Oregon Wild schedules summer hikes
The group has changed the days of the week it uses to boost turnout
June 10, 2009
By Henry Miller • Statesman Journal • June 10, 2009
You can take a walk on the wild side this summer.
Officials with the environmental preservation group Oregon Wild — formerly the Oregon Natural Resources Council — have announced the second annual Oregon Wild Summer, a series of about two dozen hikes and other outings between now and the end of August.
"We started doing Wilderness Week back when we first started the Oregon Wilderness Coalition with a bunch of groups … I think it was around 2001," said Sean Stevens, a communications assistant with Oregon Wild.
"And we packed everything into one week with many groups across the state."
A big problem was small turnouts, he said about those initial efforts.
"We kind of decided that not a lot of people could actually attend because it was tough to get off during the week," Stevens said. "So we expanded it to Oregon Wild Summer last year, and then again this year to make most of the events fall during the weekends so more people could get out."
Which is a two-edged sword, he added. When the Oregon Wild crowd is out, so is everyone else.
"There's a couple ones like the one that Wendell Wood is leading to Eagle Creek in the Columbia Gorge," Stevens said about the July 23 outing to Mirror Lake. "I mean it's one of the most crowded hikes in the area.
"That one we're doing on a weekday to try and draw away from the crowd a little bit."
In the past, the idea behind setting the hiking schedule was to expose people to areas that Oregon Wild and other environmental groups were pushing for federal wilderness designations, he said.
This summer, it's more of a celebration of the successes of those efforts.
"The theme?" Stevens said in reply to a question about this year's hikes. "You know, we've always tried to do Oregon Wild summers as a way to connect people with places that we were working to protect.
"But since we do have this wonderful wilderness bill that just passed a couple of months ago, this one is kind of 'let's go out and look at the new wilderness,' and also 'let's go out and see what's next for wilderness.' "
There are hikes scattered throughout the state, with seven on this summer's schedule originating from Salem.
Those include a kid- and family-friendly Memaloose Lake hike on Mount Hood on June 28, and a July 10-12 wildflower-identification hike and campout on Iron Mountain and Echo Basin.
Drawing from the expansive pool of expertise among the members, most of the outings feature interpretive information ranging from biology to history.
"You know we have some really talented staff, some really knowledgeable staff, so on lots of our hikes we're going to be doing stuff such as wildflower identification, tree identification those sort of things," Stevens said. "And in the past we've done things such as a wildfire ecology hike."
Then there's the insider information about relatively unknown gems, such as the July 25 hike out of Eugene that Stevens will lead.
"Some of the expertise that we have is knowing about these really cool places that are out of the way," he said. "I think a great example is Crabtree Valley. It's a really hard place to find.
"We know how to get there, and it's an amazing place that not many Oregonians know about. So it's a place that we want to take people to, so they can appreciate it."
A lot of the hikes are repeated, and many are listed as "members only." But there's an easy work-around.
"Actually the listings on the Web site that say that they are for members only all say 'find out more about membership, here's how to become a member,' in the description of the hike," Stevens said about links to membership page where you can join.
Annual dues are $35 a person or $55 for a family of two adults and up to two kids 17 or younger.
Hikes are free but given the eco-friendly nature of the organization, carpooling is encouraged, and riders are asked to chip in to help the driver pay expenses, he said.
"With all of our hikes, we try to do as much planning in advance and let people know the details, where to meet up," he said. "So we can scrunch people into as few cars as possible and generally that means kicking in a couple of dollars to help whoever's driving.
"And it always works out so well, just people showing up and ready to go. And generally the people who come to the hikes are eager to carpool and, you know, reduce their carbon footprint."
Then there's the social aspects of scrunching together.
"And it's more fun because as we're riding out people can talk to each other and get to know each other, and it makes the hike more enjoyable," Stevens said.
