s was reported in the “Pandemic Pressure” article in the Yakima Herald Republic on Sunday, August 16, many trails in the Cascade Mountains are currently slammed with hikers. There was an actual count of 999 people in one day at Colchuck Lake. Some of us long-time Cascadians can remember when we could hike to Colchuck for a swim and not see another person all day. More and more people are realizing that hiking is one of the few things they can do during COVID-19 times, and they are heading into the mountains in droves.

One of the side-effects of massive interest in hiking is that many trailheads are running out of Wilderness Permits. The permits with elastic loops attached don’t come that way from the printer. Someone has to cut one-foot pieces of elastic string from a roll of string, tie the loose ends together, and then secure the loop to the permit using a girth hitch. The U. S. Forest Service does not have adequate staff to do this necessary task. Therefore, a couple of weeks ago the Naches Ranger Station asked the board of The Cascadians if we could help with the process of attaching strings to the permits. They needed 5,000 of them done, and they needed some ASAP. This seemed like a good volunteer project for the membership at large, but because of the urgency six board members each agreed to string 500 permits immediately, for a total of 3,000 permits. Via Facebook our club president, Mark Kushner, also solicited volunteers from the membership to string the other 2,000 permits. He found volunteers very quickly, and no additional volunteers are needed for stringing permits at this time. USFS greatly appreciates the assistance.

Thanks to all who ordered Centennial T-shirts. When we can finally hike in groups again it will be fun to see all the different colors that members will be wearing. The T-Shirt Store at cascadians.org is now closed to new orders, but it is anticipated that the store will reopen in the future when we are able to resume our activities.

The Board of Directors continues to have monthly board meetings via Zoom on the first Wednesday of each month. The calls are limited to 40 minutes, so the discussions are brief compared to an extended meeting, and we don’t always have time to get through the entire agenda. We could, of course, set up two meetings back to back, but we haven’t done so thus far. Zoom generally works well, but there are sometimes feedback problems, especially when two people try to talk at the same time. The board has discussed whether it would be feasible to attempt an abbreviated general meeting via Zoom, but no decisions have been made yet. Feel free to provide input to board members as to whether such a meeting would be practical and useful. While in theory it seems like a good idea, the logistics might be challenging with a large group. While some Cascadians are tech wizards, many members are not.

Members continue to hike with others in their household and on informal outings with small groups of friends. Once again the board encourages you to socially distance not only while hiking but also during breaks. You are also encouraged to carry a mask on the trail to use if you meet other hikers. The more careful we are, the sooner we will be able to get back to “normal” hikes.

The Centennial T-Shirts sales have closed for now.  Whenever we get to actually celebrate our Centennial, sales may open again.  Thanks to all of you who purchased for your support!