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Get Outside! Index Town Wall
In the latest edition of Craig Romano’s Get Outside! column at Cascadia Magazine, he recommends the Index Town Wall trail in Washington’s central Cascades.
The wall is a 1,200-foot high granite cliff beloved of climbers–but if you’re a hiker looking for a moderately challenging hike, you don’t need to do death-defying climb to get to the cliff’s summit.
At the top of this 2.6-mile (4.2 kilometer) trail, you’ll be treated (weather permitting) to a view of the tiny town of Index far below, as well as peaks in the nearby Wild Sky Wilderness.
The trail is generally open most of the year but definitely check weather forecasts before heading out. This is a good one to save for a clear day during the winter holiday break!
To read the full hike description, directions to the trailhead, and photos, click here.
Cascadia Magazine poetry:
In the Little Wentachee Drainage
If you haven’t yet read Martha Silano’s poem “In the Little Wenatchee Drainage,” about hiking through a burned forest in Washington’s Cascade mountains, head over to Cascadia Magazine and give it a read. It’s a lovely meditation on regrowth and reverence. Read the full poem here.
How fracking in Northern BC caused a quake
Over at the Tyee, read Andrew Nikiforuk’s report on how fracking caused an earthquake in Fort St. John, near the construction site of the controversial Site C dam. It felt “like a tank crashed into our house,” said one witness. Earlier this month, the BC Oil and Gas Commission halted all fracking in the region until a full investigation of the quakes is undertaken.
Was a Washington youth’s suicide connected to sports concussions?
Investigate West continues their great series of reporting on concussions in youth sports, with a story about a high school football player in Redmond, Washington who committed suicide, and his parents’ efforts to find out if sports-related concussions played a factor.
Three Republicans who helped end orca captures in WA
Lynda Mapes at the Seattle Times speaks with three legendary Republicans in Washington state’s history — Ralph Munro, Slade Gorton, and Dan Evans– and looks at how these three leaders were instrumental in ending the capture of orcas in the Salish Sea in the 1960s. Former WA governor Dan Evans also welcomed Vietnamese refugees (as Columns magazine reported in a great feature a few years ago) during his tenure–at a time when other governors were turning them away.
Vancouver needs to safe injection beyond Downtown Eastside
Travis Lupick, writing for the Georgia Straight, cites a new report that finds overdose deaths could be reduced if Vancouver expanded supervised injection sites beyond the Downtown Eastside, which has been the historic center of the opioid crisis. Meanwhile, a needle exchange program in Bremerton, WA is being threatened with closure, WA governor Jay Inslee has proposed $30 million in treatment programs to address the opioid overdose crisis, and CTV reports that some in Vancouver BC are calling for vending machines that dispense opioids free of fentanyl, a major cause of overdose deaths.
Plans begin to shape for Chinese Canadian museum in BC
Initial plans and input are underway for a National Chinese Canadian museum in Vancouver, the Georgia Straight reports. In other visual arts news, Vancouver Art Gallery announced 334 new acquisitions, including work by BC Indigenous artist Brian Jungen. And according to Real Change, Washington’s Bainbridge Island Museum is putting on what looks like a very cool show of work by Seattle artist Alfredo Arreguίn that runs through February 3, 2019.
“What Child is This?” poetry by Dujie Tahat
Over at Seattle Review of Books, read “What Child is This” by Seattle poet Dujie Tahat, who’s serving as poet-in-residence for SRB this month. It’s a scathing indictment of racism and anti-immigrant sentiment, just in time for the holidays!
That’s today’s collection of news, arts, poetry, and environmental reporting from across the Pacific Northwest, assembled today in the lovely confines of Kaladi Brother Coffee on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Have a restful evening and a rewarding tomorrow. –Andrew Engelson
Photo credit: former Washington governor Dan Evans courtesy of Washington State Archives (public domain)