Thursday, May 08, 2008

And The Sky Went Wild

The Wild Sky Wilderness is a reality!


Just northeast of Seattle is an area of amazing beauty and spectacular scenery that until today was just a patch of government land. Today, after many years of politcal wrangling, it has been Federally designated as wilderness, thereby protecting it for generations to come. This wouldn't be possible if Richard Pombo (R-Ca) had not been defeated in 2006 and if George W. Bush wasn't trying to salvage his 2000 campaign promises of expanding national parks and preservation areas.

The photo above shows an area just up the ridge from the Skykomish River, nearly at the point where I wrapped my canoe around a boulder two summers ago. I'd like to blame the scenery on my faulty steering, but really, I just read the river wrong... What's nice is that the 'Sky' river is just on the border of this soon-to-be pristene area. It will now be difficult to develop the river, thereby preserving the land, the sport and the fishery in that basin.

Put the Wild Sky Wilderness on your list of must-hike outdoors destinations. But not too many of you...

Photo credit to Joshua Trujillo and the Seattle P-I.

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