We recently received the following info and question from Lisa Robinson, so we did a little research to answer her question. 

Lisa writes: Not sure if it's the run of hot weather or just our yard, but we've seen about 6-8 snakes the last couple of days… My husband said he saw two big and one small bull snakes and several rattlers. Which brings up a question: Is there any truth to the tale that having bull snakes keeps rattlers out of the area? Someone told me that there used to be lots of bull snakes [around the river trail] and when they freaked people out they were supposedly removed--and that's why the rattlers have moved in.

We’ll answer this question below, but first, a few notes on the differences between bullsnakes and rattlesnakes. The two are easily confused, often causing bullsnakes to unjustly suffer the lash from rattler-phobics.

Bullsnakes (aka gopher snakes) have pointed tails without rattles. Confusingly, they may vibrate their tail when threatened, producing a sound like a rattle in dry grass. To tell the two snakes apart, look for the rattle and note the tail position. Rattlers raise their tail under threat, but bullsnakes keep their tail low to the ground.

The two snakes also have distinct heads. Rattlesnakes have triangular heads that are wider than their body, while bullsnakes have narrow heads streamlined to their body. Bullsnakes have eyes on the side of their head with circular pupils. Rattlers have forward-facing eyes with slitlike pupils.

Photo: Bullsnakes have narrow, pointed tails and narrow heads with eyes on the side.

Now, to answer Lisa’s question about whether bullsnakes keep rattlesnakes on the lam, we found this article from Denver zookeeper and rattlesnake researcher Bryon Shipley. In it, Bryon lays out and lays low some of the most common bullsnake myths:

1. Bullsnakes eat rattlesnake eggs.
2. Bullsnakes eat rattlesnakes.
3. Bullsnakes and rattlesnakes breed together.
4. Bullsnakes chase away rattlesnakes.

The myths, debunked:

1. Bullsnakes eat rattlesnake eggs:  Since rattlesnakes do not lay eggs, this cannot be true. Rattlesnake eggs hatch within their bodies; consequently young rattlesnakes are born live.

2. Bullsnakes eat rattlesnakes:  A thorough search of the literature and discussions with researchers who study both snakes has revealed next to nothing that supports the idea that bullsnakes eat rattlesnakes. Bullsnakes are primarily consumers of warm-blooded prey. In one instance, the body of a small rattlesnake showed up in the gut of a bullsnake, but no information exists on whether the ingested rattlesnake was already deceased or even what species it was. It is possible that a young bullsnake may eat a lizard, but no rattlesnake population could be significantly affected by bullsnakes. The natural mortal enemy of rattlesnakes is, in fact, the kingsnake.

3. Bullsnakes and rattlesnakes breed together:  Rattlesnakes and bullsnakes commonly hibernate together, along with other snakes and amphibians. Rattlesnakes are live-bearers and bullsnakes are egg layers, and even within the reptile group, where breeding between species of like physiology can happen (i.e. egg layers with egg layers, live-bearers with live-bearers), successful breeding between egg layers and live-bearers could never occur due to the biology involved.

4. Bullsnakes chase away rattlesnakes:  Bullsnakes and rattlesnakes have always coexisted in their habitat. Their activity schedules in a season can be very different. The sudden disappearance of rattlesnakes in mid-spring results from their switching to a nocturnal schedule, when they are not as noticeable as they were in early spring.

Other Myths:

• Bullsnakes kept in your tent keep rattlesnakes away.
• Bullsnakes kill rattlesnakes for sport.
• Bullsnake bites are worse because of the infection that results.
• Bullsnakes are venomous.
• Bullsnakes eat all of the rattlesnakes’ food.

To learn more about the differences between bullsnakes and rattlesnakes, read Bryon Shipley's entire article here.


Bull or rattle snake? Rattlesnake, with triangular head and forward-facing eyes. Venomous snakes bite 8,000 people in the U.S. annually, but only 10-15 of these bites are fatal. In other words, each Americans has a 0.0000048% chance of dying from snake bite. Still, if you're bitten: immobilize the wound and seek immediate medical attention.

Table Mountain Fire, September 2012.

The 2012 Pacific Northwest wildfire season was one for the record books.

In Idaho, the Mustang Complex alone burned 300,000 acres. In Washington, over 350,000 total acres burned and fire suppression costs alone totaled more than $88 million dollars. Not exactly chump change in this time of fiscal cliffs and sequestration.

Yet, fire always has been and always will be an integral part of our western forests. Fire is both inevitable and is the ultimate contradiction; often beautiful, terrifying, destructive, renewing and life-giving, all at the same time. Yet, our management of western forests over the past century has broken this natural link with fire, leaving our forests vulnerable to uncharacteristically large and destructive fire and insect and disease outbreaks. Climate change will only increase these vulnerabilities.

In my role as a forest ecologist I spend a lot of time talking about the risks of “uncharacteristic fire” (bad!) and the importance of “prescribed fire” (good!) in restoring healthy and resilient forests.

Our official tagline is “The Nature Conservancy works to maintain fire’s role where it benefits people and nature, and keep fire out of places where it is destructive”.  An excellent sentiment, but the line between fire that “benefits people and nature” and fire that is “destructive” can be quite blurry.

Last September an intense late summer lightning storm rolled across the Pacific Northwest, starting fires in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. That month I had a series of meetings across eastern Washington and northern Idaho. No matter where I traveled, I couldn’t escape the smoke. During the day visibility was terrible and at night my eyes stung and my throat hurt, even when holed up in my hotel room. No fun – that much smoke must certainly indicate a “bad fire”, right?

Not necessarily. This winter we were finally able to get out and take a look at some of the newly burned forests that had smoked-in my September travels. Matt Dahlgreen, TNC forester and intrepid explorer, shot a beautiful series of photos from one section of the Wenatchee Complex fires in eastern Washington.

Matt Dahlgreen Photo: A winter look over the Peavine and Klone Peak fires, eastern Cascades, Washington. Mt. Rainier is in the background.

His photos show rejuvenation and restoration, not death and destruction. These fires had burned with relatively low severity during a time of moderate weather conditions, and the net result were thinned forest stands that will be even more resilient to the next fire.  There were other patches with nearly all of the trees killed, but this occurred in areas where the forest is adapted to “high severity fire” and the bear, elk and other wildlife will greatly benefit.

What determines if a wildfire is good or bad? Suppression costs? Property destruction? Air quality? Impacts on wildlife habitat? Can a fire be good and bad at the same time?

Click onward to read the rest of Ryan's article on the Nature Conservancy's "Cool Green Science" blog.



This infographic shows how forests in Eastern WA have changed under the fire management regimes we've employed in the past 150 years. Forests in the Okanogan-Wenatchee NF span the gamut from "within historic range" to "severely departed" from their pre-European conditions. Click to see a larger version of this infographic.



Revisit the slideshow TNC's Matt Dahlgreen posted on WenatcheeOutdoors from his New Years' ski trip through areas burned by the 2012 Peavine and Klone Peak Fires.

