Winter in the Olympics!

No, not the Vancouver Winter Olympics, although they are definitely worth writing about. Great to see the good ole U S of A is bringing home some medals-and some great skiing and snowboarding from my New Hampshire, Vermont and Quebec brethren. We eastcoasters can ski! When you learn how to ski in New England, you can ski anywhere including the slop on BC's Cypress Mountain. And cheers too to our speed skaters-someone has to keep those Koreans working hard. And great to see the Canadians score well on their home front!

But still, as much as these Olys are fun, nothing beats Lake Placid in 1980 when we fought World War III and sent the Russians back to Moscow to pound their skates at the Kremlin and ask, "Who will bury whom?!"

Anyhow-if you are a fan of me on Facebook you probably have noticed that I just posted a bunch of great news on our Olympics-the Olympic Peninsula that is-compliments of the Peninsula Daily News of Port Angeles. Check out this good news when you take a break from watching Shaun White orbit the planet-

1. North Olympic Land Trust turns 20 years old!
2. Hurricane Ridge Road is getting close to reopening
3. More fishers are reintroduced to the Olympic National Park
and
4. Olympic National Park may add some acreage near lake Ozette.

All good news indeed for one of the finest regions/places on the planet!

Too Dam Much Money

Too Damn Little for Trails

Here's the Good News- $62 million dollars of federal stimulus funds are heading to Washington's National Parks. Here's the Bad News-the majority of it-nearly $55 million worth is just for the dam removals on the Elwha River in Olympic National Park. That doesn't leave a whole heck of a lot for Rainier, North Cascades, and all of the National Historic Parks like, San Juan Islands, Fort Vancouver and Whitman.

Now, don't get me wrong. I support the dam removals-say so right in black and white in my Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula Book. But I also support getting our trails and access roads back in shape-and that just hasn't been happening lately. I want people to be able to get out on their trails and enjoy their parks and have lots of opportunities to do so. The Elwha River Dam removals are important but so is restoring our park's trails, roads and visitors facilities. Seven million dollars left over for them is just too damn little. The Dam's portion of stimulus money is just too damn much.

Tip Toe Through the Humptulips! And what a glorious dance it was! Yesterday, James Johnston and Andy Stahl of FSEEE (Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics) accompanied me to lead a dozen plus admirers of ancient forests into the Campbell Tree Grove on the upper reaches of the West Fork of the Humptulips River. It was an introduction hike to the roadless Moonlight Dome Area, a 6,000-acre rugged tract of steep mountains and primeval forest that Andy, James, me and our hiking guests would very much like to see become a federally protected wilderness area. And why? The Moonlight Dome Area represents the last large tract of unlogged, unroaded, unmolested, un-trashed , unprotected coastal rainforest left within the Olympic National Forest. And we want to make sure that it remains unlogged, unroaded and unmolested-for its denizens-the elk, marbled murrlets, spotted owls, flying squirrels, cougars, bear, and a myriad of other species-and for its admirers-hikers and nature lovers here today and those that will follow generations from now.

Keep your eye here for updates on this campaign. I'll keep you posted on how it moves along. In the meanwhile, contact Andy at FSEEE on how you can help make the Moonlight Dome area a wilderness. If you live within Washington's 6th Congressional District, let Norm Dicks know how much you value an Olympic National Forest untrammeled-and how much you'd like to see this area become a federally protected wilderness. If you haven't visited this gorgeous natural area-I encourage you to. Pick up my Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula Book for a description of a hike within this roadless area. My book is the only hiking guide to cover this relatively unknown region of the Olympic Peninsula. And join us for another adventure into the area. Andy, James and I are talking about a summertime scramble up the Moonlight Dome with an apres hike camp out at the Campbell Tree Grove. We'll let you know about it once plans are made. In the meanwhile practice pronouncing Humptulips-it comes from the Quinault word for "hard to pole"-and hard to pronounce too if you're not careful!

(photo-James and Joan tip toe across the West Fork of the Humptulips in the Campbell Tree Grove)

Let's Go For a Moonlight Hike

on the Olympic Peninsula!
Well, not a moonlight hike in a lunar sense-you'd be hard-pressed to do one of those right now in the rainy Olympics. No, I'm talking about a hike into the Moonlight Dome roadless area. I am leading a hike here along with James Johnston of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. James and I worked together on the Columbia Highlands Book. Below is the press release. You're invited! Please join us! We look forward to sharing this special, remote, and little-known corner of the Olympic Peninsula with you.

You’re invited to a Moonlight Dome Hike!
March 29, 2009
Please join Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics for an interpretive hike into the prospective (not federal wilderness yet!) Moonlight Dome Wilderness in Washington’s incomparable Olympic Peninsula.
We’ll be accompanied by outdoor writer Craig Romano, author of seven books about the Pacific Northwest, including "Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula." Craig and FSEEE’s James Johnston will talk hiking, ecology, and opportunities to create new wilderness areas in the coastal old-growth forests of the Olympic Peninsula.
We’ll be doing an easy to moderate difficulty 3-4 mile round trip day hike along the West Fork Humptulips River Trail, through spectacular groves of old growth and views of rugged peaks.
We will meet at the Starbucks Coffee House on 1213 E. Wishkah Street in Aberdeen at 9:00 AM on Sunday, March 29.
Bring a lunch.
Come prepared for rain!
All FSEEE’s events are free, and this event will be fun for almost all ages and ability levels.
Please call or email James to RSVP or if you have any questions.
The proposed Moonlight Dome wilderness
photo Craig Romano
(Contact James at 541.484.2692 or james@fseee.org)
See you in Aberdeen on the 29th!

Northwest Trails Now in Outdoors Northwest

Check out this month's issue of Outdoors Northwest for my new column, Northwest Trails. I'll be taking you around the region to places popular and obscure showing you some of the best places to explore by foot. This month's feature highlights snowshoeing on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. Give it a read, then give it a whirl to Hurricane Ridge. And after exploring that wonderful part of the Olympic Peninsula you desire to seek out more trails in the region-consult Hikeoftheweek.com where you'll find a archived section of scores of Olympic Peninsula Hikes. And of course don't forget about my wonderful Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula book which has been receiving rave reviews from 1,000s of Northwest Hikers. See you out there!

(Photo- The NW's favorite weather forecaster Michael Fagin snowshoes side by side at Lanham Lake with Heather Romano)

A River Runs Through Me
Actually, I run through the river! This is the perfect time of year to do those hikes you've been avoiding due to their daunting river fords. Right now, most of those fords aren't very daunting at all. September is the perfect time to hit many of those trails that are off limits in early summer. The recent warm dry weather means river flows are low. The only exception to this is where the rivers are fed by torrents of glacial melt-then the warm dry weather is not your friend. But in many of our rivers, non-glacial fed- and a few of the glacial fed ones too-this is the time to ford away.

I recently crossed the Napeequa- knee deep and not too swift.
The North Fork Skykomish is pretty low right now too, as well as the Chiwawa. Over on the Olympics head to the Queets and one of my all time favorites, the West Fork of the Humptulips. Don a pair of old running shoes or sport sandals and let your tootsies feel the cool soothing waters of the Northwest. Hurry though-for it won't be long before those rivers start swelling again and you'll have to wait a long, long time to hit those trails again.

(photo-me having a blast at the West Fork of the Humptulips-Olympic National Forest)