I led a hike yesterday for several CHS graduates and one current year participant to Easton Ridge—a place I’d never hiked before. While the weather was rainy and cloudy over on the west side of the Cascades, we experienced mostly sunny and warmer temperatures on Easton Ridge. The only precipitation was some beautiful flakes of snow falling in the sunshine while we enjoyed pretty darn good views from choice viewspots along the ridge. It seemed as though the sun was hanging out in that area just for us! I mentioned that this hike was new to me and we had to do a tiny bit of route finding at the beginning. There were several junctions that we needed to pay attention to and make sure that everyone made the correct turn—which reminds me of my topic for this week!
I want to discuss a couple of safety issues on the trail this week. First, for trails where there are several junctions, it’s important to wait at all junctions for the whole group to catch up. This way, you know that everyone has taken the correct trail. Secondly, if for some reason you do miss a junction and are beginning to suspect that you’ve taken the wrong trail, then stop and assess the situation. Take out your map (remember why you bring a map?) and figure out if and where you could’ve possibly gone wrong. Take a look at your surroundings, do they look like what you should be encountering on the trail or if you’re heading back down, do you remember coming through this section? If you conclude that you’re not on the correct trail then head back down and figure out where you’ve gone wrong. Hopefully the rest of the group is waiting there for you. If you’re not sure if you are on the right trail, then wait to see if someone else in your group catches up with you. Do not continue to hike on a trail when all signs are telling you that you are not where you should be.
Hike Leaders: be sure to give clear, proactive instructions on what your hikers should do at all junctions or if they’ve suspect they’ve gone down the wrong path. Be sure to require that everyone waits at all junctions.
May & June Hike Signup:
All May CHS hikes are available for open signup. Below are the hikes with space still available.
June hike descriptions will be sent out to you via email on Monday morning. Signup will begin on Wednesday, May 26th at 9:00 AM. Remember if you want to see what hikes we’re scheduling in the months ahead, look at the schedules posted and updated on the CHS website in the Class Resources section.
CHS1:
5/29 (Sat.)—Barry Kellems, CHS Grads Hike: Annette Lake (7.5 miles, 1400’ gain)—Current course members can sign up now.
CHS2:
5/30 (Sun.)—Shep Griswold, Squire Creek (9 miles, 2,400’ gain)—hike is full with no waitlist.
CHS Pictures:
John Connelly, our picture guru, asks that you send your May hike pictures to him—he hasn’t seen many for this month and we know that you’re taking them. A link to this web site is listed on the Class Resources tab on the CHS web site.
WTA Work Party Signup
We have the links available for you to sign up for the trail maintenance work parties being held later this summer in conjunction with WTA. I have posted the WTA document with the links on the CHS web site>Class Resources tab>Course Documents section>2010 CHS Trail Maintenance Flyer link. You can view the date and description of each trip as well as click on the link to sign up for them.
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