Chattermarks

North Cascades Institute is pleased to announce Summer 2012 Applications are available online for high school students interested in the Cascades Climate Challenge or North Cascades Wild programs. Both programs are tuition-free and focus on leadership, community, stewardship, outdoor skills and connection to the natural world through wilderness experiences in North Cascades National Park and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

A CCC student takes a moment to appreciate the small wonders of the natural world while studying climate change.

Cascades Climate Challenge (CCC) students will spend three weeks camping, canoeing and backpacking while working alongside natural resource managers and Institute staff learning the science behind climate change and how students can effectively communicate ways to mitigate the effects of a changing global climate on human communities. Upon returning home, students design and implement a service-learning project in their community teaching others about ways we can address climate change. In November they will be encouraged to attend the Youth Leadership Conference in the North Cascades to share their experience with other youth. Applications for CCC are due March 30th.

NC Wild students on board the NPS Mule on Ross Lake.

North Cascades Wild features 8- and 12-day summer wilderness expeditions in North Cascades National Park and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Students canoe, camp, backpack and complete conservation service projects while developing leadership skills and learning about the local natural and cultural history of the North Cascades region. The program includes spring and fall monthly field trips for students from Skagit and Whatcom County, WA, a fall reunion and a Youth Leadership Conference at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center. Students currently in any grade in high school from WA and OR are eligible to apply. Applications for Skagit/Whatcom students are due February 16th while students from the rest of WA and OR are due March 30th. 

Applications are found on our website along with quotes, photos, blogs and video!!

North Cascades Wild Information and Application

Cascades Climate Challenge Information and Application

Youth Leadership Conference

Teachers – Stay tuned for news of a climate change teacher training opportunity this August with North Cascades Institute!

If you have any questions please feel free to call or email Aneka Singlaub (email: aneka_singlaub@ncascades.org; 360-854-2595) regarding Cascades Climate Challenge, or contact Amy Brown, North Cascades Wild Program Coordinator, regarding North Cascades Wild (email: amy_brown@ncascades.org; 360-854-2582). Thank you.

Leading photo of NC Wild students after successfully summiting Desolation Peak in North Cascades National Park. All photos courtesy of North Cascades Institute.

Pacific Crest Trailside Reader series Co-Editor Rees Hughes will be doing a reading from his new book Saturday, November 12 beginning at 7 p.m. at Village Books in downtown Fairhaven.

Exploring the people, places, and history of the Pacific Crest Trail as it ranges 2,600 miles from Mexico to Canada, The Pacific Crest Trailside Readers bring together short excerpts from classic works of regional writing with boot-tested stories from the trail. Be sure and join Rees on Saturday evening to support this great work! 100% of author proceeds go to benefit the Pacific Crest Trail Association. Read below for a summary of the anthology, as well as a wonderful excerpt from the book by Rees.

At the heart of these anthologies are modern day trail tales, stories taken from PCT hikers that recount trailside humor and traditions, “trail angels” and “trail magic,” encounters with wildlife and wild weather, stories of being lost and found, and unusual incidents. Revealing a larger context are historical accounts of events such as Moses Schallenberger’s winter on Donner Pass and pioneer efforts like the old Naches Road that ended up creating access to today’s trails; Native American myths and legends such as that of Lost Lake near Mount St. Helens; and selections from highly-regarded environmental writers who have captured the region in print, including Mary Austin in The Land of Little Rain; John Muir in The Mountains of California; and Barry Lopez in Crossing Open Ground. Readers will also enjoy a few more surprising contributions from the likes of Mark Twain and Ursula LeGuin.

Organized parallel to the geographic sections of the Pacific Crest Trail and presented in two regional volumes, The Pacific Crest Trailside Readers will entertain everyone from dedicated thru-hikers to lovers of regional lore.

- Trailside Press Release, October 2011

» Continue reading The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader

I knew that when I moved to North Cascades Institute’s Environmental Learning Center to begin the residency portion of my Masters in Environmental Education degree, it was going to be an amazing year. I have always wanted to live on a lake in the mountains, so this part of the program was a big draw for me. Unsurprisingly, the year flew by and, before I knew it, summer was drawing to a close and it was time to return to Bellingham for the last two quarters at Western Washington University. But before returning to that more “civilized” and academic sphere, I decided to both symbolically and physically transition away from my amazing year living in the midst of the North Cascades by backpacking from Ross Lake to Bellingham with another grad student and several North Cascades Institute staff.

Map of our route, heading west from Ross Lake to Hannegan Pass Trailhead

We only had four and a half days to make this trek, so we had to cut a few corners:  we took a boat from Ross Lake dam up to Little Beaver Creek, and were then picked up from the Hannegan Pass Trailhead.  If we had been purists, we would have hiked the entire route. However, that would have taken a bit more time than we had. Our roughly forty-five mile, 7500′ gain route, camping at Perry Creek, Tapto Lakes, Copper Creek, and Egg Lake, still gave us long, but breathtakingly beautiful days.

