Chattermarks

Written by Special Guest Blogger Elisabeth Keating.

On a cool Thursday evening in late July, a group of adventurers gather at the Environmental Learning Center for the 24th (and possibly final) year of one of North Cascades Institute’s most popular courses: Ross Lake By Boat and Boot a three-day exploratory workshop on the people and places of the Skagit River Valley, led by Gerry Cook and Bob Mierendorf. Both Bob and Gerry have had celebrated careers with the National Park Service – Bob is in his 25th year as the North Cascades National Park Archaeologist, and Gerry, recently retired from 44 years as a Park employee, has been a North Cascades fire lookout (1967 and 1971), a Park designer and architect, and an instructor and captain of the Ross Lake Mule. Bob and Gerry have led this class since 1997, labeled fondly by those who know them as The Bob and Gerry show.

At orientation, Bob welcomes us to what he and Gerry call Up River University: Nature’s classroom in general, and the floating classroom on board the Ross Lake Mule in particular. In our handout is an essay about the history of the area’s indigenous people, a map of today’s current Ross Lake, the class field itinerary, and a timeline of key events in the Upper Skagit reaching back 24,000 years to the present day. Before the creation of the dams along the Skagit River in the first half of the 20th century, the heart of the North Cascades was so rugged and inaccessible that few outsiders ventured in.

Looking out across the great expanse of Ross Lake on board the NPS Mule.

Gerry gives us a brief orientation to our home for the next few days – The Ross Lake Mule built in 1968. The North Cascades National Park inherited the NPS Mule from Katmai National Park in Alaska in 1976. The Mule hauled tons and tons of sand, gravel, cement, and materials of all kinds until it met its most noble calling: a floating wilderness classroom for students and adults.

» Continue reading Reflections on the Upper Skagit: Ross Lake by Boat and Boot

Gerry Cook caps 44 years of service with the US National Park Service with a beautiful retirement party at Eagle Haven winery

Story by special guest Elisabeth Keating.

On a sparkling October evening at a winery in the foothills of the North Cascades, over 300 friends and family members gathered to celebrate Gerry Cook’s 44 years of service to North Cascades National Park and to wish him well in his future adventures. Gerry has served the park in many roles since 1967, working initially as a ranger and a fire lookout in 1970 at Desolation Peak, 1971 at Sourdough, and 1972 at Copper.

And as a designer, Gerry’s buildings and shelters grace many campgrounds and gathering places throughout the Park, including the viewing platform and Goat Shelter at the Visitor Center, shelters at the Environmental Learning Center trails, the Hozomeen Shelter at the north end of Ross Lake, and many accessible campsites. He’s currently designing and building the Park’s West Portal Entrance, a beautiful and unique sculpture that will be completed in the spring of 2012 and will evoke the mountains, rocks, water and glaciers that set the North Cascades apart from other wild regions of the country.

I recently asked Gerry which creation was his favorite. “Of all my design projects, I enjoy the Rock Shelter at the North Cascades Visitor Center in Newhalem the most as it feels the most creative. The “West Entrance Portal” has been fun and different.” The Rock Shelter is also where Gerry and his wife Hannah were married.

Climate Challenge students explore Native American history at Gerry’s Rock Shelter. Photo by Elisabeth Keating.

The Hozomeen Shelter is another beautiful creation of Gerry’s. Photo by Elisabeth Keating.

» Continue reading Rock On, Gerry!

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

Story and photos by Zach Montes

It is July 26^th and 55 degrees at the Ross Lake trailhead. The Cascade Climate Challenge participants, about to embark on a 12-day backcountry trip, will literally be challenging the climate. Fortunately, they look battle ready, wielding 3-foot loppers, and bow saws, their battered cooking pots strapped to bulging backpacks.

Under Gerry Cook’s lead, a group of park employees and learning center staff have volunteered to help these students reach their first camp site at Lightening Creek, more than 25 miles up Ross Lake. Together, we are in for a 3.5-hour boat ride with plenty of things to see and talk about along the way. At the Ross Lake trailhead, a handsome 8-point buck in full velvet saunters through the trees not 10 feet away. He grazes comfortably in the distance while the students make last minute pack adjustments.

» Continue reading A Trip on the Mule with Ranger Gerry Cook

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.”

After a week of food and gear packing, the Summer Youth team ventured to Ross Lake for the annual recon trip. The purpose of the trip was to transport food and gear to Ross Lake Resort for the summer, familiarize ourselves with the lakeside campgrounds, learn program curriculum and test out the camping gear and food menu. This year the recon was a bit different as leaders from both Cascades Climate Challenge and North Cascades Wild joined forces on the lake, allowing us all to better get to know each other and the program content we’ll each will be involved with.

The crew began the trip by loading the canoes with bucketfuls of food and personal gear at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center, where we eventually departed. The group paddled through the gorge in Diablo Lake toward Ross Dam. At the first destination we pulled canoes from the water and carried gear and buckets to meet our shuttle who would portage our gear to Ross Lake Resort. Once at the resort we stored our food for the summer, met with resort staff and prepared for an afternoon of paddling to McMillan Camp, our first destination of the trip.

