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Methow Trails
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change: Mount St. Helens erupted (1980)
and then became a tourism/recreation
draw, the Columbia River Gorge National
Scenic Area was established (1986), and
wind surfing appeared and exploded in
popularity around Hood River in the 80s.
Do you remember your first project that
involved the Methow Trails system?
I don’t remember my first project. Fairly
early on I started helping at events such
as the MVSTA Mountain Bike Festival
and Groundhog Day VolkSki “Search for
Your Shadow” in Mazama. So much has
changed in the skiing/trails landscape it
is hard to remember the details before the
three ski areas (Mazama, Rendezvous,
and Sun Mountain) were tied together.
A couple of the Rendezvous Huts were
already in place. There was talk about
connecting things, but it took John Hayes’
energy and vision, generous land owners,
plus the procedural dogging of John
Sunderland and Joy Schwab to make it
happen.
What would you say were your proudest
Methow Trails-related achievements?
When we were trying to get the Big Valley
to be an open space. Don Portman, John
Hayes, and I did a dog-and-pony show up
at Sun Mountain Lodge for the head of
the Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife. We each presented compelling
reasons the state should acquire it. The
moment in our meeting when he clearly
“got it” and bought into our mission was
wonderful.
Even though I was a minor player, I am
proud to have been involved in creating
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Ways YOU can be a
Methow Trailblazer!
Buy an Annual Trail Pass
Ski passes account for 2/3 of Methow Trails’
revenue, supporting year-round access.
Volunteer for a Trail Work Day
With so many trails in the Methow,
we can never get enough helping hands.
And it’s fun!
Participate in an Event
Challenge yourself and meet other people
just like you on a trail run or ski event.
Become a Member
Membership is a great way to display pride
in what you believe in.
Take Someone Skiing
Introduce a friend to a great sport - the
more skiers, the more Methow Trails
can do for trails.
Buy Your Gear Locally
If our community is successful,
Methow Trails will be successful.
Try a New Trail Every Week
The more you use the trails, the more
you’ll fall in love.
the Community Trail— it is such a lifeline
of keeping our community together.
In all our conversations with trail
pioneers in the Valley, your name
comes up time and time again and
your influence has spread well beyond
Methow Trails.
A lot of good things happened in those
years, like building the eastern half of the
Maple Pass loop [for hiking]. Increasing
recreation needs were being identified
along the North Cascades National
Scenic Highway, but getting funding
continued to be challenging. As use
increased and the need arose, Chickadee
was developed as a parking area near
Sun Mountain and the Cutthroat Lake
Trail was opened to bicycles up to the
Pacfic Crest Trail (where bicycles are not
allowed).
As watershed restoration became
increasingly important, we developed
the Respect the River program, which
was a combination of allowing recreation
along the rivers but restricting vehicular
access/impacts, and doing education
including large interpretive signs at key
locations along the river, and a weekly
“ad” in the paper promoting ways people
could Respect the River.
I also was able to leverage projects by
finding new partners, responding to
challenge/cost-share opportunities, and
applying for money from many sources.
There are just so many incredible
achievements and so many players that
made it so. How do you think it was all
able to come together so well?
When the players caught the excitement
and potential (not all of which is yet
realized) of the Community Trail, they
could work together and find the synergies.
If all those involved bring open minds and
whatever they can contribute (expertise,
stuff, process, labor, connections, etc.) to
the table, it is amazing what can be done.
Not all the potential players chose to
be proactive, but those who did saw the
opportunity, brought what they could to
the table, and really didn’t and don’t care
about who gets the credit. What we cared
about was trails and recreation making
people’s lives better.