In 2006 the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust purchased the Horse Lake Reserve, intending to forever protect the land from development. Visiting the Reserve you can clearly see that the land now belongs to hikers, bikers, and the shrub steppe flora and fauna. And yet, a motley assortment of farm structures sprinkled across the property speaks to the fact that Horse Lake has already felt the touch of human development in the not-so-distant past. In fact, brothers Lee and Everett Burts---who sold one of the Horse Lake parcels to CDLT---grew up on one of the ranches and continued growing dryland wheat there until 2001.

Everett Burts just published a brief spiral-bound history of the Horse Lake area with stories from his own experiences on the Burts ranch and history from the Barnhill ranch (another of the original Horse Lake homesteads that CDLT now owns). Burts also writes about the pre-European human history of Horse Lake, the local geology, and sagebrush ecology. Before any of this, however, he answers one of the most burning questions that plagues Foothills hikers: 

“Horse Lake? Is there a Horse Lake? Where is Horse Lake? I am often asked these and similar questions when I mention that I grew up in the Horse Lake area. Yes Mary, there is a Horse Lake. That is the official name for a depression in the earth’s surface about three miles west of Wenatchee and about two and one half miles south of Monitor, on property now owned by Chelan-Douglas Land Trust. Historically, that depression held a pond about two to three acres in size. Its water collected in the depression during seasonal run-off from surrounding hills and also arose from a spring in the middle of the depression. During recent years the lake has remained dry, probably due to the current period of low annual precipitation in the area. I last saw water in Horse Lake during spring and early summer of 1984. 

Photo: The area that used to be Horse Lake hasn't been filled with water for nearly 30 years.

How Horse Lake acquired its name remains a mystery to me. It must have been named early in the history of the Wenatchee area because that name appears in other accounts of pioneers in this area. The road leading to the ranches in the area, Horse Lake Road, was built and named during the early 1900’s. Perhaps surveyors who originally marked out township and section lines in the area came upon the lake and saw horses grazing or drinking from it. Who owned these horses, the Wenatchi Tribe? Were they a band of feral, “wild” horses? Did the early European settlers graze their horses in the area? Some day I may find answers to these questions…”

The early human and natural history is interesting, but Burts’ coverage of the rapid changes in land use and technology at Horse Lake in the past century is what makes this book fascinating. As I watch Lycra-swaddled bikers pedal their $4000 carbon fiber ponies or ride their Subarus up to the ranch its hard to believe that a mere 100 years ago ranchers had to walk or ride buggies to the top. Even into the 1930s Everett Burts rode a horse-drawn bobsled to the schoolbus stop in winter. Fortunately for bikers and drivers Horse Lake Road was rebuilt in the past few decades, but the original road was so steep it took six horses to pull a two-horse wagon to the top.

Living on the Horse Lake ranches would be much different now than it was for Everett in the 1930s-40s. We would probably use Horse Lake as a vacation escape, not a working ranch, and we’d no longer bathe in a washtub or use springs to keep our milk cool. We wouldn’t use catalogs on our bums in the outhouse, and we’d have electricity, which didn’t make it into Horse Lake homes until 1948, even though the line from Rock Island Dam to Stevens Pass hummed over their property and by their yards for sixteen years prior to hook-up.

Photo: The electrical line between Rock Island dam and Stevens Pass was built in 1932, but it was too expensive to install transformers for household power. The Burt ranch received electricity in 1948 when the Chelan County PUD ran a distribution line up to Horse Lake.  

I’ve looked at the Horse Lake Reserve barns and at other artifacts I’ve found during hikes and tried to imagine their history. This makes fodder for some pleasant daydreams, but hearing the real story behind the objects is always better. In Everett’s book I learned many interesting details about Horse Lake that I wouldn’t have found in my daydreams. For instance, I learned that the Horse Lake area was once a hotspot for hapless prospectors, and that it’s still a popular place for folks with Gold Fever. I learned that part of the Burts’ property used to be owned by a Denverite who “in earnest or just for the hell of it” drilled a 250-foot well in search of petroleum. I also learned that in 1947, timber from the Horse Lake pine forest was used to make crates for shipping Wenatchee fruit. I learned that the Great Depression squeezed most of the farmers off of Horse Lake during the 1930s and 1940s, but that a few hung on to eek out a living for several more decades.

Photo: The Barnhill home was destroyed after CDLT purchased the ranch from the Wallace family. Hard to believe from the cheerful exterior, but the home was long-rumored to be haunted.

The land use has changed dramatically at the Horse Lake Reserve in one quick century. It’s seen prospectors, trappers, fishermen, loggers, miners, successful ranchers, and farmers at the end of their string. For a brief window the land was viewed as a source of material human wealth and a place to work hard, but CDLT’s acquisition shows that we now view Horse Lake instead as a spiritual refuge -- a beautiful place to nourish body and soul through the gateways of outdoor exercise, outdoor recreation, or outdoor relaxation. On paper Horse Lake will be protected in perpetuity, but a ban on commercial and residential development doesn’t mean that Horse Lake will remain frozen as it is forever. Now, the foothills are contintually developed by wild fires, invasive plants, grazing mule deer, and droughts. Who can say how an evolving world will shape the Horse Lake landscape in the future? 

For a closing perspective on the Horse Lake Reserve I’ll leave you with Everett Burts’ epilogue:

 “As I think back about the research conducted in preparation for writing this paper, my own memories of the Horse Lake area, and what I have written, a few things come to mind. The first of these is that all human activities in the area were of short duration when measured in respect to human history and only a blink of an eye in relation to geologic time. Collecting wild animal pelts, extracting minerals from the soil and harvesting timber all left footprints on the land but only for a very brief period. Even agricultural activities endured for but a relatively short period, with only the Barnhill operation lasting three generations and my family’s efforts about two generations. Preserving this land for recreation and as a reserve for wildlife may prove to be its only sustainable use.

Like Humpty Dumpty, the land can never be returned to its original condition before people of European origin settled there, but with good care over time, it will regain most of its original character and function. The evidence of human activities that remain will add to its value for and interest to future generations.

The second thing that comes to mind is all the evidence that remains of hard work that went into trying to make a living on the land. Clearing land to plant crops or building roads with hand tools and horse drawn equipment was backbreaking work and very discouraging at times. The many rock piles scattered over the property are evidence of more hard hand labor. Few people alive today would attempt these things under circumstances that existed when they were accomplished. The abandoned home sites attest to the heartaches people endured as they were forced to move away leaving their dreams behind along with all that their hard work and sacrifices had accomplished.

Finally, I think of the Reserve as part of an experiment to determine if wild lands can be owned, managed, and preserved by a local organization funded by private donors…The outcome of this experiment could have a profound influence on the fate of other privately owned and government owned wild lands…”

+++ 

The entire History of the Horse Lake Area can be purchased at the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center for $6.95 or picked up from the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust for a similar fee.

Photo: Using The Loop to ride home after work. It's a commute offering exercise, time to unwind, time to think, and time to enjoy the beauty of the area. So why bother with driving.

