Brief History of the Rendezvous Huts, oldest in the West!
By Sam Demas and Charles Hickenbottom
This is a companion piece to history of the Methow Valley Trails system, which operates hand in glove with Rendezvous Huts and other businesses and organizations in the area. Together they maintain and operate a remarkable Nordic skiing trail and lodging system in the East Cascades, which is based on an unusually high degree of cooperation across the community.
How the Methow Valley become a world-class lodging and trails hub
By Sam Demas
With fabulous ski terrain and a great climate, Winthrop, WA on the east slope of the North Cascades, became a mecca for winter sports enthusiasts in the 1970’s. Attracted by the consistent snow cover, great climate, and stunning natural beauty, young people began to move into the area. So did people representing big alpine ski resorts, with ambitions to create a destination alpine ski resort and to profit from an attendant real estate boom. One could view the modern history of the Methow Valley as a tale of big alpine ski interests vs. environmentalists, with x-country ski enthusiasts, or “soft path” recreationists, as the “middle-path” saviors. While that’s part of it, it oversimplifies the story by painting a black and white picture of conflict and reaction. Instead, it seems that the values and visions of Methow Valley residents — old and new — gradually cohered and prevailed through a parallel effort to create a recreation hub and economic driver without turning Methow Valley into another Aspen.
The E4 Team is collaborating with Google Trekker to produce a three dimensional map of the Greek portion of the European Long Distance E4 Trail. The project is centered around hiking in Greece, and is supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Greek National Tourism Organization, UNESCO, the Hellenic Federation of Mountaineering & Climbing, and the European Ramblers Associations. There are some huts along the E4 in Greece. For more information: http://www.ekathimerini.com/202056/article/ekathimerini/community/mapping-greeces-trails-with-google-technology
Oregon Bike Trail and Hut System in Planning Stages
Travel Oregon is in the conceptual stage of planning a hut-to-hut single track biking system that they hope will eventually go from the Oregon/California border to the Oregon/Washington border. The initial planning involves coordination with the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the International Mountain Biking Association, as well as a number of Oregon organizations and businesses. The proposed trail will not go through federally designated wilderness or tribal lands. I’ll report further on this project over time as the concept develops.
– Sam Demas
Book Review by Reidun D. Nuquist
Robert Macfarlane, The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot (Penguin Books, New York, 2012). 433 pp., $18.00 paperback.
This elegantly written book by Robert Macfarlane is about “how people understand themselves using landscape.” Or put another way, how “we are shaped by the landscape through which we move.”
Benton MacKaye’s 1900 Hike Inspires Appalachian Trailby Larry Anderson
The Long Trail “is a project that will be logically extended,” forester and conservationist Benton MacKaye prophesied in his pathbreaking October 1921 article, “An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning,” which appeared in the Journal of the American Institute of Architects. “What the Green Mountains are to Vermont the Appalachians are to the eastern United States. What is suggested, therefore, is a ‘long trail’ over the full length of the Appalachian skyline.” When MacKaye first publicly broached his idea for the Appalachian Trail, he thus offered the then-uncompleted Long Trail as a model for his vision of “a series of recreational communities throughout the Appalachian chain of mountains from New England to Georgia, these to be connected by a walking trail.”
Check out these pictures of a form of vernacular architecture for pilgrims! My acupuncturist friend Kazuhiro Watase returns to Japan every year for a pilgrimage walk. Turning 60 this year he is treating himself to three walks! Knowing of my interest in huts and shelters he kindly sent me photographs of some of the very simple shelters along the Shikoku Pilgrimage, where most pilgrims stay in one of the 88 temples visited on the walk, or in local guest houses. On his next walk he will send pictures of the temples and guest houses.
These simple shelters are for those looking for free places for resting and sleeping The are mostly open-air shelters. Most do not have running water, mattresses, or other amenities, but are perfect for backpackers. The shelters are cared for by locals and other pilgrims.
The World Trails Network (WTN) has published the first issue of “World of Trails”. Robert Searns, editor, states in his welcome note:
This publication is the first global resource of its kind, serving trail advocates, designers, planners, trail managers, tourism industry professionals, national economic development agencies and, of course, trail enthusiasts from around the world. Our goal is to offer, on a regular basis, with this digital magazine, current information about trails, featured trails in many nations, access to trails development resources, a forum for exchange on trail matters and much more.
Check it out for an international perspective on the WTN’s movement to bring advocates and experts together around the world and to promote high quality trails worldwide.
The American Hiking Society has issued a valuable overview report on the status and future of our hiking trails. Here is the description from their web site:
American Hiking Society is pleased to announce it’s publication of Hiking Trails in America: Pathways to Prosperity, a report that answers the need for a one-stop source for readily understood information about America’s hiking trails and the myriad of benefits these trails offer the nation. Hiking Trails in America provides information about the evolution of hiking trails in the U.S., the trails community, the benefits of trails, and in the 2015 inaugural issue, the economic benefits of trails, which are surprisingly significant.