24th Annual Fall Bike Festival
October 1-3, 2010

Let the North Cascades Basecamp be your hub while participating in the 24th annual Methow Valley Fall Bike and Film Festival. The North Cascades Basecamp is excited to offer a Bike Fest room rate: Weekend bed and breakfast accommodations at a weekday rate! $105 gets you a hearty breakfast for two and a comfortable nights stay in any of our lodge rooms, and $195 gets you a hearty breakfast for four and our entire cabin. Book your reservation today

This event is put on by the Methow Valley Sport Trail Association (MVSTA) and promises to be another classic opportunity to ride the roads and trails that make the Methow Valley famous among bicyclers. There will be an information booth, maps, and materials at the Mazama trailhead, just a short ride down the road from our lodge and cabin, pointing road, mountain, and cyclocross bikers in the right direction. For more information on the event itself, visit MVSTA’s web site

Western Gray Squirrel Ecology and Conservation in the North Cascades
Methow Conservancy First Tuesday Lecture Series
Tues, October 5th, 7:30-8:00pm at the Twisp Grange
Download Poster (2 MB PDF file)
The event is free and open to everyone!

Come see the Methow Conservancy’s First Tuesday Lecture where researchers from the University of Washington and the Pacific Biodiversity Institute will explain more about ecology and biodiversity in the Methow Valley, what they learned from the western gray squirrel project, and how you can help. Plus, explore the hands-on world of squirrels and enjoy squirrel snacks. The Grange will open at 6:30 pm and free refreshments will be provided. More information and updates on the western gray squirrel project can be found at http://www.pacificbio.org/initiatives.html

Pacific Biodiversity Institute (PBI) has started a research and education project focused on the western gray squirrels in the Methow. This was described in an article in the Methow Valley News. Volunteers participated in a May 5, 2010 workshop to build sampling tubes and in a March 20, 2010 field workshop.

Our goal is to help Washington Dept of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) gain a better understanding of the extent of western gray squirrel presence in the Methow Valley and to involve the public in conservation efforts to help the western gray squirrel survive here. PBI is working in partnership with WDFW, conducting non-invasive hair-tube distribution surveys. This technique attracts western gray squirrels into an open-ended PVC tube using their favorite food, walnuts. When the animal enters the tube, sticky tape attached to the inside of the tubing collects hair, which can be identified to species either with a trained eye or under a microscope. When a positive identification of western gray squirrel is found, we will conduct follow-up nest count surveys to identify how robust the population may be in that area.

To learn more about the volunteer citizen science project studying western gray squirrels, see Pacific Biodiversity Institute’s website.

SKI TRAILS AND WILDLIFE: Toward Snow Country Restoration
October 9-10th, 2010

Join us at the North Cascades Basecamp in Mazama for a weekend of nature walks and hikes along ski and snowshoe trails with naturalist Eric Burr, a retired national park ranger/naturalist and helicopter skiing guide who has written for ski and trails publications since the mid 1970’s. Hike destinations are tailored to the group’s inclinations and weather, to places discussed in Eric’s 2008 book titled Ski Trails and Wildlife: Toward Snow Country Restoration. Other highly recommended pre-reading course material include The Wolverine Way by Doug Chadwick, and Bugaboo Dreams by Topher Donahue.

The course starts at 11:00 am Saturday, and finishes at 3:00 pm Sunday. Hiking shoes and clothes for the unpredictable North Cascades weather include raingear and some warm extra clothes in a day-pack. Tuition is a donation of your choice to the Methow Conservancy. Email inquiries welcome regarding course content at burrski@methownet.com. Reserve your space for this course or ask questions regarding logistics for the weekend by calling 509/996-2334 or email Kim Bondi at info@NorthCascadesBasecamp.com.