Some of the National ________ (fill-in the blank) Days border on the ridiculous. Who really cares about National Cotton Candy Day or National Stink-Bug Day? One day worth caring about, however, is National Bike to Work Day (May 17). If everyone biked to work and got hooked on the concept, it would change society. 

Obviously this will never happen, but for a moment imagine all benefits that individuals and society would enjoy if the large majority of Americans did bike to work.

• The average worker would become much healthier from the daily exercise. That same worker would lose weight and keep the weight off (yup, from the daily exercise). As the individual’s health improved, his or her family would reap benefits. Employers would also benefit because healthy employees complete more work and miss fewer days of work.
• Our roads would be much less congested at rush hour so there would be less need to build new or wider roads (a huge cost savings to taxpayers). The roads would last longer and require less maintenance because bikes cause far less damage to the roads than cars.
• We’d have fewer car accidents with so many vehicles removed from the road. Also, with so many bikes on the road, motorists would be accustomed to looking for cyclists and giving them appropriate space, meaning there would be a lower percentage of car/bike collisions.
• People would know more of their fellow citizens. Cars are very insulating, but you talk to strangers who are biking alongside of you -- and strangers aren’t strangers long if you see each other somewhat regularly on your respective commutes.
• Of course lots of money would be saved. Bikes are much cheaper to operate and maintain than cars -- you spend less on gas, equipment maintenance, tires, and more. You’d probably enjoy lower rates on your car, health, and life insurances, too.
• Bike commuting would help the environment. There would be less environmental damage from the extraction of oil, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of oil.
• Finally bike commuting might not impact where people chose to live in small communities but it would radically alter where people lived in urban areas. Most people would live within 10 miles of work and this would alter all the long-distance commuting, gas consumption, freeway enlarging, and resource consumption that has accompanied the explosion of suburbs.

With all these benefits at stake, why wouldn’t you start using the bicycle to get to work? And why wouldn’t you start knocking on the doors of neighbors and strangers alike to preach the personal and societal salvation offered by The Gospel of Bike. Step one toward salvation: Get the bike out of the garage, pump up the tires, oil the chain, and be part of National Bike to Work Day on May 17 (wear a helmet and roll into work using smaller, less-used roads). Step two: Stick to the biking program all summer long and into the autumn as long as light (and lack of frost) allows. Even if others are so fickle as to fall off the wagon, you shouldn’t – your body, your family, and your employer will all reap the benefits of a healthier you.

Here are some resources to keep you safe on a bike, help you find your way around the Wenatchee Valley on a bike, and make bicycling more enjoyable:

• Bike-to-Work Week 2012
• Bike Issues and Bike Commuting
• Steps Toward Safer Commuting
  
• Bike Commuting Around Wenatchee
• Map of Wenatchee Bike Routes (prepared by city)
• Map of Greater Wenatchee Bike Network (prepared by WVTC)
• Regional Road Riding Guidebook
• Smelling Fresh after Bike Commuting
  

The Voyager is a two-in-one lantern and flashlight tool, although the lantern is the real bread-and-butter of the setup. With a 75-lumen output, the lantern is bright enough for camp chores, reading, and walking a decent trail at night.

For the lone backpacker the Voyager may simply duplicate the function of a headlamp. For groups and families, however, the camping lantern eliminates the deer-in-headlights factor common to several people trying to spend time together by headlamp. On my own recent car camping trip in Oregon and California, the Voyager’s 360-degree illumination range made it much easier for my beau and I to play cards together at camp, although I did miss the satisfying revenge of searing his retinas with my headlamp when his aces trumped my jacks.

We primarily used the lantern from a tabletop, which limited the glow to a mere 18 inches in each direction. This was sufficient for one person reading or two playing cards, but would have left much of a larger group in the dark. For broad illumination, the Voyager is most effective from on high. When hung from a branch or a stand it has a reported 16-foot illumination range in each direction, which is a hefty ball of light for a lantern so small. The lantern has a clever double hook system that made it easy to hang under a tent roof and eliminated the angst that comes with positioning a hanging headlamp. For long nights reading or poring over a map inside a tent, the Voyager would provide much more steady, ambient light than a headlamp without the risk factors of a candle or gas lantern.

The Voyager has a frosted globe, and when viewed from above it glows pleasantly without blinding. However, the bright light is an eyeful to those that fall directly under its beam. This can be counterbalanced using a dimmer function. In addition, the flashlight, which shines from the bottom of the lantern, effectively illuminates a tent or other small area without blinding those below. In the hand, the flashlight beam has a twenty-foot range and is gentle enough to preserve night vision for star watching on an easy night walk. Still, for more extreme nocturnal wanderers the flashlight would be eclipsed by a headlamp on night hikes requiring scrambling or long-range vision.

Photo: The Voyager is considerably dimmer than a 60-watt bulb you'd use at home but in a dark tent or during a dark night it casts a nice, usable orb of white light.

The Voyager is collapsible, and at its smallest is about the size of an average walkie talkie. It’s small enough that it can be worn around the neck on a lanyard or attached to a belt loop, allowing the hands-free functionality of a headlamp without the coal miner mystique. Its 8-ounce heft (batteries included) may deter lightweight extremists, but the Voyager is plenty small and light enough to be carried in a jacket pocket or tossed into a pack. The lantern’s weight is a non-factor for car camping, which might prove to be the Voyager’s best use. While the Voyager doesn’t have the same soul-warming glow of a kerosene or candle lamp, it does have the advantages of being conveniently battery-powered, looking vaguely like a spaceship (instant cool!), and being much less likely to ignite a tent than its flaming lantern counterparts.

• Manufacturer: Black Diamond
• Weight: 8 oz (with 4 AA batteries)
• Maximum light: 75 lumens for lantern, 50 lumens for flashlight.
• Minumum light: 10 lumens.
• Burn time: 13 hours at 75 lumens, 100 hours at 10 lumens.
• Length: 16 cm extended, 11 cm collapsed
• Powered by: 4 AA batteries
• Retails for: $40

Best uses: Car camping, backpacking with groups or families, long nights in a tent when winter camping, emergency lantern for the home or the car.

More Info: www.blackdiamondequipment.com


Photo: Some Voyager models also come equipped with rocket boosters, allowing them to probe the edges of our solar system and the interstellar medium. Voyager Golden Record not included.

The Wallowa Mountains, a fault-block range of shark’s teeth rising to nearly 10,000 feet and towering over the plains of northeastern Oregon, are the mountains where I cut my teeth as a backcountry skier. Like most locations where we develop a passion, the Wallowas harbor many memories near and dear to me. I haven’t been back to those mountains of memory for many years now, but as I tour up Reynolds Creek toward Rennie Peak in the Chelan Sawtooth Mountains, I keep thinking about the Wallowaesque nature of this terrain.