» Continue reading From the Learning Center to Bellingham: A Grad’s Transition Back to the ‘Real World’

Sunday August 21^st was the last Mule trip for the 2011 season of North Cascades Wild. The Mule was buzzing with the noise of old and new friends swapping stories and sharing laughs. This day was especially significant because it was also Captain Gerry Cook’s last official day on the Mule with summer youth. Ending the season in style, Gerry was accompanied by his beautiful ladies: wife Hannah and daughter Kerri.

“Another day of  a lifetime” – Hannah Cook

A fulfilling career spanning over four decades, Gerry Cook has enriched the lives of many; including Tasha Lexin, host for the day and a lead instructor for North Cascades Institute.

Emotions ran high as Tasha eloquently announced Gerry’s retirement. “You are a light and have touched so many hearts and I don’t have words to express how much you mean to the park, this program and our community.”

Gerry has worked with Tasha and many other NCI staff for several years and asserted how inspirational they have been in his life as well.

Students discussing job opportunities with rangers Sarah Faubion and Kerri Cook.

One of the highlights of riding on the Mule with Gerry is getting to hear some of his experiences during his 44-year career with the National Park Service. The classics involve mishaps with transporting bears, removing pack animals that die in the backcountry, and the fascinating individuals that you meet manning the fire lookouts. What tops it all for Gerry, is the education that takes place on the Mule with summer youth participants.

“I truly believe that these kids will be stewards of this planet for the rest of their lives. Once you take a turn down that path, you cannot turn back,” says Gerry. Hannah and Gerry later described it is a “path of service and path of knowledge.”

The Cooks have shared some amazing and unique experiences together on Ross Lake.

Although it was his last official Mule trip with summer youth, Gerry has a hard time grasping not working in this capacity. “Everyone of these students are smart, motivated, great young people,” he remarked. “They are changing the face of the park… this work has too much meaning to me and I think we’re on the brink of bigger things.”

We’ll just have to wait and see what is next for Gerry in his path of service and knowledge.

» Continue reading Captain Gerry Cook’s message of hope

Sixteen high school students hailing from Oregon and Washington arrived in the North Cascades on June 26th to begin an unforgettable adventure. These young leaders came to participate in the third year of Cascades Climate Challenge, one of North Cascades Institute’s youth programs. The youth started off by splitting into two groups to go on 12-day backpacking and canoeing trips on and around Ross Lake. For many, this was the longest time away from home, the first time paddling a canoe, and the most physically challenging experience they have had.

CCC2 stands on a bridge over rushing Lightning Creek

CCC1 canoers “raft up” in the mouth of Devil’s Creek

Students learned many new skills each day, in addition to lessons about climate change, invasive species, presenting and naturalizing. Everyone took turns cooking meals, cleaning up following Leave No Trace guidelines, building fires, and leading the group. Spending so much time in North Cascades National Park (NCNP) provided a great opportunity for hands-on service work, and a chance for the students to give back to the park they were learning and living in. Mike Brondi, volunteer coordinator for NCNP, met up with both groups to teach them about invasive reed canary grass, which the students pulled in order to promote native grass growth. They also planted native seeds to restore the banks of Dry Creek and cleared the trail between Hozomeen and Willow Lakes.

Members of CCC1 manage to fit six people in a bear box

Students took turns cleaning up after each meal

Each group’s 12-day trip included waking up at 5am one morning to climb up Desolation Peak, gaining breathtaking views of snow and glacier-capped mountains, at the expense of one thousand vertical feet per mile. Youth who had been strangers on the first day supported each other like family, encouraging one another to the top of the mountain. This was just one of innumerable moments of awe and inspiration on the trips: listening to eerie loon calls at Hozomeen Lake, paddling silently to the mouth of Devil’s Creek, or holding 20,000 year old pieces of wood flattened by glaciers, preserved in clay next to the Skagit River.

Canoes float below Desolation Peak, about to paddle their hikers to the Desolation trailhead

CCC2 poses in triumph, with Jack Mountain and Ross Lake as a backdrop

After the two smaller groups completed their “backcountry” trips, they reunited at the Learning Center for the luxuries of “front country” camping, and ten days of focusing more intently on the science of climate change and its impacts on the North Cascades. Students met with specialists like NCNP geologist, Jon Riedel, to learn how climate change is affecting the park’s glaciers, Gina DiCiccio, NCNP climate change intern, and Katie Fleming from the Cool School Challenge. Their lessons allowed students to explore a variety of ecosystems, including Baker Lake, Baker River, Thunder Knob, Rainy Lake and Diablo Dam powerhouse.

