Apply earlier for Enchantments

WILDERNESS – Backpackers hoping to draw a coveted permit for the Enchantment Lakes portion of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness near Leavenworth must apply Feb. 1-8 – three weeks earlier than in the past.

Several thousand hikers apply for 1,500 reservations issued each season.

Hikers are required to have these overnight wilderness permits June 15-Oct. 15 for each of the area’s five permit zones: the Core Enchantments, Snow Lake, Colchuck Lake, Stuart Lake, and Eightmile/Caroline areas.

Applicants should go to the Wenatchee-Okanogan National Forests Web site to obtain a form. Applications postmarked before Feb. 1 will be rejected, Forest Service officials said.

Permit fees are $5 per person per day.

Info: (509) 548-2550; tinyurl.com/ wildpermit.

Rich Landers

Avalanche course has openings

WINTER SPORTS – A few openings may still be available for a Level 1 Avalanche Safety Course set for Friday through Sunday coordinated by Gonzaga University Outdoors Program.

Course includes indoor session at Gonzaga and outdoors sessions near Mount Spokane and Lookout Pass. Cost: $325.

Sign up by e-mailing outdoors@gonzaga.edu.

Info: Robby Ringer, (406) 425 0772.

Rich Landers

Climbers recount McKinley expedition

CLIMBING – A team of Spokane Mountaineers will detail their 2009 ascent of Mount McKinley in a free program Monday, 7 p.m., at Mountain Gear’s Corporate Office, 6021 E. Mansfield.

Rich Landers

B Reactor backed for park inclusion

PARKS – Supporters of Hanford’s historic B Reactor are appealing to have it considered as a national park.

A draft study released by the National Park Service in December concluded only part of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory National Landmark District in New Mexico should be considered for a Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

It excluded Hanford’s B Reactor and historic facilities, although the park service might be willing to play a limited role at the sites.

But the arguments for excluding B Reactor from a possible national park “are very, very weak,” said Maynard Plahuta, president of the Tri-Cities based B Reactor Museum Association.

Tri-Cities business and tourism groups were encouraged by the following comment in the draft study’s appendix:

“Manhattan Project activities came together at Los Alamos, which has perhaps the greatest public recognition, but Oak Ridge and Hanford are equally significant and indispensable, both in the development and deployment of the atomic bomb and for a balanced public interpretation of the Manhattan Project,” said the DOE preservation officer.

Plans for B Reactor will be presented for comment at public meetings on Thursday, 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m., at the Red Lion Hanford House, 802 George Washington Way, Richland.

Staff and wire reports