Idaho commission in Post Falls
Several issues involving disabled hunters are on the agenda for the Idaho Fish and Game Commission meeting Wednesday and Thursday at Cabela’s in Post Falls.
The commissioners plan to tour the Pend Oreille Wildlife Management Area and Pack River Delta Wednesday morning and listen to public comments Wednesday starting at 7 p.m. at the Cabela’s store.
Thursday morning’s agenda tackles allowing a disabled applicant to self-certify their capability for operating hunting and fishing equipment. White sturgeon management and chinook salmon updates will be discussed.
Thursday afternoon topics include use of scopes by visually impaired muzzleloader hunters and allowing senior and disabled hunters to apply for leftover youth hunt permits.
Details: http://fishand game.idaho.gov/cms/about/ commission/schedule.cfm.
Rich Landers
CLIMBING
Peak bagger has 50-50 goal
Denver teacher Mike Haugen, 31, was on track this week to climb the highest point in each state within 50 days.
The quest started June 9 when Haugen reached the summit of Alaska’s Mount McKinley. By July 15, he and his team – Zach Price, 30, of Seattle and Lindsay Danner, 24, of Denver – had reached 44 state highpoints in 35 days.
With six to go in 15 days, they were poised to beat the record of 50 days, seven hours and five minutes set in 2005 by Ben Jones.
The team has been traveling in a hybrid SUV on the 24,000-mile cross-country expedition scheduled to wind down Wednesday on Mount Rainier and conclude Friday on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea.
Haugen plans to launch a scaled down online challenge in August with a new goal: addressing childhood obesity and poor eating and exercise habits.
Check it out: www.coleman.com .
Associated Press
HIKING
Group treks set
No more excuses! Hikers of virtually any skill level can find a comfort zone on one of two group dayhikes being led by area conservation groups to scenic backcountry destinations on Saturday.
•Pyramid/Ball Lakes, a family hike in the Selkirk Mountains west of Bonners Ferry, led by the Idaho Conservation League. Hike three or four miles round-trip.
Sign up: Susan Drumheller in Sandpoint, (208) 265-3511; www.wildidaho.org.
•Abercrombie Mountain to Hooknose, nine miles total, this challenging hike starts on a maintained scenic trail to the top of Abercrombie Mountain west of Metaline before heading cross-country in a scramble to nearby Hooknose, a rarely visited peak looming over a tiny hidden lake.
Sign-up: Crystal Gartner in Spokane, (509) 570-2166, e-mail crystal@conservationnw.org.
Rich Landers
NATIONAL FORESTS
Vandals hit trailheads
Malicious mischief, vehicle break-ins and theft at trailheads and campgrounds have been reported in the Entiat Valley, Lake Wenatchee and Icicle River in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, according Jeff Roundy, the forest’s enforcement captain.
Nothing of value should be left in a vehicle parked in the woods, he said. Prowlers know all the secret hiding places.
Rich Landers