To witness our new Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in her element, it helps to find her outdoors, whether she’s hiking a trail, paddling a kayak, or climbing a mountain. I know because I’ve gotten to share a number of excursions with her over the eight years she has served on NPCA’s board of trustees, and it’s given me insight into her character.

Last year, for example, Sally was part of a small team of national park enthusiasts on an arduous climb up Mount Rainier. Four of us were climbing up the glaciers, persevering through snow, hail, rain, and fog as we negotiated many crevasses and steep snow ramps, all on a day with high winds and terrible visibility. Sally was focused, observant, exceedingly competent, and willing to make adjustments to our course as the weather (and finally lightning) managed to turn even worse. A good leader knows how to push limits while also listening to people and the surrounding environment to manage the risks and rewards of our decisions. I could not be more impressed with her skill and good judgment that day on the mountain.

For a great leader, however, it’s not always about getting to the top.

On a very different hike last October, a group of NPCA volunteers and staff members spent the afternoon with Sally at Acadia National Park. We started making our way along a trail with a significant drop-off on one side. Normally, the trail would not have been terribly difficult, but on this day, a recent rain had left the path slippery, and a member of our group understandably got nervous. Sally was the first to notice this person’s hesitation, and she immediately offered her arm, walking the hiker back down to a more comfortable spot on the trail. To me, this spoke volumes about Sally’s personality—it showed her sensitivity, her quickness to act, and her dedication to helping others, even if it means changing her own plans to take the most responsible action. It’s no wonder she has made such a successful career out of connecting people with nature—she gets nature and she gets people.

Now that the Senate has officially confirmed Sally as our nation’s next interior secretary, I can say without reservation that she is an ideal choice to oversee the National Park Service as it prepares for its centennial in 2016. Sally has the background and the vision to support America’s most beloved public lands as they enter their next century. As the head of one of our country’s major outdoor retailers, Sally also understands that investing in our national parks means supporting a whole economy of recreational opportunities that improves our health, connects us with nature, strengthens our families, and provides millions of jobs around the country.

Although the bulk of her career has been in the private sector, Sally has spent a great deal of time specifically addressing the needs of national parks—the issue closest to my heart. In addition to her years on NPCA’s board, she has served as a member of the National Parks Second Century Commission convened by NPCA in 2008, where she led efforts to better connect people to parks, reach diverse communities, and build a broad-based network of park and outdoor recreation advocates. She has been a strong supporter of President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative, and she has worked with former Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on the Bush Administration’s effort to enhance both public and private funding for our national parks.

When President Obama officially announced Sally’s nomination for the cabinet position, she joked with outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, “I’m going to do my best to fill those big boots of yours, but I think I might get lost in your hat.” It’s true; she has a great legacy to continue, and some sizeable footwear to fill. But I know she will work hard to ensure our public lands are preserved, protected, and more accessible for future generations to enjoy—and that’s something we all can celebrate.

The final two destinations of our summer adventure in the national parks, though neighbors, are a study in contrast. One, Mount Rainier, is a national park. The other, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, is not part of the National Park System, but easily could be. Today, it is operated by the U.S. Forest Service. Both places captivated our kids, but Rainier’s accessibility made for a much richer experience. Unlike Rainier, Mount St. Helens has no overnight accommodations–no lodge or campgrounds–making it a challenge to explore deeply with young kids, unless you want to backpack in a location remote from the park’s center–the gaping crater created by the volcano’s 1980 eruption. We were fortunate to stay at the nearby, family-run Eco Park Resort, a lodge with delightful cabins, yurts, campsites, and great food.

The premier destination at Mount St. Helens is Johnston Ridge Observatory, with its birds-eye view of the crater, its fancy theater and film, and several exhibits the kids enjoyed–particularly one that enabled them to create their own earthquake and see its intensity on a seismometer. The shortcoming is the lack of interpretive options beyond the observatory. A Forest Service ranger delivered an engaging Junior Ranger talk to the kids, which was held outdoors overlooking the mountain. But, when we all got hungry, there was no place to eat. No restaurant. No picnic tables. So, we pulled out our cooler from the car and ate sandwiches on a concrete median strip in the parking lot. It wasn’t until we visited Coldwater Lake at the end of our day that we saw there were actually picnic tables; they were simply 10 miles away from where all the visitors were!

Once you venture away from the observatory building, the hiking options for kids in this part of Mount St. Helens are limited. The hike to the valley floor is a fascinating journey, but too much for young kids–long, strenuous, and exposed. So, we hiked a ways down the trail and turned around. There are nice trails in other parts of the monument, but getting there is an hours-long, challenging journey.

Fortunately, Mount Rainier, our final park, offers a bounty of hiking options that the kids truly enjoyed. At Paradise on the south side of the mountain, we hiked the Skyline trail through glorious fields of lupine until we reached a delightful snowfield that provided us with a slippery playground, much to the viewing pleasure of two nearby marmots. We couldn’t tell what the Marmots thought of Isabelle’s wolf puppet, Logan Lightning Bolt, who accompanied us.

