Baker's Delight!

The picture in Harvey Manning's 100 Hikes North Cascades for Boulder Ridge is an uninspiring photo from the trailhead. No other guidebooks mention Boulder Ridge. Trail reports from various sources mention a scary rope climb, killer mudholes and brush and lots of bugs. I left it out of my Day Hiking North Cascades Book because of all of that negative publicity. Boy, was I wrong to not check this place out earlier. This weekend in the 80 degree sunny weather, Heather and I went up the Boulder Ridge Trail and this is what we found:

• First two miles in old-growth forest is nice trail and a delight to hike
• Next two miles on climbers path not bad at all
• one steep section
• good tread and no route finding needed
• no mosquitoes just some biting flies down in the valley
• mud holes minimal but could be a problem during a wetter year
• Brushy in spots but just huckleberry bushes-I wore shorts and came out with no scratches
• the scary rope-it is there but only if you want to continue on a mostly climbing route
• You'll get plenty of scenery and excitement beforehand making for a wonderful 4 mile journey
• You can explore the moraine up to the snout of Boulder Glacier without any climbing concerns
• There was nobody here! How many people do you suppose were out at Artist Point, Skyline Divide, and Park Butte. Yep, hundreds!
• This hikes is definitely going in a future edition of my Day Hiking North Cascades Book
• Get out there and enjoy it!

Now Appearing: Bellingham

Tonight at 7:00 pm at the downtown Bellingham Public Library, I'll be presenting a slide show and book talk on my Day Hiking North Cascades Book. The event is sponsored by the Mount Baker Club, an outdoors organization that among other things maintains the wonderful lookout at Winchester Mountain (hike no. 68 in my book). Come on down if you're in the area. Let me help get you motivated for the 2009 hiking season. Certainly these past few days of sunny warm weather has helped adjusted your attitude. I'll have plenty of books on hand for sale at the recession-proof price of $15-and that includes the tax-I'll eat it-the gov should thank me for that! And if I miss you here, I'll be presenting in Tacoma on April 17, Seattle on April 25, Issaquah on May 13, Wenatchee on May 15 and 16, Spokane on May 18, Walla Walla on May 21, Lynnwood on May 27, Bellingham again on May 28 and Port Townsend on June 5. Click here for details on all of these events. Hope to see you this spring--and this summer too on the trail!

An Expanded

North Cascades National Park?

In a perfect world our national parks' boundaries would follow natural landmarks encompassing entire watersheds and low country valleys lacking the "awe factor" but are actually more important ecologically than the pretty landmarks because of their biological diversity. Like I said, in a perfect world. But the truth is that many of our national parks were formed at great compromises to opposing factors such as resource extraction industries, motorized recreation groups, and real estate developers. The North Cascade National Park was one such park, created in 1968 against great odds from those competing forces, particularly the timber industry. Well with the timber industry no longer a major player in the greater North Cascades ecosystem, perhaps its time to revisit the borders of the North Cascade National Park and expand it where appropriate. The Park Service would be a far greater manager of lands such as the Golden Horn Roadless area than the Forest Service with its multiple use philosophy, cave-in mentality to the motorized minions and lack of funding. However, I am concerned that one group of conservationists-sportsmen, would be locked out of these lands in an expanded national park. Therefore I have no problem with exploring the establishment of national park reserves (like around many of Alaska's parks) to accommodate hunters where appropriate. While some hikers/conservationists would say why bother? The Reserves would still protect the land from ATVs, logging, and Forest Service ineptness and lack of oversight. Its all food for thought. In this month's Mountaineer (publication of the Seattle Mountaineers) Leesa Wright, a public policy associate explores the idea of expanding the North Cascades NP's boundaries. Are you interested? Let Leesa know what you think-and if you believe that the park should be expanded- what should be included within a larger park? Leesa can be reached at leesaw@mountaineers.org.

(photo- the Northern reaches of the North Cascades as seen from Hannegan Peak in the Mount Baker Wilderness)

Autumn's Last Hurrah in the CascadesHikers and lovers of the outdoors were just given an early Christmas present of four beautiful warm sunny days in the Pacific Northwest. Got to love those high pressure systems! With the family in town from back east we headed to Heather Meadows near Mount Baker to enjoy a wonderful hike on the Chain Lakes Trail. Shuksan and Baker shone like majestic giant bookends on this hike. A light blanket of snow graced shaded north slopes. Sun-kissed southern slopes refracted comforting warmth. Waters rippled in the half dozen lakes gracing the area and protected coves reflected stunning alpine scenery. If you haven't hiked the Heather Meadows region yet, you'll probably have to wait now until next July. Unless-of course you snowshoe or ski- in which case,that season should just be starting to rev up later this week.