In November 2006, 18 inches of rain fell in 36 hours on Mount
Rainier National Park. The resulting floods devastated roads,
trails, bridges and campgrounds all over the park.
In response, thousands of people volunteered to help rebuild.
The Mount Rainier Recovery Corps, organized by the
Student Conservation
Association, recruited an army of individuals and groups to
join the park's existing volunteers to repair trails, clean up
campgrounds, rebuild bridges, and replant native species where the
floods and reconstruction efforts had left scars. They served as
"Meadow Rovers" patroling trails at Sunrise and Paradise, organized
the park's historic photo collection, and removed deteriorating
telephone cables from park wilderness areas. More than 1,800 people
volunteered in 2008; since they flood, they've donated more than
150,000 hours of service, worth three million dollars. Pretty
impressive in these times of fiscal responsibility.
More important than the statistics, however, is the personal
connection many people feel to their Mountain. "My grandmother's
ashes are scattered here," one woman told us. "I just want to give
something back." George Coulbourn, who has volunteered as a patrol
ranger at Carbon River on his weekends for the past decade, says
that was his goal too, at first. "Doesn't work," he reports. "The
more you give, the more you get from the experience. You never
catch up."
In September 2007, Team Misguided organized the first annual
Mount Rainier Recovery CITO Event, which received positive
feedback from our sponsors as well as
local press coverage. The crew built trails, removed debris,
and did some replanting. In June 2008, hydnsek organized a great
sequel, another
Mount Rainier CITO, this time helping to shovel out the Cougar
Rock Campground, which was buried by a record spring snowpack.
Their
amazing work allowed the campground to open two weeks earlier
than it would have otherwise. Check out the
photos on last year's page, and the
photos and
video on the National Park Service's
volunteer
blog.
This year's event is organized by K2D2, a local geocacher who
also happens to be the Volunteer Program Manager at Mount Rainier
National Park. And this year we'll be back in a campground--but
this time, the historic Longmire Campground, tucked away in the
forest on the south side of the Nisqually River at Longmire. This
site served as a public campground for more than 30 years before
closing in the late 1960s when the more modern and more easily
accessible Cougar Rock Campground opened. For forty years the old
campsites have been gradually submerged under layers of moss. Now,
thanks to the efforts of volunteers, the campground is re-emerging.
This year for the first time in decades it will serve as a
campground again, exclusively for volunteers and other visiting
groups. It even has a brand new bath house--with the only public
showers in the park, but only accessible to volunteers! Your hosts
this year will be Jean and Harry Milan, who will welcome you to the
campground and lead five projects:
- Campground Cleanup: First, we need to pick up and stack
debris that has fallen from trees over the winter, preparing
campsites for use by guests.
- Snow Shoveling: It's another snowy spring at Longmire,
so we may need to do some shoveling under the trees to prepare some
of the sites for use. Especially to prepare for the next
step...
- Building Platform Tents: The Mount Rainier Recovery
Corps spent the past two years living in platform tents, which are
currently in storage for the winter. These need to be rebuilt for
use by volunteers.
- Opening the Bath House: The bath house will need to be
thoroughly cleaned and prepared for summer use.
- Historic Restoration: And finally, if we get all of that
done, the ongoing restoration of the campground will continue. We
have about two dozen campsites cleared so far, with more in the
works. Trails need to be delineated and marked with rocks. The moss
needs to be carefully peeled away from historic rock fountains.
Eventually, new picnic tables will need to be built and installed.
But we may not get that far!
Snow Alternatives: Unless it's another record-breaking
spring like last year, we shouldn't have too much snow for Plan A.
Still, if such an event should occur, we will come up with an
alternative project, probably at lower elevation--perhaps some
trail maintenance at Kautz Creek or along the Westside Road, or
storm cleanup at Sunshine Point. As of May 12, we are on
track for Plan A!
Here's
a link to a current weather forecast for the Mountain.
Time and place: Meet at the Longmire Community Building
(the posted coordinates), at the entrance to the Longmire
Campground, at 9:30 am on Saturday, May 16. To find the
Community Building, turn at the Longmire Museum and drive across
the historic suspension bridge. Note that this time of year
Longmire is only accessible from the west, off State Route 706.
Reduce your carbon footprint and carpool! Work is scheduled until
3:30 pm, with a lunch break. The long summer days mean you'll even
have time for caching afterward.
Camping: The Longmire Campground is a perfect location
for spending the night (no charge for volunteers), and if we get
the platform tents built, you'll even be able to rest off the cold
ground! Expect cold nights--tent campers should have 3-season
tents, ground tarps, sleeping pads, and warm sleeping bags. There
are no RV hookups, but we'll have access to hot showers in the bath
house, as well as a kitchen in the Community Building.
Cookout: A big thank you to
LucyandRickie for stepping up to organize a cookout! They will
supply hamburgers, buns, condiments, plates and utensils. Vegans
should identify their preference in their "will attend" note and we
will bring Garden Burgers. Everyone should say how many will be in
their party so we will know how much to buy, and everyone should
bring a side dish or dessert to share. Mount Rainier National Park
will have a refrigerator available for storing food during the work
day, and will provide a gas powered grill.
What to wear and bring: Long pants, boots, and work
gloves are a must. Dress to get dirty! Rain gear and layers
depending on weather. We'll provide hard hats and tools. Bring
water, a sack lunch, and snacks, and food for the cookout.
Temperatures drop into the 30s at night, so bring hats, gloves, and
thermal underwear if you plan to arrive early, stay late, or
camp.
Entrance fee: Waived for volunteers. The park entrance
fee is $15, but tell the staff at the entrance station that you're
with the work project, and you will get in for free.
Socializing and goodies: We'll have a geo-raffle after we
finish working at 3:30, and a cookout after that (see above).
Geo-goodies are being collected for the raffle, so e-mail me if you
have anything to donate. A huge thank you also to Hydensek, who's
organizing WSGA swag, and Combatnurse2003, who's soliciting
donations from local businesses!
Hiking: Most trails at the elevations above Longmire will
still be under several feet of snow in mid May. I'll post updates
here as the time gets closer, but expect to need snowshoes if you
want to explore sites like Paradise.
More about Mount Rainier: Visit the
park website or the
Rainier Volunteers
Blog.
Updates: Put this cache on your Watch List, and I’ll
update the page and add notes as plans firm up. I'll also start and
link to a forum thread where logistics and other details can be
discussed.
On a personal note, I've seen many, many of your names on cache
logs and cache description pages in the short year and a half that
I've been geocaching. I look forward to meeting as many of you as
possible. Come get aquainted, do some good work, and CITO The
Mountain!
Consider stopping by the
Sunshine Point Earthcache on your way in or out! Thanks also to
hydnsek for her steady encouragement and coaching, and for letting
me plagiarize some of her language from last year's CITO page.