The ranger-led Junior Ranger talk in the Paradise visitor center was probably the best we encountered in any national park we visited. The seasonal ranger, a retired school science teacher, “made” a glacier with the kids—a concoction similar to Dr. Seuss’s “oobleck,” with a consistency equivalent to Jello mixed with Silly Putty—to demonstrate how a glacier moves and show some other interesting properties of these ice forms. The session was fun and engaging, and as a bonus, each budding Junior Ranger who shared something they had learned received their own piece of the concoction. In truth, we all learned something! 

Since Rainier was our last park on a journey of many weeks, we treated ourselves to a stay at the Paradise Inn. The great room in the historic inn proved ideal for card-playing, completing Junior Ranger packets, and relaxing together to music emanating from a unique, one-of-a-kind piano. The inn is a fantastic location for exploring the popular Paradise area of the park.

The Sunrise area on the northeast side of the mountain also has fantastic hiking, and is where we elected to enjoy our last national park hike of the season. Of course, first our kids became Junior Rangers for the tenth time. Our loop began with a short ascent to Sourdough Ridge, and wound its way past Frozen and Shadow Lakes, before returning to the snack bar near the visitor center for a well-earned ice cream.

At Shadow Lake, Lucas finally hit the pumice jackpot. He had been determined to find a sample of the one rock that can actually float, and in an exciting turn of luck, he finally found one. Monty Python was right; very small rocks DO float on water … provided they’re pumice and have plenty of air pockets.

The big tip this week is that both of these famous mountains are world-class treasures. Both are worth visiting, but Mount Rainier is the clear winner when it comes to variety, interpretive programs, and available accommodations. Mount St. Helens is full of untapped potential. When it comes to engaging visitors, Rainier is in a different league.

More stories in this series:

• Read week one at Sleeping Bear Dunes (August 31, 2012)
• Read week two, On to Pictured Rocks and the Ice Age Trail (September 7, 2012)
• Read week three, Olympic–A Gold Medal National Park for Kids (September 14, 2012)
• Read week four, Glacier–More than Ice and Snow (September 21, 2012)
• Read week five, On to Yellowstone! (September 28, 2012)
• Read week six, Inspiration, Perspiration, and Contemplation at Grand Teton (October 5, 2012)
• Read week seven, Volcanoes Are Cool (October 12, 2012)
• Read week eight, Adventures on Wizard Island (October 19, 2012)

NPCA is proud to be supporting five different events for National Public Lands Day. Please consider joining us! Just click the links below for descriptions and RSVP information:

• Repair park trails, clean up campgrounds and picnic areas, and plant native vegetation at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state.
• Take down barbed-wire fencing that can harm pronghorn antelope at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming (generously sponsored by Nature Valley).
• Remove invasive buffelgrass that threatens native plants near Saguaro National Park in Arizona.
• Remove cut lotus flowers from the ponds and perform other maintenance tasks at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington, DC.
• Restore trails and playgrounds, chop and stack wood, and maintain common areas at Greenbelt Park in Maryland.

Can’t make it to any of these events? Choose from hundreds of other volunteer opportunities around the country on the National Public Lands Day website.

As an added incentive, volunteers who participate in National Public Lands Day at a National Park Service site (as well as a number of other public sites) are eligible to receive a coupon to enter for free on another day of their choice within the next year. So, you not only get to enjoy the park and help out without paying any entrance fees, you also get to go back for another full day for free on any public lands site! Get more details on the National Public Lands Day website.

-Jennifer Errick, Editor, Online Communications

Learn More

Watch a video of NPCA’s Legislative Representative Alan Spears on the importance of cleaning up Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and some of the interesting objects volunteers have pulled out of the park’s beautiful ponds!

Fresh after landing in Seattle and battling our rental car company to finally get the kind of vehicle we had reserved for a month on the road, we mercifully found ourselves in wondrous Olympic National Park. The massive trees enchanted us–towering, moss-laden rainforest wonders and carcasses littering the Pacific Coast as part of a massive jungle gym. So did the fascinating tide pools teeming with sea life and the easily accessible high country with remnant winter snowfields, looming peaks, and deer mothers and their new fawns. All of it produced a fantastic start to the next leg of our family adventure.

Lake Quinault was a hit. We kayaked the lake, circumnavigated the largest spruce tree in the world (Lucas said that was his favorite part), explored a historic homestead, watched baby salmon swimming in nearby creeks, and dined at the same table used by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his visit to Lake Quinault Lodge (believe it or not, the kids made the request).

The first places that come to mind for many when thinking of big trees are national parks like Sequoia or Redwood, but Olympic and its surrounding neighborhood harbor jaw-droppers for kids and adults alike.  The Hoh Rainforest has kid-friendly loop trails, bounded by numerous fallen trees nursing descendants than can outstrip their size. There’s nothing quite like crawling under a massive tree, in its own cavern of roots. In the end, though, the tree that stuck with the kids was that massive spruce.

