Young adults compete at Sultan Shindig

Published 11:06 pm Sunday, July 13, 2008

SULTAN — They grew up on logging stories.

Chiseled men who worked in the woods told tales of the risk and glory they faced chopping mammoth trees.

On Sunday, the younger generation grabbed axes and spurs — ready for stories of their own.

Competing at the Sultan Shindig, several young adults with no professional logging ambitions competed against experienced loggers, scurrying up trees and chopping logs.

“My dad’s been cutting trees for 30 years,” said Joshua Randall, 16, resting between events Sunday. “Even since I’ve been able to walk I’ve been on the job site with him. I was probably in kindergarten when I threw my first ax.”

Randall was among the handful of young people who joined professional loggers in the arena during the 25th annual Sultan Shindig. Standing at 5 feet 5 inches tall and 125 pounds, Randall competed against grown men twice his size in obstacle courses, log chopping events and the ax throw.

Randall enjoys the physical demands of helping his dad in the woods, but when he graduates from Sultan High School in two years, he wants to go to college and become a fifth-grade teacher.

“My dad’s 50 years old and all his joints are shot,” he said. “You can’t retire on it.”

When the Sultan Shindig began, the men competing in the logging contest generally were practicing skills they used working in the woods as loggers.

Many young contestants now hone their skills away from the job site — in logging classes and by practicing in their backyards.

Massage therapist Tara Still, 20, learned how to shimmy up a tree using just spurs and a cable at a weekend logging class. Her grandfather, logger Roger Knowlton, wanted to pass on his knowledge to one of his grandsons, but the boys weren’t interested — just Tara, he said.

Knowlton has logged for most of his 69 years and has no plans to retire. He’s watched as government restrictions aimed at protecting the environment have made logging jobs harder to find.

He wants his grandchildren and other young people to connect with logging. He wants them to pass along the stories.

“It’s just nice to have someone in your family who’s going to carry on,” he said, after his granddaughter hopped down from a 42-foot climb up a wood pole. “The old ones are getting too darn old to do this anymore — so we need the young ones.”

Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.