access. Braided River, an imprint of Mountaineers Books, publishes titles that Mary Hsue are intended to shape conversations about the importance of preserving wild places, and PUBLICATIONS MANAGER inspire support for critical conservation efforts. Our own Senator Patty Murray and U.S. Suzanne Gerber Representative Derek Kilmer have just re-introduced Wild Olympics legislation to protect PROOFREADER environmentally sensitive areas and support outdoor recreation, originally introduced by Evy Dudey U.S. Representative Norm Dicks in 2012, but repeatedly stalled in Congress. Fighting for PHOTOGRAPHERS preservation and access takes perseverance and passion, but the rewards are enormous. listed by photos About two hours after we started our hike in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains we turned The Mountaineer (ISSN 0027-2620) is around to return to our casita, discussing what we could do the rest of the day following published quarterly by The Mountaineers, our unexpectedly and disappointedly truncated hike. I also mused about the options for my 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115. 206-521-6000; 206-523-6763 fax. next destination when I returned home, with a renewed appreciation for the great value of Postmaster: Send address changes to stewardship and wilderness preservation of the lands in our own country. Mountaineer, 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115. Periodicals postage paid at Seattle, WA. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of The Mountaineers. Geoff Lawrence Mountaineers President, Board of Directors www.mountaineers.org 3 editorsnote What a Season for a Walk in the Park Summer rarely disappoints in the Pacific And our fourth feature is about caring for each Northwest. For a while, it seemed the winter other in the wilderness, addressing one of the rains kept all but the more adventurous from major factors in many mountain accidents: moving here. Then, somehow, tech companies complacency. Sometimes we can actually be discovered the remarkable beauty of our too comfortable outside. mountains. Either that, or programmers simply Our Youth Outside column is a special one didn’t mind the idea of gloomy days. Perhaps a written by guest writer, Casey Andrews. She’s little of both. Now, every summer gets a little the Seattle coordinater for the Every Kid in a warmer than the previous and our mountains, Park initiative which allows all fourth-graders hills and trails are seeing more new faces than to pick up a free pass to national parks for ever before. the year. We get to follow the adventures of This issue of Mountaineer is about taking care 9-year-old Samuel Tinker who used his pass Suzanne Gerber of those hills and each other, as we discover last summer. Publications Manager our freedom to roam. [email protected] And don’t miss our Member Highlight this The first feature, “The Big Beach Cleanup” is issue, as we feature Courtenay Schurman, our about the history of Washington CoastSavers — regular Peak Fitness columnist. This is always the collection of organizations and nonprofits one of my favorite columns as we learn a bit that gather thousands of volunteers twice more about individual members, when they a year (around Earth Day and July 5th) to joined The Mountaineers and what they love clean up the trash on Washington beaches. about getting outside. We have even more Like many conservation groups, it grew out of members featured weekly on our online blog. the hard work and dedication of a passionate Hopefully one of those people getting outside person who brought together many more. is you. As you plan your summer adventures, Then the magazine moves from sea-level to consider participating in OPYA (Our Parks Your the top of a mountain with its second feature, Adventure), to help support The Mountaineers. “Rebuilding History & Hearts.” In it, we get a Thank you for reading the magazine. first-perspective look at what it takes to keep the lookout tower on Mount Pilchuck up and running — something the Everett Mountaineers Happy Adventuring, have been doing for decades. The third feature is also about summits — specifically about the summit registers that you sign when you get up there and the Suzanne Gerber, Publications Manager canisters they’re stored in. 4 mountaineer » summer 2017 A summer view from Winchester Mountain Lookout. Photo by Andy Porter summitsavvy Can you identify the location in the foreground? Send your answer to Suzanne: suzanneg@mountaineers. org. If you guess correctly, you’ll receive a $15 gift certificate* good for Mountaineers purchases, and we’ll publish your name in next issue’s column with the answer. In case of a tie, one winner will be chosen at random. Adventurer? Please send in your trip photographs for possible publication as a mystery location! Nobody was able to correctly guess last issue’s Summit Savvy - Valhalla Peak, so hopefully this one is a little easier.