By the end of the trip, students were experts at tent construction

Students hiked the still-snowy trail to breathtaking Rainy Lake for lessons about glacial landforms

After some rainy nights camping at Newhalem campground, resulting in the overnight formation of tent lakes, the group returned to the Learning Center for their culminating project: putting together an hour-long presentation and lessons on their experience, what they learned and how the students will be applying their new knowledge when they return home. The students shared this with the Kinship Conservation Fellows, a group of eighteen international leaders who are actively working to integrate a practice of conservation and environmental awareness into business. The students in turn got to learn about some of the kinds of jobs they could pursue to help preserve the environment they are so passionate about.

A student snorkels in Ross Lake, looking for small red-sided shiner fish

Twenty-two days after these sixteen students first came to the Cascades, they had to find a way to say goodbye to both a place and a community that had become a home and a family. As instructors, we hope that the students left with as much inspiration and confidence as they gave us. Getting to teach, lead, and mentor such exceptional young adults is a privilege. Spending three full weeks 24/7 watching these youth grow individually and as a group is a process that, while exhausting, is simultaneously one of the most rewarding experiences an educator can have. These bright-eyed and enthusiastic youth remind me of myself at a younger age, which gives me hope that they will continue becoming leaders that will not settle for “business as usual” and a planet that cannot support the systems and amazing organisms we cherish. NCNP maintenance foreman Gerry Cook shared the following words with the members of Cascades Climate Challenge, which they have all taken to heart: “I cannot change the world, but I can change the world around me. And if we change the world around us, we will change the world.”

The final North Cascades Wild trips of the 2010 summer embarked on their Ross Lake adventures during the middle of August. A total of eighteen students from Skagit, Whatcom, and King Counties and six instructors spent twelve days forming community, practicing leadership and outdoor skills, doing stewardship work, and learning about and exploring their extended backyard. Highlights from the trips include canoeing on Ross Lake, a silent canoe in Devils Creek Canyon, meeting and working with North Cascades National Park employees, backpacking, exploring ideas of wilderness and Wilderness, star gazing, shared laughter, meeting supporters of NC Wild on the Ross Lake Mule, campfires, and hiking Desolation Peak.

Trip 5 on the dock at Ross Lake Resort. Title photo: North Cascades Wild students canoeing on Ross Lake.

Trip 6 at the Ross Dam Trailhead.

For our stewardship projects, these trips worked with North Cascades National Park trail crew to expand Deer Lick camp to accommodate larger groups (such as North Cascades Wild!). Students and instructors swung Pulaskis and sledgehammers, wrestled root wads out of the ground, dug out layers of duff in order to create new tent pads and trails to them, built a new cook site and campfire ring, and rerouted a trail to the toilet. Mike Brondi, North Cascades National Park, led students in collecting seeds to be grown at the NPS nursery in Marblemount, removing invasive species, and replanting an area using plants grown at the nursery from seeds collected by previous NC Wild groups. Mike also taught the students about the importance of fire to some tree species in the North Cascades ecosystem, specifically lodgepole pines to open their serotinous cones, by burning potato chips and showing how the cones opened up as a result of the heat. Students also had the opportunity to assist with research being done in the park. From canoes and snorkeling in Ross Lake, students observed red sided shiners and recorded information about their location and behavior, as well as collected data about the water.

Jason, Jealisa, Cleo, and Marcus with one of the roots they removed at Deer Lick.

» Continue reading The end of summer on Ross Lake

By Jack McLeod, guest blogger

I recently took the Spirit of Place writing workshop at the Learning Center with Nick O’Conell. Here’s my story from that workshop about a trip to Sahale Glacier. This is the third program I’ve participated in at the Institute and they’ve all been wonderful — so thank you!

My tent shook violently. Straining its granite-bound guy lines, I was afraid it would release and pirouette like a wayward balloon to the valley 3,000’ below. An arc of stones only partly protected me from the midnight river of air as the tempest commanded our miniature snowbound island.

We had hiked to the realm of skydivers and found our rocky outpost was directly in the channel of atmospheric winds traveling from one side of Washington to the other. I’d waited 6 months for this date, a dark moonless night in the mountains and perfect venue for the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. But atmospheric forces make the ultimate decision around here and they threatened to blow us off the mountain. In the spirit of a long-ago boss’s mantra “we don’t have problems, we have challenges”, the question became could we turn nature’s uncontrollable forces into our hoped-for glorious experience?

