A Visit to the Northwest
And how to survive 76+ hours on a train
I teach a Planning for Public Lands and Open Space course and last year turned it into a field course. We meet once a week during the semester then take a 2 week field trip. Last year was Badlands, Black Hills, Devils Tower, and Yellowstone. It was a great trip so decided to continue that method of teaching. This year we combined with the Geology Field Course and set our sights a little higher to visit the Pacific Northwest. I’d never been out there and was super excited!
In an attempt to save some $$ for the students and allow for more luggage (geologists need a lot of stuff) we decided to take the train rather than flying. We hopped on Amtrak’s Empire Builder in St. Paul at 11:00 PM and started the long journey west. I’ve got to say, the train was actually kinda great for the first 20 or so hours. We brought on a bunch of food and snacks so weren’t dependent on the snack car which definitely helped. There was a water dispenser on each car and you could get hot water from the snack car for ramen or your own coffee. The seats were pretty comfortable, similar to maybe business class on an airplane. All in all not too shabby.
The trip is timed well so you sleep through the most boring part of North Dakota (sorry, it’s just not that exciting, and hit Glacier National Park in late afternoon, which was lovely. After Glacier I did begin to feel like a crew member of the Flying Dutchman from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies…
The students were great, they slept most of the way out, we left the last day of finals and most of them were burnt out and needed to recover from the semester. They had games, cards, and books and spent less time on their phones than I anticipated. It didn’t hurt that there was no wifi and cell phone coverage was spotty, but many were intentionally avoiding screentime.
We arrived in Portland and started our adventure. I don’t have it in me to go into all the details, but a couple highlights included the John Day Fossil Bed National Monument, which is in the middle of nowhere but a great visitor center and a lovely hike! Newberry Caldera National Monument, which was created in response to geothermal energy exploration, was another great stop. It was a good opportunity to discuss the conflict over public lands and the push for renewable energy. This is one example, others include solar farms, highlighting how values and priorities influence our use of public lands. Silver Falls State Park was another winner, a lovely hike past 10 waterfalls!! The Weyerhauser Forest Learning Center was another cool stop with a great history of the Mt. St. Helens eruption and the recovery efforts. The Center is free and open to the public and worth a stop. Had an interesting discussion with a retired forester who had pretty strong opinions about the differences between private land management and public land management as it relates to forestry.
It’s kind of a tragedy of the commons situation. On public lands, the companies get the bid to log and have to replant, but they have no real interest in proper management because in 30 or 40 years when the land is ready to log again, who knows if they’ll be the ones doing it. It’s the Forest Service’s problem once they stick the seedlings in the ground. Whereas on private lands, they have a vested interest in maintaining that land and ensuring good yields over the long term. This, of course, overlooks the value of maintaining forests without logging, but if we have to log (which we do) maybe it is better on private land? I don’t know the answer to that, but it did make me think. After visiting the Center we discussed with the students what they learned and what biases they noticed. The Center is owned and operated by a logging company so clearly put logging in the best light, along with their practices. So, it forced students to think critically about how they get information, the source of that information, and how to evaluate what they are learning. Definitely a great discussion when thinking about public lands management.
We also visited Forks, MT which calls itself the logging capital of the world and is now more famous for being the setting of the Twilight books and movies. Lots of businesses catering to that audience have sprung up in an attempt to overcome the decline of the logging economy.
Took a nice alpine hike on one of the few accessible high alpine trails in the NPS system (Hurricane Ridge), an example of trying to make public spaces more accessible to folks. Another interesting discussion about the role of public lands and how to balance the needs of the full population (including those with mobility and other impairments) with fundamentally changing the experience for all users. Wrapped it up with a visit to the Hoh Valley and the temperate rain forest. Again, absolutely beautiful.
Then, to Seattle for Discovery Park where we discussed displacement of indigenous people in the creation of many of our parks. Discovery Park was the site of a native sit-in during the 1970’s that resulted in the park’s creation and the inclusion of a Cultural Center to highlight native culture and history. We also visited Ballard Locks and Dam, saw the fish ladder and learned about the efforts to mitigate human changes on the landscape.
Wrapped up with another 38 hours on the train. It was a lot… Now pics!