Like the Wallowas the peaks surrounding me have a similar look with their sheer north faces and their more skiable slopes sprinkled around the other compass points. Like the Wallowas these peaks pack a punch of relief as they rise 5,000 to 6,000 vertical feet from the valleys in which they are rooted. And like the Wallowas the ridgeline glades of whitebark pine give the area a vegetative similarity.

Some of the differences, however, are also vegetative. Besides hosting stately groves of wind-twisted whitebark pine, the peaks surrounding me, unlike the Wallowas, are also heavily salted with one of the most beautiful of high-mountain trees: alpine larches. And then there’s the empty nature of these peaks versus the Wallowas. Writing scum like me have helped skiers discover and plunder the Wallowas, but the Chelan Sawtooths pass the winters with very few plank-footed visitors – they are like the Wallowas I visited some 40 years ago.

It’s hard to know what catalyzed this analysis between Chelan Sawtooth Mountains and the Wallowas, but such comparison speaks highly of the emotion these mountains kindle as Tom Janisch and I move into the subalpine slopes near the headwaters of Reynolds Creek.

It’s early May and while these slopes would have been good destinations for powder skiers before early April, now the heat of spring has caught up with us and has baked the snowpack into an isothermal mush that’s more water than snow. On moderately steep slopes the snow cut by skis slithers downhill as a slow, point-release avalanche. We both know, however, that getting such snow sliding on really steep slopes releases a monster that moves with the speed and power of a freight train.

We decide the slopes we had planned to follow up the south summit of Reynolds Peak are too steep for sensible travel given these snow conditions. We discuss options as we ski up Reynolds Creek and decide to focus our attention on the more judicious terrain leading to and then up the SE ridge of Rennie Peak. At an elevation of about 5,700 feet  we move out of dense trees into sub alpine terrain with thinning forests and hillside clearings offering long views.

Photo: The Land of 10,000 Yeehabas.

Tom dubs this the Land of Yeehabas and the label sticks. Despite the heat of this fine May day and the sweat streaming down our faces, we’re both engrossed with the setting and the associations we draw to other places. Around 4 p.m. we reach the summit of Rennie Peak where we lounge for an hour enjoying the long views and surprising ourselves in just how few peaks we can identify from this angle. Clearly a return trip to Yeehabaville with a broader scale map is in order.

From the summit of Rennie, we descend nervously along the corniced SE ridge until we have a straight shot down toward our intended camp. Now, as lemon light tints our turns, the skiing is nothing but pure pleasure.


Above: Scoping out the fine line between tierra firma and tierra killya. Below: Pumping out pleasure turns.

We camp in the headwaters of Boulder Creek at the 6,200-foot level. While we attend to camp chores the sun slowly blinks off while the stars blink on. Just like the Wallowas this is an isolated corner of the Northwest and the firmament overhead is pricked with innumerable pinholes. One could develop serious chiropractic issues crimping back the neck and shouldering so much wonder.

The next morning we are on the move by 6:30 a.m. in hopes of capitalizing on the light freeze that iced over the surface of the snow. Steep slopes will be anchored by this crust but the stability will dissolve quickly as morning progresses and the mushy snows of yesterday return. From camp we climb up the southwest ridge of North Reynolds Peak. With the orange rays of the rising sun washing over us, it’s a spectacular climb to the summit.

The early bird...

Then comes the long run off the top that gives us a 3,300-vertical-foot drop down northeastern slopes leading back to the Reynolds Creek Trail we traveled yesterday. The snow up high has a soft skin that skis beautifully. As we drop, the snow softens and becomes a slurry -- soon we’re making turns and looking over shoulders to make sure the 400-pound snowballs our skis set in motion don’t bowl us down.


...gets the worm.




At around the 6,500 foot level, I stop to absorb the surroundings while the views are still long, the trees still thin. Gladed and burned slopes I can see on the far ridge remind me of the slopes in the Wallowas around Salt Creek and McCully Basin. What really grabs my attention, however, is the immensity of this area. The Wallowas are a dramatic but confined range of peak – a mouthful of mountains that you can easily wrap your head around. With single-minded intensity, it wouldn’t take much more than a year to hike/climb/ski all of the major peaks there. The viewshed surrounding us is quite a different animal – Methuselah might get around to scaling all these peaks but, in this life, Tom and I are simply not going to have time to take all this in.


Pie in the sky: Just a small sliver of the surrounding pie.

+++++

Details, Details: Reynolds Rennie Loop

The nearest access points into the Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness are from Lake Chelan. Because these rely on boat rides up the lake, however, they are certainly not the most practical access points. Accessing from the town of Twisp is much easier and, although this entails a longer drive than what is normally covered at this website, the mountains themselves are in our territory. Furthermore, compared to driving to northeastern Oregon, those of us living in Central Washington can get a Wallowaesque experience with dramatically less road time by visiting the Chelan Sawtooths.

This tour heads follows the trail up Reynolds Creek to snow level, heads to the headwaters of Reynolds Creek to access the southeast ridge of Rennie Peak, follows the southeast ridge to the summit (7,742 feet), drops into Boulder Basin, follows the southwest ridge of North Reynolds Peak so the summit (8,384 feet), descends the northeast slopes of Reynolds Peak back down to Reynolds Creek, and follows the Reynolds Creek Trail back to the start. 

Elevation gain: 6,800 vertical feet

Skill: 3 (advanced) for backcountry skiers; 1+ or 2- (advanced beginner) for mountaineers. Strong parties traveling with good snow conditions could do this route as a long day trip but most parties will want to budget 2 days.

Fitness: 2 to 2+ (stronger intermediate) as a weekend trip), 3 (advanced) as a day trip.

Access. From the town of Twisp, drive west (upriver) on the Twisp River Road  (Road 44) for 18.3 miles; then veer left on Road 4435. In 0.3 miles, cross the Twisp River. Turn right after the bridge, staying on Road 4435. Drive 1.1 miles upriver and turn left on Spur 4435-015. Reach the trailhead in another 0.3 miles. Elevation of trailhead: 3,170 feet. A Northwest Forest Pass is required to park here.

Topo Maps: Map 1 (access and start of route).  Map 2 (Rennie and Reynolds peaks)

Trip Instructions:

• Hike the trail for about 4 miles. As of 2013 there was lots of deadfall over the trail with about 30 fallen trees you’ll need to climb over or crawl under. None of this is hard but it is time consuming.
• At an elevation of 5,100 feet, pay attention to the general lay of the land; you’ll be returning to the trail here after descending Reynolds Peak. If you’re here in May or June, you’ll probably have skis on by this point.
• Head west up to an elevation of 6,200 feet, then southwest up to 6,600 feet and then follow a true bearing of 277 degrees up to the southeast ridge. During our visit, the lower portions of the southeast ridge were heavily corniced and the only sensible place to reach the ridge was at the 7,500-foot level. From here it’s a very short jaunt to the summit (7,742’).
• Follow the southeast ridge down to the 7,340-foot level being extremely careful to hug the rocky part of the ridge. It’s easy to expose yourself to significant cornice hazard here. There are a few places where we removed skis and walked along the rocks just to be sure we weren’t veering too far over a void bridged by cornices.
• Ski south down to the 6,150 foot level as shown on our map and camp. We could get running water from the stream about 60 vertical feet below the bench where we pitched the tent. Perfect.
• From camp, make a climbing contour south over to a prominent west-facing rib. Head east up this rib to the 7,400-foot level where two ribs merge to form a southwest-facing ridge. Follow this ridge up to 8,250-foot level.
• At this high divide, walk north about 0.2 miles to the North summit (8,384 feet). The last 80 to 100 vertical feet of the climb involves some third class scrambling.
• Scramble down the very top of the peak; then ski down to Reynolds Creek using the northeast-facing slopes shown on the map. Cross the creek on snowbridges or logs at the 5,100-foot level.
• Follow the trail back downhill to the start.

