Behind the Scenes on the Expedition

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Overview

The group is hiking across the state of Washington following the Milwaukee Corridor, the route of the historic Milwaukee railroad.  The trail runs approximately parallel to I-90entire and the entire 250 mile route is on public land.  The eastern-most trail head is in the town of Takoa (south of Spokane, on the Washington-Idaho border).  East of the Columbia River the railroad grade in managed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources.  West of the river the river the trail first passes through the Yakima Firing Range, public lands and then, at the town of Easton, turns into the Iron Horse State Park.  This park is one of the longest, skinniest state parks in the United States.  It encompasses the route of the former rail-line as it traverses the Cascade mountains, bringing the hikers to their final destination... Cedar Falls state park, a few miles south out of North Bend on the west side of the Cascades.

While crossing the state, the group will pass through many of the sub-regions of the Pacific Northwest.  The eastern end of the trail starts on the edge of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  On week 2 and week 3, the students will be crossing the Columbia River Basin.  And the final week will take the students across the Cascade Mountains and into the Puget Sound Region.  This diversity of terrain will give the students a unique laboratory in which to study first hand the geography of the Pacific Northwest.  

Background

The students participating on this trip have taken part in an intensive two quarter sequence of geography classes taught by Dr. Martha Henderson at the Evergreen State College. In these programs (either Explorations or Geography of the Pacific Northwest) the students studied the physical, political, and cultural geography of the northwest, historic journeys of discovery, and the more theoretical issues of making observations and writing geographic reports, keeping field journals, and group leadership.

Dr. Henderson decided to organize this trip as an optional third quarter capstone to the program. The six students who took her up on the challenge are doing more than taking an extended vacation. They are charged with making numerous observations about all aspects of the geography of the region. Taken as a whole, their findings will make up the most extensive longitudinal study of the state made since the original explorers surveyed the territory. These findings should be invaluable to any student of Pacific Northwest Geography.  They will be made available on through this site and at the library of The Evergreen State College.  

The goal of this site is to provide an interactive forum for linking with the expedition and relaying the findings of the trip. Every week, usually by Thursday, journal entries and findings from the previous week will be posed on this site.  There is also a way to e-mail questions about the trek to the group and see what others have asked, and the answers.  And finally the groups progress will be followed by junior high geography and history classes from throughout the state.

Planning and Pre-Trip Preparation

The group has been meeting once a week since the beginning of January to work on designing this trip. They have mapped the route, planned the itinerary, and figured out the equipment and food needs. Numerous phone calls were made to the various agencies who have jurisdiction over sections of the trail. They also made contact with various schools and the media to explain what was planned and how these groups and the public could log into the expedition.

Logistics and Difficulties

In order to make this trip possible, it soon became apparent that a number of people needed to help working behind the scenes. Ryan Bell and Dean Hansen travel out to meet the group every weekend.  At this time they bring food supplies, mail and a van to help shuttle around areas where the trail is closed (i.e. the original trestle over the Columbia River is no longer in existence).  At the same time, they pick up the journals and photo's taken from the week before.  Back in Olympia, Ryan and Carol Holly digitize everything and put it on this web site.

Unfortunately, 2 weeks before the trip Mo broke his arm in a biking accident and so was unable to hike the route.  Despite this fact, he has been fulfilling a vital role in the trips success.  Shortly before leaving, the Department of Natural Resources reported that, due to agricultural runoff, none of the water found on the East-Side was safe to drink... even with purification.  Mo has been driving across the state in paralleling the group but on I-90.  He has been responsible for making water drops and shuttling the group around sections of the trail that are closed because of private property.

In case of emergency, the group is carrying a cellular phone.

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