Karen Sykes has an article in the P-I today about just how bad the storms have ravaged our favorite trails…

“This is the time of year when hikers begin thumbing through guidebooks to plan summer outings. But planning hikes is going to be a challenge this year, maybe the worst in 40 years or more.

Most hikers know about the extensive damage to Mount Rainier National Park, and they have answered the call by volunteering to work on damaged trails.

Well, Mount Rainier National Park certainly deserves the attention it has been getting, but much less attention has been given to storm-ravaged trails and roads in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.”

Link: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/314834_hike10.html

After kidnapping me after work for a surprise weekend getaway in the Cascades, Lisa proposed to me during a snowshoeing trek Saturday.
Our first meeting 2 and a half years ago was on a hike, so it was so perfect to have it happen in the mountains. The ring was tied to a canister of bear mace that she was encouraged by friends to bring on our first outing together, on the off chance I was some psycho-killer.
Or a bear.

http://newsroom.blogs.oregonlive.com/default.asp?item=277863

Two lost hikers found; one arrested

Two lost hikers were found cold and wet Sunday night by Oregon State Police troopers and a Marion County sheriff’s deputy after they got lost in the Silver Falls State Park area.

Cops say one hiker got to go home. The other wasn’t as lucky.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003386501_natparks10m.html

“Mount Rainier National Park has been completely closed to visitors for the first time in recent memory, after swollen rivers devoured chunks of roads, swallowed several campgrounds, cut electricity to much of the park and forced Park Service employees to flee their headquarters.

“It’s really kind of an amazing amount of damage,” said Lee Taylor, spokeswoman at the park.

The devastation, which could keep the park closed for weeks, was just part of the damage to forest land and recreation areas all over the state brought by this week’s flooding.”

Olympic National Park rescuers on Thursday are continuing their search for two hikers who planned a one-night backpacking trip but failed to show up for work.

Searchers and dog crews are looking for Neil Twilla of Silverdale and Jeff Mersmann of Bremerton in the Upper Lena Lake area of the park.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/291740_hiker09ww.html

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UPDATE:  The hikers have been found, cold and hungry but otherwise fine.

Washington Trails, the magazine of the WTA, has an extensive article this month on the aftermath of the Pinnacle Lake murders that took place last July.

The article includes interviews with multiple Forest Service Rangers, as well as with David Stodden, who lost his daughter Susanna and his wife Mary to the still unidentified killer or killers. Read it to learn more about how the forest system is staffed and patrolled, how the investigation is proceeding, and how the murders have affected all who hike the trails around the Mountain Loop Highway and across the state.