Hazards. All routes shown on our map are exposed to avalanches -- know the snow conditions and stay off slopes when they might be hazardous.

Condition Update. As of May 2013 the trail up Reynolds Creek hadn’t seen a chainsaw crew or a brush crew for a few seasons. The trail is passable but brush is encroaching on the edges and there was a moderate amount of deadfall across the trail that had to be stepped over, walked around, or crawled under. Typically this isn’t hard but it burns a lot more time than you might expect.

Recommend Gear. Bring the usual backcountry kit. In May and June when freeze-thaw snow conditions are likely, ski crampons are highly recommended. We didn’t need foot crampons or ice axes on our trip, but after a hard evening freeze foot crampons would prove useful. We also recommend bringing a folding pruning saw. If visitors helped cut some of the smaller deadfall, pruned some of the vine maples, and cleared some of the fallen branches, the access for everyone would be much improved.

Leave It Better than You Found It. This should be every user’s goal. Do no damage and pick up trash left by others.

Disclaimer. Treat this information as recommendations, not gospel. Conditions change and those contributing these reports are volunteers--they may make mistakes or not know all the issues affecting a route. You are responsible for yourself, your actions, and your safety. If you won’t accept that responsibility, you are prohibited from using our information.

Lost and found. From left to right: Andy Dappen, John Dykes, Irene Godfrey, Steve Godfrey; Sarah Leyrer,:  and Brad Fitzgerald.

The meal’s appetizer was a beautiful spring evening and a clear sky as we were each presented a copy of a map with 11 specific waypoints we were tasked to locate. Some were easy to find, such as waypoint 2 – the viewpoint at the top of the trail above the parking lot.  Others were more difficult to discern, such as waypoint 3. To find this point, we were instructed to walk 160 paces directly toward Cashmere Mountain. Simple, right? But with students of varying sizes and leg lengths, this point wasn’t easy to identify.

Photo: Three hikers with three different plans for finding waypoint 3.
 
This is where a lesson on triangulation was taught. By taking compass bearings of two prominent points which are about 90 degrees apart and transferring the bearings to the map with a pencil, one can determine with relatively good accuracy that they are located at the intersection of those two lines. Fine lines make for better accuracy. One student discovered a fat sharpie doesn’t work very well for this exercise.

Mother Nature’s main course then started with the striking colors she presented on the hills across the Wenatchee River. The sunlight and shadows performed a spectacular evening show. One hiker commented that the last rays of the late evening sun made some of the greens look almost florescent. The sweet smell of sage filled the air, and as the sunlight gradually faded, the grasses took on a glow. A group of four mule deer slowly worked their way up the draw in front of us.Photo: Scrumptious views of the main course. 

Getting to waypoint 4 (a distant power pole) was interesting because it was located across a deep ravine. A bearing was taken of the pole, and before losing sight of the waypoint on our way into the ravine, the bearing was verified. When we arrived at the bottom of the ravine, Dappen introduced a technique to maintain a bearing even though the destination is out of sight. It’s a modified leapfrog technique.

Dappen went ahead of the group, zigzagging his way up the slope. Maintaining bearing surveillance on our compasses, we would yell, “Mark!” when he arrived at point where his zags intersected our bearing. He then marked the spot with a stick, and proceeded up the hill. We hiked to the position he marked, and repeated the process several times until we reached the top of the ridge. We could once again see our destination power pole, confirmed our bearing, and discovered we maintained our bearing well while hiking up the hill, even though we couldn’t see our destination.Photo: Sharp students needing little encouragement to leapfrog their Master.

With a drop of the sun came an accompanying drop in temperature. The breeze now felt cold. Jackets were pulled from packs and light gloves covered cold hands.

As we hiked up the side of the hill towards waypoint 8 on the crest of a small ridge, the flora changed dramatically from grasses to wildflowers and sagebrush. Dappen pointed the fact out and explained that the less flowerful slopes we had just passed through had been, in older times, farmed for dryland crops and grazed by cattle. Restoration of those fields to the kind of flower power witnessed on the untouched slopes is happening but is still decades away from exhibiting such diverse plant life.

When we reached the next waypoint, daylight had vanished and the final mile of the exercise was spent hiking with headlamps. By most of us, anyway. Several students turned off their lamps and enjoyed hiking by starlight.

Dappen had one last piece of advice before dispatching his students out into the big wide 360-degree world.

“Practice using your compass and navigational skills on your everyday outings,” he said. “When you know the terrain and the landmarks you can easily verify whether you’re reading the map or taking compass measurements right.”

“Trying to remember how to do this stuff when you’re lost isn’t the recommended way to practice.”

Photo: Sarah Leyrer shows her relief after finishing an assignment to take bearings to 300 different grass clumps.

Photo: Mark Shipman starting up the third pitch of Prime Rib. 

Although Prime Rib, an 11-pitch rock climbing route on Goat Wall near Mazama is outside our normal territory (it’s a little over 2 hours away), we include it because its unusual qualities make it a must-do route for Central Washington rock climbers.

Just what are its unusual qualities? Length for starters – it’s 9 to 11 pitches long depending on how you sling together the pitches. While there are many long rock climbs around the state, there are few this long established for sport climbers (you only need quickdraws for protection) that are so generously bolted (the route is super safe), that are of such an easy grade (the official guidebook rates this 5.9 but several of us locals who have climbed it, rate it 5.8 at hardest).

For rock climbers who are solid 5.8 climbers, this will be a true pleasure climb – the route is so well protected there is almost no risk of a long fall. For advanced beginning and intermediate rock climbers who are trying to push their grade and abilities, this is also an excellent route—you can try a harder route than you might normally attempt because the protection is so good. You can get the pleasure of moving along a long route, and work on your rope management skills. And while you do all this, you can enjoy beautiful views across the high peaks of the Cascades and down on the clear, meandering waters of the Lost River.  

Access. Drive about 14 miles west of Winthrop to the hamlet of Mazama, located just off Highway 20. Drive to the Mazama Store. From the store, drive 3 miles northwest on Lost River Road (you’ll be driving upstream) and park in a good-sized pullout on the left side of the road. You’ll have a good view of Goat Wall from the pullout. The big streaks in the middle of the wall (wet in early season and white after mid summer) is Restless Natives, another long bolted route. Sisyphus, yet another long bolted route, is slightly to the right of Restless Natives and Prime Rib is quite a long ways to the left (how the route runs is actually difficult to discern from this vantage point.

