Photos courtesy Mike Woodmansee                                Woodmansee sets up camp in the Glacier Peak Wilderness.

Photos courtesy Mike Woodmansee Woodmansee sets up camp in the Glacier Peak Wilderness.

Trekking through the mountains: You too can go the distance

MARYSVILE — Mike Woodmansee wants to inspire hikers to go the distance.

Woodmansee, the author of the Mountaineers book “Trekking Washington,” offers a presentation Tuesday evening as part of the city’s Outdoor Adventure Speaker Series at the Marysville Opera House.

Woodmansee, 61, believes people can find real freedom on longer walks in the wilderness, and he is ready to offer ideas on where to trek.

“Snohomish County’s part in the Glacier Peak Wilderness is one of the highlights,” he said. “That’s great country out there.”

Woodmansee has been hiking, snowshoeing, backpacking, trekking and mountain climbing most of his life.

Growing up in Skagit County, he went into the hills and the Cascade Range with his dad and brother to hunt.

“But I am a lousy hunter,” Woodmansee said. “I am not quiet and I can’t stay still. What I learned from those trips as a kid, however, was that I love the mountains.”

At Mount Vernon High School he took a class from a couple of teachers who loved the mountains just as much.

“It was a backpacking class disguised as a science class,” Woodmansee said. “I went out and bought all the equipment. Then I got my brother and anyone I could to come with me. I picked up books and maps and started from scratch. I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Through his involvement in Skagit County Search and Rescue as a teen, Woodmansee met people who climbed mountains.

“I was 19 when I took the mountaineering class at Skagit Valley College,” he said. “Three years later I was teaching the class. By that time I had climbed more than 100 mountains, most of them in Washington.”

Because of that mountaineering background, Woodmansee soon began to realize he didn’t need a 40-pound pack during his long-distance hiking treks and that he could walk to the other side of the mountain range in a day. He found joy in “going light and covering the distance.”

“But there was no real resource for trekking,” he said. “I bought all the Green Trails maps I could and patched it together.”

It took Woodmansee about a decade to do the 25 treks listed in his book — hikes that range from 30 to 220 miles. The book was published in 2003.

And by that time, he had climbed 300 mountain peaks, including Denali in Alaska, some in the Himalayas, South America and around the western United States.

During all this, Woodmansee held down a more-than fulltime job, helped raise a family and participated in other sports such as marathons and Iron Man triathlons.

Part of his presentation will be about encouraging parents to get their children out hiking. Eight of the treks in the book were done when his own kids were elementary-school age. And they went the distance on those treks, Woodmansee said. “You let them take a buddy and promise milk shakes when they’re done.”

Now is a good time to plan your summer hikes and think about making those hikes into long-distance treks.

The window of opportunity for going out into the mountains is about mid-July to mid-October, Woodmansee said. Wildflowers will bloom from late-July to mid-August, and the fall colors are great from about late-September to mid-October.

“On Tuesday, I will be showing photos of places only a handful of people have ever been, and many are from the Glacier Peak Wilderness,” he said. “I am going to have fun showing pictures and inspiring people to do these longer walks — or at least plant the idea.”

If you go

Outdoor Adventure Speaker Series, Mike Woodmansee on mountain trekking, 6 p.m. March 28, Marysville Opera House, 1225 Third St. Admission is $3. Refreshments available for purchase.

Mountaineers Books’ “Trekking Washington”

This one-of-a kind hiking guidebook provides maps, color photos and details for 25 treks. Available at REI. For people who want muscle-powered challenges (and aren’t afraid of a few blisters) as well as the solitude and beauty these treks provide.

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