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I just sent you a donation because your last newsletter sent me down memory lane. About 60 years ago, I was a member of Explorer Search and Rescue, a bunch of teenage kids that assisted Mountain Search and Rescue and police agencies with searches and other activities. For example, my explorer post had a home built kitchen that was pulled with an army surplus Dodge power wagon. We cooked cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, meatloaf, and gallons of coffee for the searchers and we also participated in ground searches. And yes, I remember a couple of 3 AM turnouts. I don’t have the physical capacity to do that anymore, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to know that someone is still out there helping. Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year. Howard Lucus

I first started when the Oso slide happened. I had a very dear friend of mine that lost his brother in the slide, and just being a person of the community I had to do something to help. The first couple of weeks I was driving my truck back and forth to bring supplies out to people in Darrington who had lost family members or family members who were out in the field looking for the people who were lost. But I was getting frustrated because I wanted to do more. Right around that time I saw on Facebook that they were looking for someone to run and operate the food truck, and I have 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry because I am a stay at home mom, Sunday school teacher, vacation bible school teacher, and I can cook. April 1st was my first day with the Search and Rescue Operation Support Unit and the food truck. I spent 21 days out in Oso and I never thought I could be a part of search and rescue because I am just a housewife, I’m just a mom, a grandma – but I loved it so much that I […]

I moved to Washington in November 2007 and shortly after I started getting into hiking and mountaineering. I was a relatively new hiker, just learning about the mountains and gear and navigation and on June 21 2009 I went hiking on Mt Pilchuck to test out a bunch of new gear. It was a typical summer day in Washington with rainy drizzle and 45-50 degree temps. At about the 4000ft elevation of the trail I hit snow and the trail quickly turned into footprints going in all directions instead of an obvious trail. After some trial and error I found the correct set of prints that led me to the lookout. I arrived around 3pm. When I arrived at the shelter I was surprised to find another person up there. She was quite relieved to see me up there since she had been unable to find the trail down and was thinking she would have to spend the night there. I finished my lunch and told her we should walk down together. I gave her some extra gloves, trekking poles and snow shoes to help navigate the snow. However, about 20 minutes into our decent I lost the trail and […]

“Three Teens Trapped on Three Fingers Mountain” the news read back on Tuesday evening through Wednesday evening, August 26-27, 2008. Those were the “best-worst days” of our lives, since one of those teens was ours (and another we had custody for). My wife, Heidi, mother-in-law, Cheri, and I first discovered that the boys’ overnight adventure had turned terribly bad when we heard the report on the late night TV news. Assuming it was our boys who were trapped, we drove to the Green Mountain Forest Service Road (RD 41) off the Mountain Loop Highway, where the Sheriff’s Deputy confirmed our worst fears and allowed us access up the road all the way to the trailhead (today that road is blocked miles from the trailhead). The weather had changed significantly, and the boys were trapped in a storm at the 6,300 foot level not far from the 6,854 ft. summit, but unable to make it to the lookout tower, which was their overnight destination. Although it was late summer, it was raining, snowing and hailing where they were at, with wind gusts of up to 40 mph. Fortunately, they were high enough up the mountain to have cell phone contact with […]