by Mt. Adams Institute | 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 Mt. Adams Institute | 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 Mt. Adams Institute | 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 Mt. Adams Institute | 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 Mt. Adams Institute | 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 Mt. Adams Institute | 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 Mt. Adams Institute | 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 Mt. Adams Institute | 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...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Nov 12, 2018 | Land Stewards
I recently had a lengthy conversation with my Dad about the future; my plans for it, my goals and expectations. I told him I was planning on staying in the Methow Valley for the winter and was applying for 2019 seasonal positions with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Oct 10, 2018 | Land Stewards
We are entering our final month of the Public Lands Stewards program and I am stunned at how quickly the time has gone. I remember my first few weeks, when I was still getting my footing and there was still snow on the ground. Now there is snow once again, but it is...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Oct 10, 2018 | Land Stewards
On one of our very first patrol trips, my partner Emma and I headed up to the Pyramid Mountain Trail. You access the trailhead via Shady Pass, a steep, gravel road that takes you from my home district, Entiat, up over the mountains and down the other side to the...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Oct 9, 2018 | Land Stewards
September cast a sharp visible distinction on the color wheel of the alpine basin where I’ve spent a good portion of my time as a Wilderness trails ranger intern for the Chelan Ranger District. Fields of bear grass in the meadows above Lyman Lake slim their bulbous...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 28, 2018 | Land Stewards
I set my alarm for around 6:15am. That’s fifteen minutes later than when I first started this job. By now I know how to time myself for the most sleep possible and be ready for work. Breakfast is microwaved leftovers since I’ve never been much for breakfast foods...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Aug 6, 2018 | Land Stewards
As a Wilderness trails ranger with the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, I have the great privilege of working in the Glacier Peaks Wilderness. Now that I’m more than a third of the way through the season, I’d like to share some highlights. As its name suggests, the...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Jul 26, 2018 | Land Stewards
It’s hard to explain to someone what a burn area looks like. In the back of my mind I knew the Entiat River Valley burned badly in the Wolverine Fire of 2015. I grew up in Wenatchee, just 20 miles south, and every summer the valley fills with smoke from one fire or...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Jul 24, 2018 | Land Stewards
I was motivated to apply for the Mt. Adams Institute Public Lands Stewards program after seeing that they had a position available in the Methow Valley Ranger District of the Okanogan- Wenatchee National Forest. I was specifically looking for work in this area because...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Jul 24, 2018 | Land Stewards
“When we enter the landscape to learn something, we are obligated, I think, to pay attention rather than constantly to pose questions. To approach the land as we would a person, by opening an intelligent conversation. And to stay in one place, to make of that one,...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Jul 24, 2018 | Land Stewards
Hello! My name is Emma and I am one of the 2018 Mt. Adams Public Land Stewards. I am based out of the Entiat Ranger district, and my official title is wilderness backcountry ranger. I am originally from North Carolina, and I drove out to the west coast the week before...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Jul 16, 2018 | Land Stewards
Who isn’t nervous about their first day of a new job? Maybe a few people, but I don’t know them. I had a strong idea of what I was getting myself into with this position. I’m a Public Lands Stewards intern with Mt. Adams Institute (MAI), in partnership with...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Jun 12, 2018 | Land Stewards
When I got the call from the Mt. Adam’s Institute (MAI) program coordinator, Marijke, that I would be joining the Chelan Ranger District as a wilderness trails ranger intern for the summer, I blurted “YES” into the phone rather embarrassingly and high fived a coworker...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Nov 17, 2017 | Land Stewards
The Lake Chelan area that we have been working on has a large number of trails, from short hour-long trips to destinations that can take 3 days of hard work to get to. A significant amount of our time is spent on one 30-mile stretch of trail and its branching...
