by mtadams | Oct 20, 2020 | Lands Stewards
“Choose your own adventure” is how I would describe the wilderness. Shear scree fields, deafening thunderstorms, and collapsing trees in burn areas are some of the obstacles that will be faced. Whether or not you want to attempt to slide 20 feet down the field, sleep...
by mtadams | Sep 21, 2020 | Lands Stewards
It’s not even August yet and this summer has been one of the most influential, awakening, and educational times of my life. Each week is a little different than the one before it. I might be hiking to new areas, completing different site work tasks, or even...
by mtadams | Sep 21, 2020 | Lands Stewards
First off: let me say that I never expected to be here. Friends and family always knew how much I love our public lands and wild spaces in general, but it simply never registered for me that my career path could involve helping others to enjoy the outdoors while...
by mtadams | Sep 21, 2020 | Lands Stewards
Sitting in the cool, air conditioned truck sipping on fruit punch Gatorade, I felt elated. Ecstatic. Completely and purely happy. This moment was easily one of the greatest moments of my entire life. And all it took was a gnarly week of patrolling. Coming from the...
by mtadams | Aug 5, 2020 | Lands Stewards
I grew up near North Bend, Washington and spent many years enjoying the outdoors with my family and friends. In the process of getting my Environmental Science degree at Central Washington University (CWU), I fell in love with our dry montane and shrub-steppe...
by mtadams | Aug 5, 2020 | Lands Stewards
Originally from Michigan, I currently call the beautiful state of Washington my home. My love for the outdoors began at a young age spending summers in the Adirondacks with my family and ultimately led me to thru hike the Pacific Crest Trail in 2017. This hike...
by mtadams | Aug 5, 2020 | Lands Stewards
When I discovered conservation work a few years ago, the entire trajectory of my life was changed. I jumped, whole-heartedly, into a lifestyle that was both simple and also incredibly fulfilling. My first love were the Rocky Mountains of south central Colorado- and in...
by mtadams | Aug 5, 2020 | Lands Stewards
From birth my life has been beset with a myriad of outdoor experiences ranging from windy peaks to deep, muddy caves. In between those adventures I’ve delved into a variety of hobbies including musicianship, carpentry, and gaming. My passion for motion leads me...
by mtadams | Aug 5, 2020 | Lands Stewards
Hello, my name is Jake Kendall and I’m from Roseville, Minnesota. I went to school at the University of Minnesota Duluth where I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in urban and regional studies. I focused on land management, public policy, and urban...
by mtadams | Aug 5, 2020 | Lands Stewards
I grew up in northwest Ohio where it is as flat as can be and so didn’t truly get into any adventure type sports until I moved into the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania. I dove right in after college doing a six weekend-long white water rafting training...
by mtadams | Aug 5, 2020 | Lands Stewards
Growing up in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania I was taught to embrace and appreciate the nature around me by my father. Being an Infantryman in the Army, my father was no stranger to walking tireless miles with a heavy pack. So it was no surprise when I had...
by mtadams | Oct 23, 2019 | Lands Stewards
I was laying in my hammock reading “Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond, when finally it clicked. The general thesis of the book is that environment and ecology are some of, if not the, biggest factors in determining how a culture, technology, and a...
by mtadams | Oct 23, 2019 | Lands Stewards
The following are potential hazards that a wilderness backcountry ranger on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest might face on a daily basis. This is not an attempt to scare anyone away from spending a season in this position, but serves as a list of some of...
by mtadams | Oct 23, 2019 | Lands Stewards
My one person tent and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness have become my home and I am not ready to let either of them go. These past few months have been a whirlwind of adventures. There are only a dozen or so lakes that I have yet to visit and only a few trails that I have...
by mtadams | Sep 10, 2019 | Lands Stewards
Upper Lyman lakes in the Glacier Peak Wilderness area is a truly sublime glimpse into Washington’s high alpine. As little as one hundred years ago, these lakes were nonexistent, and instead were covered by the Lyman glacier, now almost completely receded onto...
by mtadams | Sep 6, 2019 | Lands Stewards
It has been barely over a month since I began the internship with Mt. Adams Institute. After spending a winter in Bozeman, MT, I became accustomed to so many luxuries that I didn’t realize how detached I was becoming to the natural world around me. I slept in a...
by mtadams | Sep 6, 2019 | Lands Stewards
I am stationed on the Entiat Ranger District of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest as a backcountry ranger. Due to training and the terrain of my district, I have been loaned to the Chelan Ranger District for my first two tours. Lake Chelan, the main...
by mtadams | Sep 6, 2019 | Lands Stewards
The sun shines high above the Pacific Crest Trail. Spinola Creek tumbles through basalt rock worn by millennia of meltwater. A northern harrier hawk crests over Cathedral Ridge looking to make a meal of a vole. It is noon – and like the predator above, I search...
by mtadams | Sep 6, 2019 | Lands Stewards
The first time I crossed over Highway 20 and into the Methow Valley I was in a strangers truck hitchhiking from Bellingham, WA to Glacier National Park. Our driver pulled off the road at Washington Pass where Liberty Bell, Early Winters Spires and the Needles...
by mtadams | Sep 6, 2019 | Lands Stewards
It’s a quiet June evening here in the Methow Valley and I’m slowly soaking in the last few days off before heading back out into the Pasayten Wilderness. This hitch I’m headed out with a few members of the trail crew to put my newly earned crosscut certification to...
by mtadams | Sep 6, 2019 | Lands Stewards
About two months in and every day is still unique, keeping me on my toes. I have predominantly been helping the Cle Elum Ranger District’s Trail Crew by clearing out trails in the front country. I had not been on a single trail in the Cle Elum Ranger District before...
