No matter how much I love my job, being away from Mary and the kids while I travel for work is always tough. Even on a fantastic trip like the one I took to the Arctic last month, I constantly catch myself wishing they could be there to see it with me.
That's why these two weeks of summer are the best of both worlds. I get to meet fantastic Sierra Club volunteers from all over the Northwest, learn about the work they're doing, and see the beautiful places that inspire them. Plus, I get to do it with the whole family. Believe me, that makes up for a lot of budget and policy meetings.
After a brief layover in Seattle with relatives, we and our three junior explorers set off for the Cascades again, this time to the little town of Index, Washington -- on the North Fork Skykomish River. Index was once a mining and lumber town, but today outdoor recreation drives the local economy. In fact, every year, direct consumer spending on outdoor recreation adds $22.5 billion to Washington State's economy and supports more than 226,600 jobs.
We reached Index by lunchtime and hung out with locals and some great folks from the Sierra Club's Washington State Chapter at a riverside BBQ hosted by the Outdoor Adventure Center. Rafting and kayaking are a major attraction here. Thousands of people come here for some of the best whitewater in Washington. Although we didn't have time to do any rafting ourselves, the kids got in some practice on dry land.
Future rafters Genevieve and Olivia. See more pics and updates from our trip here.
Although only an hour's drive from Seattle, Index is a gateway to the Wild Sky Wilderness, which was created by Congress in 2008, after a long, hard-fought campaign that had strong local support but kept getting derailed by anti-environmental legislators from other states. Wild Sky is Washington State's newest wilderness, and it's already extremely popular.
One thing we couldn't help but notice was the railroad trestle that crosses the Skykomish here, which led to the subject of oil trains. People here and throughout the Northwest are understandably worried that, sooner or later, a big increase in oil shipments by rail will lead to disaster. It doesn't inspire confidence that this same trestle bridge across the Skykomish was the site of a seven-car derailment in 1981.
After lunch, we headed for our first family hike in Washington, which started at a trailhead only about a dozen miles from Index. Together with some of our new Sierra Club friends, we hiked about two miles to Barclay Lake, which is nestled right on the edge of the Wild Sky Wilderness but still in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The gently rolling trail was perfect for a family with kids, and the lake itself was gorgeous -- clear and cold (as my kids and I can personally attest), with steep, rocky Mt. Baring looming over us like a fortress.
The dozens of vehicles parked at the trailhead testified to the popularity of both the trail and the lake -- and we saw lots of other families as we hiked. Like the Wild Sky Wilderness itself, Barclay Lake is a great example of what the Sierra Club calls "Nearby Nature." Although it's great that we can protect remote wilderness areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, it's also important that we have more accessible wild places where a young family from, say, Seattle, can enjoy hiking, camping, and all kinds of outdoor recreation. Our family had a great time.
We also had a fantastic time camping and hiking in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, which was created by Congress in 1976 and includes more than 700 lakes and mountain ponds scattered across more than 300,000 acres of the Cascade Range. We enjoyed another family-friendly but longish hike to one of those lakes (Talapus) through Douglas fir, cedar, and western hemlock. However, we may have overtaxed the endurance of our youngest explorer.
Getting carried up and down hills can be exhausting!
Like the smaller Wild Sky Wilderness, parts of the Alpine Lakes area were logged and mined before finally being protected. Interestingly, the bills that protected each of these wilderness areas were both signed by Republican presidents: Gerald Ford and George W. Bush. President Ford actually acted against the advice of the Forest Service. He supposedly made up his mind after spending an hour with Washington State's governor (a fellow Eagle Scout) admiring the photos in a book called The Alpine Lakes. "Anywhere so beautiful should be preserved," Ford said. What a great example of the personal prevailing over the political.
By the way, that coffee-table book, which saved hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness, was coauthored by my friend (and former Sierra Club Northwest representative) Brock Evans, who's still out there fighting the good fight to this day.
And there's still plenty to fight for. The west side of the North Cascades has more than 250 miles of eligible wild and scenic rivers, along with over 350,000 acres of federally owned, unprotected wildlands. Unfortunately, politicians who share President Ford's opinion are in short supply these days -- especially in Congress. But though political tides may shift, you can be sure that Sierra Club folk will not only be exploring and enjoying these wild lands but also working hard to protect them.
Our next stop: Idaho and the Boulder-White Cloud mountains.