Approach. Walk about 100 yards northwest (upstream) along the paved road and take the old double-track road that splits off on the right. Walk this old road (a mining road) for a little over 100 yards and then follow an obvious, well-used path that splits off on the right side. After a few minutes the trail comes into an old mine site with some mining relics. At the far end of the mining site, take the small but obvious trail that climbs steeply uphill. Follow this until the trail hits another old, steep mining road that angles right. Follow this old road until it ends in a big talus field. Follow the talus straight uphill until you hit the lowest buttress extending down from Goat Wall. Now head left along the base of the wall, still climbing quite steeply uphill. After several minutes more the trail looks down on a stream and then switchbacks to the right toward a big gully system. The route starts at the base of this gully on the rock rib forming the right side of the gully.

The Route. As you approach the start of the route, you can see the general line you’ll be following as the crest of the rock rib confining the right side of the gully system before you. The route stair-steps up and right. Once you find the start of the route, you can follow it quite easily just by keeping a sharp eye peeled for the bolts (a topo or photo of the route isn’t all that necessary). When you need to walk from the top of one pitch to the bottom of the next, there’s usually a trail that’s easy to follow. Here’s a quick verbal description of each pitch.

1. Starting by a small fir tree to the right of the mouth of the gully, climb the rock rib confining the gulley system on its right side. Climb past several bolts and follow the low-angle rib to a tree near the base of the second pitch.  When you descend this pitch, you’ll rappel into gully a little higher up than where you started the climb (5.3, 140 feet). 
2. The rock steepens above the tree. Climb past about 12 bolts to the next anchor. You’ll be on or slightly left of the crest. About half way up, there is a two-bolt anchor that you’ll use on the descent because the pitch is too long for a one-rope rappel. (5.7, 140 feet). Following this pitch you’ll need to walk a rope length (Class 2) to the start of the next pitch.
3. Starting near another tree, this pitch makes multiple little stair steps up and right. The moves and route are well bolted but the complete scope of the pitch isn’t completely obvious from the bottom. About 80 feet up there’s a two-bolt anchor used on the descent. (5.6+, 160 feet).
4. Climb about 50 feet through non-continuous cracks and corners, then 60 feet straight up past many bolts to a distinct notch or saddle. Anchors have been established on both sides of the saddle (5.7 or 5.8, 110 feet).
5. Follow bolts straight up from the notch (5.6, 95 feet). Walk from the top of this pitch to the start of the next one.
6. Climb up and slightly right past about 10 bolts (5.7). About 80 feet up, you can belay or you can combine this with Pitch 7 into one long pitch. If you combine the pitches, skip a few clips and use longer runners to reduce rope drag.
7. After a boulder-move start (5.8), climb past 5 or 6 bolts to the next anchor (5.7, 75 feet). From the top of this pitch, scramble and walk upward for a few hundred feet. 
8. Starting from a particularly large fir tree, climb past 13 or 14 bolts to the next anchor (5.7+, 130 feet).
9. Climb past one bolt then traverse right past  4 or 5  bolts before stepping up to the next anchor (5.6). This can be done as a short 65-foot pitch or combined with the Pitch 10. If you combine it, skip a few of the bolts on the traverse and use long runners to reduce rope drag.
10. You could scramble easily up to the base of the last pitch by climbing straight up from the anchor, or you can move left and climb bolted, low-angle rock for about 60 feet (5.5).
11. Climb past the anchor following bolts into an airy slot. Move up and left from the slot, round a little rib, and them move up and right to the anchor (5.8, 70 feet).

The technical climbing ends here. The views are distinctly pretty even if the location is distinctly non-distinct. You can scramble upward toward Goat Creek Road (FS Road 5225) in search of a better place to lounge. This is, however, where the rappels start.

The Descent. It is possible to shuttle a car or bikes up Goat Creek Road (Forest Road 5225) and then walk up to the road from the top of the climb. This is a bit cumbersome (it’s about 10 miles back to the pullout where most people park), so most climbers rappel the route. In a few places, the rappel takes a steeper, more direct line down than the ascent route. After the first rappel, for example, scrambled downhill a little from the top of the 10^th pitch and then make two rappels that descend steeper ground and are located on climber’s left of the ascent route. As of June 2009, all of the rappel anchors have metal chains or additional metal links that properly equalized the rope between two bolts. Allow a few hours for the descent.

Rock. The rock on this route is solid and well cleaned. It's very similar in form and texture to the rock found around Little Mt. Si and Exit 38.

Gear. Bring 12 to 14 quickdraws in a variety of lengths, 3 or 4 single-length runners with carabiners, and one or and two double-length runners with carabiners.

Rope. The route was established to be climbed and descended with one 60-meter rope.

Clothing. The route has a western exposure that stays shaded until early afternoon. Once you’re up high, winds also hit the wall, so temperatures may be cooler than expected. Even when it’s warm in the valley, it’s wise to carry a windshell.

Permits. None needed.

Dates and Updates: Originally posted 6/2009

Info. More information about this and other new routes around Mazama can be found in Mazama Rock by Bryan Burdo ($22). See this link for information about camping while climbing around Mazama and for climbing topos to Fun Rock and Rhino Zone.

• Chiwawa Road No. 6200 is closed for the winter/spring until the snow melts.
• White River Road No. 6400is open to Tall Timbers Ranch and closed beyond.
• Little Wenatchee Road No. 6500 is closed for the winter/spring until the snow melts.
• Smithbrook/Rainy Creek Road No. 6700 is closed for the winter/spring until the snow melts.
• Mission Creek Road No. 7100 is closed due to flood damage from the junction of Number Two Canyon Road No. 7101 to the junction with Beehive Road No. 9712. The road is unsafe for travel. A new gate has been installed above the junction of Mission Creek Road No. 7104 and Sand Creek Road No. 7104 which closes the Mission Creek Road to motorized 4-wheeled traffic. This closure only affects the portion of the road located on the national forest. The road remains open to motorcycles, snowmobiles, mountain bikes, stock animals, and hikers. The closure is necessary to maintain the newly constructed drainage dips while they are still soft from construction and rain, and to prevent additional road damage. The road will be reopened in the spring.
• No. 2 Canyon Road is closed until the weekend after Apple Blossom Festival.
•  Tip Top Road No. 7202 is impassable one mile from the junction of Camas Creek Road No. 7200 due to road damage.
• Scotty Creek Road No. 7324 is closed to wheeled motor vehicles 3.5 miles north of Blewett Pass due to road damage. Bridge construction has begun just off of Highway 97, on the north side, so the areas above the bridge may only be accessed from the other side of the Old Blewett Highway.
• Walker Canyon Road No. 7510 is closed to wheeled motor vehicles due to a mudslide in Clark Canyon.
• Eightmile Road No. 7601 is closed for the winter/spring until the snow melts.
• Van Creek Road No. 7520 is closed for the winter/spring until the snow melts.
• Beehive Road No. 9712 will be open to the resevoir for Fishing Opening Day April 27, 2013
• Icicle Creek Road is open up to Chatter Creek Trailhead

ROADS:
North Fork Teanaway  No. 9737 is snow free to mile post the Johnson Medra Trailhead where 18 inches of snow remains as of April 22. Skiers reporting on Turns All Year have found out the drive to Bean Creek /Beverly Trailhead for Earl Peak good now, but that it will still be a few weeks before you can easily access Emeralda Trailhead leading to Ingalls Lake and Ingalls Peak.