The three of us intended to camp just below flower-covered Cascade Pass, an easy four-mile hike. Bob had minor backpacking experience, Brandon had none so we chose that site for its beauty and easy access. The ranger made sure we had the required bear canister to protect our food – and us. “You don’t want anything smelling of food, including your skin, pack, tent or clothes.” Ah, we thought, just why we went camping in the woods – to have meticulous hygiene. She also told us the forested, creek-side camp we planned to stay at for two nights was full. But there were still sites available at Sahale Glacier. What’s a couple more miles and a couple more thousand feet of climbing with a full pack? And no trees or tumbling stream. Camped next to ice. In August. We had come to get away from it all so the ranger’s only campsite choice became a perverse type of trip insurance. Little did we know how this change in locale would change everything about our experience.

The hike to the pass was uneventful – no slabs of ice came crashing down from cliff-hanging glaciers 2,000 feet above on Mt. Johannesburg – all the guidebooks mention this as a possibility. The route to our newly designated camp led across Sahale Arm, high above an ancient trade route between western and eastern Washington and on this day deep in blue and white candles of lupine and bistort. Indigenous travelers and traders crossed this pass between the lush, green forests of the Skagit River valley and the dry plains of the Columbia Plateau. A nearby archaeological site was dated to 9,600 years ago. Stone tool fragments were found but no signs of plastic bear canisters or 4 ounce isobutane stoves.

» Continue reading Sahale Stars

This is a time of transition.

The warm summer season is changing as rapidly into a drenching autumn as is my progression from the residency with North Cascades Institute to the academia of Western Washington University. As the leaves of vine maples alter their hues from green to orange, I find myself pulled from the slow-paced grandeur of North Cascades National Park to the fast-paced flurry of the city of Bellingham.

It seems as if during these transitions there is no definitive line that is crossed from one season to the other, no time to look back, only to move forward into the next, into another.

But even as the final two quarters of my graduate residency are about to commence and, in only a matter of six months, conclude themselves as well, I find myself already looking back, gazing out onto the memory-scape of this landscape, of this past year’s journey when I called the North Cascades my home. Here, I came full circle.

(Title) Waving goodbye to my North Cascades home (Above) Welcoming Bellingham

» Continue reading Coming full circle in the North Cascades

[The second installment in our ongoing Road Trip series, in which Institute staff visit other amazing places around the country and bring back stories and photos to share!]

“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” –John Muir

That is exactly the advice we set out to follow when my husband Mike and I decided to spend 19 days this summer backpacking the John Muir Trail in the high Sierras. My name is Brooke Larrabee and I’m the Development Coordinator for North Cascades Institute which means that I can generally be found at our administrative office in Sedro-Woolley working on grants to fund our youth programs. It is work that feels good especially when the funding comes through or you get to meet the amazing kids in one of our programs, but I think it is also important to get out from behind the computer every so often and visit the places that we are working so hard to preserve.

We started our adventure just north of Mammoth Lakes in California. With heavy packs and elated hearts our hike began with a long climb up to beautiful Gem Lake in the Inyo National Forest. We took it easy at first, letting ourselves get used to the altitude and the weight. It was a good thing we set up camp early that night because not too long after a thunderstorm rolled in. The rain pounded our tent but we huddled happily inside and read “The Hobbit” out loud. Later that night when I looked out through the tent door I could see the storm had cleared and a full moon was shining on the calm waters of Gem Lake.

Gem Lake in the Inyo National Forest

A few days into the trip the trail beneath us changed from granite stones to soft pumice pebbles as we headed down into Devil’s Postpile National Monument. The famous columnar basalt was a little off the official John Muir Trail, but we took the short detour so that we could see this amazing volcanic feature. An additional bonus was at the Reds Meadow campground that night there were natural hot springs that had been funneled through a bathhouse. It was the only hot shower we had on the trip and it felt wonderful.

Columnar basalt at Devil's Postpile National Monument

» Continue reading Road Trip: The John Muir Trail

What is a summit experience? For the 10th cohort of graduate students,  in NCI’s residency program, the 9-day backpacking trip that culminated their first quarter of graduate school was a summit experience, both literally and figuratively. This year the cohort split into two groups, with six students and one instructor with each group. Team veg started on the East Bank Trail of Ross Lake, climbing Desolation Peak on their fourth day. Team bourbon started on the west side of Ross Lake, hiking through old growth forests and over Big Beaver Pass. On the 5th day, Gerry Cook of the National Park Service met us with the MULE to transport each team to the other side of the lake. Team bourbon then hiked Desolation Peak and backpacked out along the East Bank Trail.  Unfortunately, an injury on team veg necessitated an evacuation. The team decided to stick together and continue learning about the North Cascades through front-country camping experiences in the Methow Valley. While the two groups had very different experiences, all students finished their trips elated, exhausted and in desperate need of showers! Here are reflections from each student about the experience….

» Continue reading Summer’s summit