Earth Day... A Look At Rainier's Past

Today is Earth Day. We had a great afternoon's program set up at the nearby elementary school. Not the usual resource-based program. Today, we had three of our park's interpreters (Ranger Julia, whom you met earlier this week, Ranger Curt and Ranger Kevin) giving first person living history programs. They were awesome! We also had one of the park's climbing rangers and a local mountain guide talk about the gear - past and present - used to get people up on the summit and in touch with the mountain. The kids loved the programs, each of the five was very cool!

From Left to Right:

Ranger Julia, portraying Fay Fuller, reflecting back on being the first woman to summit Mount Rainier (in 1890).

Ranger Kevin, portraying P. B. Van Trump, talking about his experience as one of the two first white men to record a summit of Mt. Rainier (the other being Hazard Stevens, his climbing parter).

Ranger Curt, portraying James Longmire, discussing his experience of travelling the Oregon Trail westward to the Yelm Valley, climbing Mount Rainier and discovering the mineral springs that now bear his name.

Climbing Ranger Stefan and his old-fashioned gear, to discuss how people used to climb and spend time on the mountain.

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Of all of the presenters, I think Kevin was FABULOUS. He is great with kids, has done oodles of research on the Van Trump family, and (most importantly) really enjoys his job. He was captivating!

Here Stefan is demonstrating how an ice axe was used to stop a person when they started sliding down an ice field. This guy really got into his demonstrations!
We have such a talented group of rangers here!