Terminus of Blue Glacier and Mount Olympus
If you have been following my social media posts of the past few months you surely have read about my project, Blue Glacier Then & Now: A Personal Photographic Story of Climate Change Spanning 40 Years. I am well into the planning and preparation for the return trip to Olympic National Park (ONP) in late July. We are on the eve of spring as I write this and late July seems a long way off, but there is much to be done now if the project is to succeed. Before looking forward, let me begin by looking back to the genesis of this wild idea.
My son, Will, completed the adventure and interview gathering phase of his climate change awareness project, Climate, Kayak, and Conversation, in the summer of 2021. In it he traveled by sailing kayak from Miami, Fl. to Norfolk, Va. interviewing people in coastal communities to collect and share their stories of how the coast has changed and to get their thoughts on climate change. The goal of his project is to encourage open personal conversations about climate change through storytelling. The collection of interviews and chronicles of the adventure will become a documentary film to debut in 2023. During the pandemic Will’s project got me thinking, what changes have I seen in my life and how can I share that story. Although I love the coast and visit it often, I don’t have a personal story of coastal changes. As I worked the ideas over in my head I thought about the summer of 1982 when I spent six weeks working with the Student Conservation Association (SCA) on a backcountry trail crew in Olympic National Park. Nearly every day we were along side the Blue Glacier, and as a life-long photographer, of course I had my camera with me.
It was then that the project came into focus. I would return to the Olympic Mountains and recreate some of the pictures taken in the summer of 1982. Together with prints of my original images I would create a photo exhibition documenting how the glaciers have changed in the past 40 years. It was February 2020, and we were just beginning to see the global spread of Covid-19 creating uncertainty about travel and life in general. If I was to bring this project to life, I needed a plan and dates on a calendar, or it simply wouldn’t happen. The 40th anniversary of my time in the Olympics was just two years hence. Plenty of time to properly plan and prepare for such a project. Motivated by the idea I began to investigate glacier research within ONP. It didn’t take long to find out that over the past four decades, the park had lost 34% of its glacial ice and at current rates may lose all of its glaciers as soon as 2050. This data fortified my resolve. I clearly have a personal climate change story to tell.
Planning & Connecting
I began planning the project by reviewing my slide collection from 1982 to see if I had sufficient images from which to draw from for the project. Next I sketched out a rough timeline for the actual trip to the glacier. From that came a list of the actions, events, and resources I would need to make the trek.
Beyond creating the images, I also wanted to share my story with my kids. All three are grown with just one left to finish college. All three were enthusiastic about the project and a backpacking trip in ONP, but after consulting calendars and assessing their work and personal commitments, only two of the three will be able to make the trip. Ten to twelve days off for the trip plus planning and practice hikes is a lot to fit into the busy schedules of twenty-somethings holding down a job, pursuing passion projects, not to mention the needs of their partners.
My wife will join the crew and serve as ground transportation and support manager. Many years as an ICU nurse has taken a toll on her knees and a 4,500-foot elevation gain with full packs is simply not in the cards for her. Her support off the mountain will make a world of difference in the ease and effectiveness of the trip.
Last but certainly not least, I could not retrace my steps of all those years ago without engaging with some of the people that were apart of my journey in the summer of ’82. I spent a week with an old family friend and her husband who lived in Seattle before heading into the park. As luck would have it, they still live in the area and thankfully I have kept up with her over the years. As was done in ’82, we will be stopping to visit them before hitting the trail. I also wanted to connect with my former SCA crewmates. Thanks to the efforts of the SCA alumni office, I was able to connect with three from my crew and we had a wonderful Zoom call reminiscing and reconnecting. I’m looking forward to staying in closer touch going forward than we have in the years since we were together.
Student Conservation Association ONP Backcountry Trail Crew 1982
Fundraising and Logistics
Between airfare, hotel, ground transportation, and some specialty equipment needed for safely traversing the glacier, the cost of such an adventure is a bit more than the typical artist can afford, myself included. To address the funding needs of the trip I pulled together a detailed budget, then looked at what I could afford to spend, the difference would then need to come through fundraising and in-kind donations. I selected GoFundMe as my fundraising platform given its ease of use, reputation, and reasonable processing fees. Once the project was setup on the site, I began sharing it across my various social channels. The donations and words of encouragement I have received have enabled me to begin moving forward, making purchases and commitments needed for the project. I am deeply grateful to the early donors for their support and confidence.
The first step was to secure backcountry permits in February. The National Park Service does not allow the purchase of reservations and permits more than six months in advance. So once the window opened, I logged in and booked our campsites and backcountry permits for late July.
Next, I began to reach out to specialty retailers and equipment suppliers seeking in-kind donations of kit needed for the trek. Based on conversations with others who have done similar things, this process can take a great deal of patience, tenacity, and time in order to get the project request in front of the right people. Our equipment list follows below, if you know of an organization or individual that might be able to assist in securing a grant or loan of the equipment, please contact me.
With the on-trail dates set and permits acquired, the next bit of logistics planning was travel arrangements including flights, hotel, and ground transportation.
Training and Preparation
Although my crew are all experienced backpackers, it has been a few years since some of us have been on the trail overnight. So, a series of shakedown hikes were in order to develop the needed endurance, work through equipment needs, and build the solid team needed to make the trek up to Blue Glacier. Our first short hike is just two weeks away and I can’t wait to hit the trail!
In addition to the training hikes, we will need to detail out our daily trail menu for this summer and acquire the needed food and supplies. I will be assessing several options from buying the food and carrying with us in our packs on the plane, shipping it to our friends in the Seattle area ahead of the trip, and buying it in Seattle before hitting the trail. It will likely end up a combination of all of the above. Things like stove gas cylinders are not welcome on commercial aircraft, so they will be acquired en route to the trail.
We will of course have a GPS for navigation, but we will also have a set of paper maps and compass (2 map sets and 3 compass to be specific). I love the advantages that modern tech provides even in the backcountry, but I never hit the trail without my trusty compass and a current topo map. For added safety, we will be carrying a GPS tracker with emergency locator, should we find ourselves in trouble. Despite the area being one of the more highly trafficked backcountry national parks, it is still remote wilderness with no cell signal and help is hours away.
As preparations and training progress, I will post short updates on my social channels and periodic longer updates here on my blog. I look forward to sharing the adventure and final photo exhibition with you.
Equipment Wish List
3 – Ice Axes
3 – Pairs glacier glasses
40-60M – Glacier safety rope (9-10mm static line)
15-20M – Accessory Rope (6-7mm)
1 - Petzl Micro Traxion Pulley (or equivalent)
1 – Ice picket anchor
1 – Ice screw anchor
2 – Basic climbing harnesses
10 – Locking “D” Carabiners
6 – Non-Locking Carabiners
1 – Water filter system (3-4L gravity system)
1 – Think Tank MindShift Rotation 180 50L+ backpack