Kate and Ian fill canoes with bucketfuls of food that will be stored at Ross Lake Resort.

» Continue reading Summer Youth Recon 2011

It’s been a long winter in Washington. Though it is late May, temperatures remain cool at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center and the surrounding mountains are still blanketed in snow. Leaf buds are just opening and most wildflowers have yet to make an appearance on our trails. An occasional errant butterfly gives us hope that spring is here, only to be chased back into hiding by rain or cold. Perhaps the most celebrated harbinger of spring in the North Cascades is the opening of Highway 20, six miles east of the Learning Center. Late snowfall and slides have kept the Department of Transportation busy this spring, and the highway that usually opens in late April is still closed, keeping those of us living at the end of the Highway in relative solitude.

» Continue reading The Ephemeral Beauty of Solitude

After a month without snowfall and bare ground at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center, it appeared our snow days had ended for the winter season and the landscape would quickly resemble spring. But nature reminded us that winter is still upon us as more than a foot of snow fell at the Environmental Learning Center and surrounding areas over the weekend! In our excitement, North Cascades Institute graduate students took advantage of the weekend celebrating the white stuff.

On Saturday, several of us headed to the gate near Ross Dam to ski and explore the portion of Highway 20 that closes for the winter season. There appeared to be about six inches of snow on the road and surrounding areas at that time, just enough to keep from hitting asphalt.

Skiing the road was a great opportunity to explore the part of the highway that is often buzzing with activity during other times of the year. I’ve sped through this section of highway in a car on my way to the Methow Valley, but was glad to slow down and take in this portion of the North Cascades landscape.

» Continue reading Return of Winter

It’s that time of the year when North Cascades Institute is gearing up for another year of exciting programs for youth and we’re actively recruiting students to be a part of North Cascades Wild, Cascades Climate Challenge and Mountain School in 2011. Please help us spread the word to parents and teachers about these amazing opportunities.

North Cascades Wild

Recruitment is underway for North Cascades Wild, our successful youth development and wilderness conservation program in partnership with North Cascades National Park and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. While the due date for Skagit and Whatcom students has passed, we’re currently recruiting 9th -11th grade students from Seattle, Tukwila and Lake Forest Park — applications are due April 15th.

North Cascades Wild is a tuition-free program for 9th-11th graders from Seattle, Lake Forest Park, and Skagit and Whatcom Counties. Established in 2006, the program features:

* 12-day summer canoe camping, hiking and conservation service trips in North Cascades National Park and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
* Spring and fall Saturday outdoor/service field trips (for Skagit and Whatcom County students)
* a fall Reunion, and
* the opportunity to attend a 3-day Youth Leadership Conference in November at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center

Students earn 30 community service hours after completion of post-program requirements while receiving training in leadership development, conservation service, community building and natural and cultural history. Students are eligible for job and internship opportunities on public lands after their participation in the program and can also build their Senior Culminating Project into their experience. The program is intended to be a gateway program for students, to turn them on to stewardship, leadership and community building and while developing their sense of place through the study of natural and cultural history.

For an application, please contact Amy Brown, North Cascades Wild Program Coordinator, at 360-854-2582 or
abrown@ncascades.org.

Cascades Climate Challenge

Know a high school student interested in the environment and science? Tell them about Cascades Climate Challenge!

Cascades Climate Challenge is a tuition-free program dedicated to turning today’s youth into climate change leaders for communities in the Pacific Northwest. North Cascades Institute conducts the program in partnership with North Cascades National Park and the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Students meet in North Cascades National Park and spends three weeks in the North Cascades during either the July or August session, where they study climate change science in the field and develop their presentation skills. Hiking to glaciers, interviewing scientists and resource mangers, and participating in service projects with park personnel all allow the students to connect with the park and see the effects of climate change up close. In the final part of their summer experience, students create and teach lessons to an outside audience in preparation for their fall service projects.

Each year, 40 high school students from Oregon and Washington are selected on the basis of teacher recommendations, service and leadership experience, an essay application and a personal interview. Students from a wide range of communities and backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Applications, more information, photos and a cool video are all online at www.ncascades.org/programs/youth/climate_challenge/. You can also keep up with the latest news by “Liking” Cascades Climate Challenge on Facebook. For more details or questions, contact us at nci@ncascades.org.

Mountain School

Learn in the mountains this year! Mountain School, our award-winning environmental education program for elementary, middle and high school students and teachers based at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center, has a few slots available in April and May. With blooming flowers and extended daylight hours, spring is a wonderful time to visit the Environmental Learning Center.

Looking ahead, we also have opportunities for classrooms in the fall.

For questions or to register, contact Aneka Singlaub, Youth Outreach Coordinator, at 360-854-2595 or aneka_singlaub@ncascades.org . For more information on the program, including a fun video, visit www.ncascades.org/school.

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Last but not least, check out our new Youth Leadership Conference video, featuring alumni from the aforementioned programs!