Photo: Steller's jays can mimic sounds from all sorts of other creatures including cats, dogs, squirrels, chickens, humans, and machines.

 Birds, on the other hand, have wings. I step in for a closer look and… shoot. Bye-bye, birdie. Did it have a white crown or no crown? Were its wings red or green? How big was it? I should’ve brought my telescope. Animals on the trail are much more interesting if you know what you’re seeing, but it’s tough to identify what you see if it is small and it flies away from you.

Photo: American Kestrels can see UV light, which helps them follow urine trails from voles, much like we'd follow neon lights to a diner. 


To make birds less frustrating I’ve made a series of slideshow quizzes with the most common and recognizable birds you may see during an outing in the Wenatchee Valley. The quizzes have two photos for each bird. The first shot gives you a chance to ID the bird, and the second shot reveals its identity. The first quiz in the series covers trailside birds, focusing on the most common Wenatchee Valley resident and migrant birds you might see on a hike or bike ride. Later this spring we'll release a "waterside birds" quiz and a raptor slideshow.

Photo: The Rufous Hummingbird beats its wings 60 times per second. Some hummingbirds also have hyperspeed hearts that beat 1200 times per minute during flight. The average human heart rate is 72 bpm.

The slideshows also have some wacky bird facts. After scoping out the Trailside Birds quiz you’ll be able to tell your party guests which bird migrates 160,000 miles in its lifetime, or how fast the average white-crowned sparrow walks on a treadmill. You won’t, however, be able to tell your friends why scientists made sparrows go for a stroll on a treadmill.

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Note: Many thanks to Rod Gilbert, who provided most of the photos for this slideshow. There are also a number from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, which has an online gallery available for non-profit or educational use.

Mad River Photography Workshop 2013

May 21- 23

  John Marshall is pleased to offer the third Mad River Workshop to be held May 21-23.  This field-oriented workshop is timed to take advantage of the extraordinary wildflower displays in the upper Entiat River area. Pine Flats Campground on the Mad River near Ardenvoir will be our base. Tent camp, bring a small trailer or RV, or travel from town.  There are no trailer hook-ups or flush toilets, but drinking water is available. A large canvas wall tent with wood stove will serve as a shelter. We will walk up to four miles on a gentle trail and shorter distances off trail on steep terrain.

Although the workshop is field oriented, basic computer processing, and optimization of images using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and CS-6 will be demonstrated. We will have two review sessions at an indoor location during the workshop, where we will view examples of our work using a digital projector. The workshop will start with a noon gathering for lunch. The first afternoon we can expect to do some photography nearby and to see a slide show presenting principles and techniques. Dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday will be served around 5:30 P.M., allowing time to travel to evening locations. We will be out early in the mornings--- after coffee, granola, yogurt and fruit--- travelling via mini-van to various places including Silver Falls. Each day we will pack a large cooler with a wide assortment of lunch fixings. Thursday will be our last dinner, after which we will spend a relaxed evening. A pancake breakfast will be served on Friday, but there will be no formal instruction, as we have to vacate the campground. The very able Peter Bauer will be assistant workshop instructor.

Contact: john@johnmarshallphoto.com, 509-665-6451

www.johnmarshallphoto.com

• Read Peter Bauer's review and see his photos from the first Mad River Photo Workshop.  
• Preview a few of John's photography tips in this video from Icicle TV.

Crying Wolf by Andy Dappen

The wolfsteria I’m reading about in the newspaper has me scratching my head over the irrational level level of paranoia about a wolf pack potentially establishing itself in the Wenatchee Mountains. I’ve taken multi-day backpacking, canoeing, and climbing trips in Alaska, British Columbia, and Alberta through areas inhabited by wolves, but fear of being attacked by wolves never kept me awake at night. Grizzlysteria – yes, that has definitely (and irrationally) had me paranoid at times. But wolfsteria? It’s hardly been on my radar.

Total number of people killed in the United States from 2000 to 2013:

• Fatal wolf attacks: 1 (occurred in Alaska)
• Fatal cougar attacks: 2 (one in California, one in New Mexico)
• Fatal black bear attacks: 9
• Fatal grizzly attacks: 11
• Fatal snake bites: 13
• Fatal dog attacks: 283

These are raw numbers and, because there are far more dogs in the U.S. and therefore more people exposed to dogs, you can’t compare apples to apples with these numbers. Nonetheless, the raw data does tell me that over the past 13 years dogs have killed 283 times more people than wolves. It’s not a stretch to believe that death by dog while jogging or biking in the suburbs should be more worrisome than death by wolf while walking in the wilds.

Average number of Yearly Deaths in the United States:

• Lightning fatalities: 33/year
• Fatal bee stings: 100/year
• Gun-related homicides: 11,000/year
• Automobile fatalities: 32,300/year
• Obesity: 300,000/year

Again comparing the raw numbers is a case of comparing apples to oranges. Nonetheless, if you look at the one U.S. wolf fatality in 13 years and compare that to the 300,000 Americans dying per year (3,900,000 in 13 years) from attacks brought on by obesity, it’s clear that consistently snuggling up on the couch with a bag of chips is a bigger threat than walking frequently through wolf country.

This is all good news for recreationalists worried about wolf attacks. But what about ranchers who say the re-introduction of wolves will undermine their livelihoods? First, I believe we should compensate ranchers who lose cattle to wolves and that we should cull wolves that are getting habituated to cattle and/or humans. There is a known pattern most wolves follow if they get overly accustomed to people that can lead to more attacks on cattle, dogs, and eventually people. But how severe is the threat along the wolf-cattle interface?

Statistics from states that have re-introduced wolves help us scale the size of the problem. Minnesota has the largest wolf population in the lower 48 states with roughly 3000 wolves. In 2012 the state paid $154,000 for 111 verified cattle claims. In 2011 the state paid out $106,000 for 104 claims. Statewide, in a place that has an estimated 165,000 head of cattle living near wolves, this is a modest payout. Especially when that payout is contrasted against the state’s $500-million industry built around wildlife viewing (wolf-viewing is, of course, part of that mix).

In the fall of 2012, Minnesota’s first season of legalized wolf hunting and trapping was hotly disputed. Two-thirds of Minnesotans polled objected to the hunt. Minnesotans are still arguing whether the 419 wolves killed during that hunt constituted butchery, but it is likely that the hunt increased the wolves' skittishness around people, reduced the habituation of wolves to people, and will lower the coming year’s claims and payouts to ranchers.

