Backcountry Birthday

Methow Valley News, April 27, 2016

It is a dangerous trip down river with the spring runoff at peak flow this week. The drive itself is dangerous. I’ve pulled over several times to safely observe the flow without drifting into oncoming traffic. I don’t know why I look. The sight fills me with terrible awe. My stomach churns with just as much ferocity as the turbulent water. Whole trees rush by, roots clawing at the air. I wonder if they make it to the ocean in days, or in hours.
Phil Brownlee in Pateros recalls the flood of 1948 whisking a haystack downriver. A rooster perched on top, crowing his discontent.
I met with Rebecca Meadows recently — she said she had something to give me. I expected maybe an old newspaper article, or photos, or maybe some flower bulbs. Instead, it was something even better: stories recorded by her father, Wayne Luft.
The family lived at the mouth of Black Canyon. Wayne led guided horse packing tours through the Sawtooth and Pasayten ranges. In his final years, Wayne made a series of CDs, recording his memories of the early days guiding through hillsides full of flowers, rockslides and high mountain lakes. One of the sweetest memories Wayne shared was that of his daughter’s seventh birthday.
Young Rebecca had asked to ride up to Boiling Lake for her birthday. The family and a few friends loaded up the horses and rode into the Sawtooth range to fish and camp for a week.
At the campfire that first night, Rebecca made the sad observation that this would be her first birthday without a cake. Her father told her he would make it up to her with a triple-decker cake when they got home, but she replied that it just wouldn’t be the same. Here they were with all these people and no cake to share with their friends.
Wayne asked his young daughter if she wanted to lead the group to Cub Creek the next day to fish. Her eyes lit up with the idea of riding in front. After breakfast the following morning, Wayne made an excuse to stay at camp to prepare a big birthday dinner.
When the riders got out of sight, Wayne, his son Pat, and his friend Manual started digging a fire hole to roast the dinner. Legs of lamb were rubbed down with garlic and wrapped in foil with potatoes and onions. Wayne mixed up a cake in a Dutch oven and placed it in the fire pit on top of the lamb. After an hour, Wayne pulled out the Dutch oven and set it on a stump. He dusted off ashes before lifting the lid. The three men held their breath and looked into the oven. Manual declared it the prettiest cake he’d ever seen. The men mixed up a sugar frosting and spread it over the cake.
Late in the afternoon, the fishing crew returned with Rebecca riding tall in the lead, grinning from ear to ear. After dinner, everyone sang happy birthday and the cake was revealed. From the sound of Wayne’s voice on the CD, it is hard to tell which pleased Rebecca the most: leading the fishermen to Cub Creek that morning, or the surprise birthday cake at Boiling Lake that evening. The look on the face of his 7-year-old daughter was something Wayne remembered vividly years later, when he recorded his memories along with all his other “Tales of the Methow.”

Mysterious Footprints

Methow Valley News, April 13, 2016

It was a dark and stormy night.

In truth it was a starlit, clear and cold night, but any good mystery starts off with ominous storm clouds and mysterious footprints.

A group of adventurous Methowites were enjoying a spring skiing trip in a remote area of the Sawtooths when they came across the trail of a mystery snowshoer.

During the last week of March, Dwight Filer, JoAnn Metzler and Sam Greebowich camped and ski-toured the basin below Hoodoo Pass above Lake Chelan. On their first day, Monday, March 28, they came across snowshoe tracks and deduced that someone had recently camped at Boiling Lake. As they toured the area the next morning, they observed the snowshoe tracks leaving Boiling Lake. On the last morning, the group woke up to find footprints of a wolverine that had investigated their tents the night before.

The snowshoe tracks are remarkable in that the area that is so remote and difficult to access. Skis can traverse a snowy landscape in mere hours, compared to snowshoes. The skiers were impressed by the snowshoe tracks and would love to know who might have been enjoying the same stretch of spring snow in the higher elevations.

Photo courtesy of Dwight Filer

JoAnn Metzler and Sam Greebowich on a ski trip into the Sawtooths.

The wolverine tracks were less mysterious and need no explanation. Or do they?

Another mystery readers could help solve is a discouraging case of illegal dumping and polluting.

Within the last month someone dumped a large air conditioning unit in the waters of Gold Creek, two-and-a-half miles up the road, between the South Fork and North Fork bridges. Illegal dumping in state waterways is a criminal offense punishable by a fine.

Just in gas and effort alone, it would have been cheaper for the violators to take that air conditioner to the annual metal drive on April 30.

Dumping in creeks not only destroys the scenery, but also has a negative impact on fish, birds, deer and numerous species of animals who depend on clean water. Less than a mile downstream are numerous family homes with wells that depend on clean ground water for drinking and eating. There are family-owned campgrounds a football throw away from the dumping site. Here, people filter water from the creek for drinking and cooking, cleaning, and their grandchildren enjoy a dip in the cold water.

Further down the creek are beaver ponds, salmon spawning redds, and a community swimming hole. Illegal dumping may be convenient for some, but it hurts everyone else.

If you or someone you know left an air conditioner in Gold Creek, please come pick it up and take it to the Methow Recycles metal drive either Saturday, April 30, or Sunday, May 1, at Cascade Concrete on Horizon Flats Road in Winthrop between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. There is a $15 purging fee for appliances that once contained coolants, like air conditioners. Everything else is free.

Fifteen dollars is cheaper than a criminal record and fine for illegal dumping. Also, the person who retrieves their air conditioner would be giving back to the community instead of taking away the view and the clean water for their neighbors.