The north side of Lake Quinault (which is in the park–the south side is not) includes a delightful, picturesque hike to the Kettler Homestead. We took it with a park ranger who handed the kids each a Junior Ranger packet and a magnifying glass for exploring the fern forest around us. Isabelle actually held a slug (very slimy!). Lucas seemed fascinated by the multitude of spores under the fern leaves. We all learned about the cedar tree, known as the tree of life. Rangers truly are the air that breathes extra life into park experiences.

The rainforests ultimately end along the Pacific Coast, which is scattered with miles upon miles of fallen trees that lost their battle with salt and sea and that now provide kids with a climbing and exploring paradise. The time we spent at Rialto and Ruby beaches showed these trees to be magnetic, captivating places for kids. Isabelle found a small shelter a prior visitor had fashioned out of fallen timber and made it her own, while Lucas honed his rock-skipping skills. I tried to get them to walk up the beach with me to see several seals, but couldn’t pull them away from their adventures. Leaving was hard to do.

The sting of leaving the Pacific Coast was soothed by our adventures on the north end of the park, particularly tide pooling. When Dad got everybody up shortly after dawn to hit low tide at Salt Creek along the Strait of Juan de Fuca near the park, the skepticism was palpable. But once they saw the countless crabs, urchins, starfish, barnacles, mussels, and even a dead octopus, Dad was off the hook. Salt Creek was a hit! And the breakfast we ate afterwards at a diner on our way to Port Angeles was just as popular with hungry stomachs.

Salt Creek is convenient to Lake Crescent, if you stay at the Lodge or sign up for a family program with a park partner like NatureBridge. While we were visiting, a group of families was enjoying a week-long NatureBridge program with their young children, and Isabelle was excited to learn that she, or anybody, can sign up. The kids also enjoyed the hike to Marymere Falls and the wonderful, musical, ranger/magician talk at Lake Crescent Lodge on the restoration of the Elwha River.

From there, we had yet another, completely different, Olympic experience. We visited Hurricane Ridge, where we reached the frozen alpine climate in a matter of minutes–enveloped by peaks, treading on snow, and staring down spotted fawns. Of course, on our way, we dropped by the ranger station for the kids to be sworn in as new Olympic National Park Junior Rangers, to rousing applause.

We spent four very full days in Olympic, and easily could have doubled down. I had been to the park many times before, but never fully realized what a powerful place it would be for kids.

Tips

1. Do the coasts! Allow yourselves time to explore the beaches. Bring a picnic lunch. And bring a good windbreaker. The Pacific Northwest can be a bit chilly, even in summer, and the Pacific Ocean produces cold winds. Come dressed for the weather and your kids will love it.
2. Check tide tables for low tide for the best tide pooling. Salt Creek is fantastic, though the Park Service can point you to other places in the park.
3. Experience at least one of the rainforests with a ranger if you can. The north side of Lake Quinault tends to be more lightly visited and may offer more ranger time on your hike.
4. Do the entire peninsula in a loop (or, more accurately, a letter C). You can drive from Seattle to the south/west end of the park, follow the coastal roads, and return to Seattle via the ferry from Bainbridge Island, or vice versa.
5. Be prepared for rain–after all, this is a rainforest. We experienced rain, clouds, and sun.  When it’s sunny, it’s glorious, but your pictures come out better when it’s overcast. The kids enjoyed everything, rain or shine.

More stories in this series:

• Read week one at Sleeping Bear Dunes (August 31, 2012)
• Read week two, On to Pictured Rocks and the Ice Age Trail (September 7, 2012)
• Read week four, Glacier–More than Ice and Snow (September 21, 2012)
• Read week five, On to Yellowstone! (September 28, 2012)
• Read week six, Inspiration, Perspiration, and Contemplation at Grand Teton (October 5, 2012)
• Read week seven, Volcanoes Are Cool (October 12, 2012)
• Read week eight, Adventures on Wizard Island (October 19, 2012)
• Read week nine, The Difference a National Park Makes (October 26, 2012)

Last month, photographer Christopher C. McDaniel turned his camera upward, capturing how the park’s majestic sky can rival the beauty of its famous water. Thanks to McDaniel for sharing his image with us, which is even more beautiful at full size and definitely worth checking out on his Flickr page.

-Jennifer Errick, Editor, Online Communications

If you liked this story, you might also like:

• Author Shares His Love for the Darkest Skies and Most Brilliant Stars (May 30, 2012)
• Friday Photo: Billions of Stars on View in the Lone Star State (February 17, 2012)
• Headed to a Park with Your Camera? Read These Tips! (April 4, 2012)

To appreciate some of the scope of the project, see the Park Service photo at right of an excavator removing the first few pieces of the Glines Canyon Dam last fall. According to the Park Service, the Elwha began flowing through its native channel for the first time last week in more than a century.

This photo was taken by director and cinematographer John Gussman who has been documenting the community efforts to restore the Elwha River since 2010 for an upcoming film, Return of the River. The trailer for the film shows more compelling footage of the river, the park, the removal of the dams, and the people who have fought for years to see their water, land, and wildlife healthy again–a moving way to spend five minutes of a Friday afternoon. 

-Jennifer Errick, Editor, Online Communications