All of these statistics make me excited rather than worried about the return of the wolf to Central Washington. Of course, we don’t even know whether all of this tongue wagging is justified--- these wolves may simply be enjoying our local McVenison en route to somewhere else.   

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The information recently listed in the Wenatchee World about precautions and actions to take while hiking in wolf country were good, so they are included them below.

In situations where fears (usually irrational ones) mess with my head (hiking/backpacking in grizzly country, hiking solo at dusk in cougar country, hiking in places where weird humans or dogs are more worrisome than wildlife), I’m a believer in carrying trekking poles and/or pepper spray. Stout trekking poles with the baskets removed are effective defensive weapons against threats smaller than a bear. Bear-formulated pepper spray, meanwhile, is potent stuff. It severely irritates the eyes and mucous membranes of all mammals to the point of causing temporary blindness, wheezing, and/or disorientation. Unlike a gun, spray can be dispensed inaccurately to a general area and still neutralize an attack. Finally, accidental or intentional deaths caused by recreationalists carrying pepper spray are almost non-existent – something that's less true about firearms.

Wolf safety tips (by Michelle McNiel with The Wenatchee World)

Don't:

• Dispose of food by dumping into the campfire.
• Leave unwashed cooking utensils around your camp.
• Leave garbage unsecured.
• Cook food near your tent or sleeping area.
• Allow pets to freely roam away from your home or camp.
• Leave pet food or other food out near your home or camp.
• Bury garbage, pack it out.

If you encounter an aggressive wolf:

• Don't run. Act aggressively, stepping toward the wolf and yelling or clapping your hands if it tries to approach.
• Do not turn your back on an aggressive wolf; continue to stare directly at it. If you are with a companion and more than one wolf is present, place yourselves back to back and slowly move away from the wolves.
• Retreat slowly while facing the wolf and act aggressively.
• Climb a tree if possible.
  
• Stand your ground if a wolf attacks you and fight with any means possible. Use sticks, rocks, trekking poles or whatever you can find).
• Use air horns or other noise makers.
• Use bear spray or firearms if necessary.

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Finally, take a look at this article about be being safe in cougar country.

Photo: The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust recently purchased Saddle Rock to protect it from development. They will begin a stewardship project this summer/fall to rehabilitate the eroded trails on Saddle Rock.

The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust is well underway with their Wenatchee Foothills Campaign. So far they have raised $6.5 million of their $8.1 million goal and have already used funds to protect Saddle Rock, lower Castle Rock, and parts of the Sage Hills. The ultimate campaign goals are to double the amount of land publicly available for recreation and wildlife in the Foothills, and to finance stewardship of those lands.

The next big event in the Foothills Campaign will be CDLT’s Hands Across the Foothills this Saturday, April 20. The goal of the event is to showcase community support for conservation and recreation by photographing a human chain across Saddle Rock. The Land Trust estimates it will take over 2,000 people to stretch all the way to the top of Saddle Rock. We spoke with Hanne Beaner, CDLT Stewardship and Trails Assistant, for more details.

Note: All information gleaned from interviewing Hanne is presented as closely as possible without being direct quotes. Our scribes are quick, but not that quick.

What’s the story behind Hands Across the Foothills?

Hands Across the Foothills is part of the Foothills Campaign. It was devised as an opportunity to publicly appreciate the Foothills. The goal of the event is not to raise money, but to allow different community groups, clubs, businesses, and local organizations to show their support for conserving the Foothills. We’re trying to get as many different local groups and individuals involved as possible because Saddle Rock is a local landmark that lots of people know even if they haven’t been hiking up there.

How will the group photo be shot and how will it be used?

We’ll have six photographers shooting from different angles, some with cameras on remote-controlled planes. Some will be aiming for broad landscape shots and others will focus on the human aspect of the day. All participants will receive a poster of the large group shot. A photo release waiver is involved as part of the sign-up process.

Your plan is to have 2,465 people up on Saddle Rock. This is an incredible goal, but sounds like a logistical nightmare. For starters, how will you get this many people to Saddle Rock?

We’re asking people to park at the Wenatchee High School and at the hospital. Parking at both of these locations will be free. We’ll have 8 buses shuttling people between the parking lots and Saddle Rock starting at 8:00 am. We’re also encouraging people to walk or bike to the Saddle Rock trailhead. We’ll have an attendant keeping watch over all of the bicycles while their owners are on the trail.

What’s the cost of putting on this event? It seems like buses and aerial photos would rack up a pretty hefty bill.

We’re not sure yet, because the transportation cost depends on how long we run the buses. All the photography is donated. We’re getting volunteers for as many tasks as possible to keep the cost minimal. Community support is making it possible to do this on a very small budget.


How can groups sign up?

Leaders can sign up their groups through the form on our website. We’re looking for a diversity of groups: Scout troops, churches, teams, neighborhoods, local businesses, etc.


Can individuals and small groups also sign up?

Absolutely. Individuals and small groups can sign up through the "event brite" site, which you can find on the CDLT website. We’d strongly prefer to have people sign up in advance to make logistics easier, but there will also be forms and waivers on-site the day of the event.

Are there any particular groups you’re hoping to reach?

I recently spoke to someone who works in Cashmere with people with disabilities. They’re hoping to come, and will be hiking to the lower part of Saddle Rock. It’s exciting to see them supporting this project because we do have a few ADA accessible trails in the Foothills. We are also thrilled that the Hispanic community is well represented in those who have already registered. High school students are involved at many levels, from volunteering to being on the hill. We’re excited to have anyone and everyone. It’s been fun to see groups come out of the woodwork for this event.

Photo: Hikers of all sizes are invited to Hands Across the Foothills.


The Wenatchee Marathon is on the same morning. Can marathon runners be involved?

The timing isn’t very conducive to doing both. We’ll start running the shuttle buses to Saddle Rock at 8:00, which is when the half marathon begins. We want to take the photo between 10:30 and 11:30 am, so it could be tough for Wenatchee Marathon runners to make the shuttles. However, if you finish the race fast enough, definitely come up and make an epic day out of it!

Any other special features for Hands Across the Foothills that we should know about?

We’re creating a logbook that participants will be able to sign, either at basecamp or at the Saddle Rock summit. They can write their name and any comments about the day or the Foothills that they want to share. We’ll also have cross country runners relaying a flag from the top of the trail down to the bottom.

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The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust is planning a variety of other upcoming events to celebrate the Foothills, including guided hikes, art contests, and Foothills Day.

Foothills Day will include:

• Guided hikes
• Horse Lake trail runs
• Guided mountain bike rides through the Sage Hills and Horse Lake Reserve
• Educational booths and family activities
• Art displays
• Live music

Find more information about Foothills Day and other Foothills Campaign events on the WenatcheeOutdoors calendar or the CDLT website. 

For background on the Wenatchee Foothills Campaign, read this recent WenatcheeOutdoors editorial.