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In case you need inspiration ... a poem from Gray Wolf Trail Crew member, Sonya Langford, written on the Appleton Pass backcountry crew on about day 4 out of 6 ...

Trail Crew

I'm a wolf now

A Gray Wolf to be exact

The pack brought me in 

To climb and brush, pack and laugh. 

They said Come along, arms open wide 

Hiking and toiling for hours

We stand side by side. 

The rugged trails we love 

These forests we revere

Make us face our shortcomings and fears

All the long rehearsed stories

We have in our heads

Follow us like shadows

Sometimes bringing dread.

All the I can'ts and I won'ts

All the Nevers. Not me! 

Can fade into the past 

When we don our packs

Choose our tools, and tackle the trail 

Whatever it holds 

Gray Wolves finish without fail.

The miles add up

When the work lies ahead 

But the path soon reveals 

where footfalls will tread,

Opening vast wilds

For intrepid explorers who dare

Enter this timeless wilderness

Where Wolves have shown skillful care.

For each trail, pass and peak

Everyone has stories

Retold each evening

All their foibles and glories.

They aren't here for money, or for fame

But their pride in their efforts

Pushes me to up my game. 

For all who want adventure

And love these remote places too 

They can now access spaces

To feel grateful, renewed

With a sense of awe and wonder

They can enter this wild realm

All because the Gray Wolves 

remain at the helm.

Sonya Langford

Appleton Pass August 2025

And another masterpiece. This time about the rugged and sublime drainages of the Wynoochee and Graves Creeks. Written after a tough 7-day crew giving these trails some seriously needed TLC.

Wynoochee Summer 

This wild and rugged corner of the world does not disappoint. 

Narrow paths, etched across steep, wooded hillsides of soaring evergreens

    Insist each footfall be placed with care.

Rutted and slick-rooted stone-strewn trails   

    Require one to remain firmly in the moment, no head-in-the clouds 

daydreaming here.

Deep rocky creek beds, moss-covered and damp, 

or trickling with late-season snow melt, 

    Challenge crossers at every gully.

Meadows of bountiful blueberries, adorned with  scarlet columbine, yellow asters, and elegant umbrellas of white cow parsnip, 

    Welcome explorers through the pass's open, marshy landscape. 

The short-cut, a contortionist's delight, carving its way through obstacles and hurdles, trials and tests, 

    Rewards adventurers with lovely Lake Sundown,

Her alpine waters, warmed by the sun,

Rippled by breezes, leaping trout and natant newts, 

Embraced by rocky crags and verdant sloping hills.

A dragonfly, bold and curious,

     Greets the new inhabitants

Alighting on a cap, a tent, a knee, a pack, claiming these guests as his own, 

     Offers them protection from the throng of winged tormentors, feasting his way through

 the ever-present din of biting flies.

Bright pinpoints of heavenly lights,

mythical outlines of heroes and tales,

Against a cloudy splash of starry haze,

      Illuminate the endless, unobscured  

      black of night,  

This fathomless depth of darkness, 

This vast delight for the imagination,

    Invites exploration of a different sort.

Wynoochee, 

A remote and untamed treasure

Home to wildflowers and berries

Frogs and flies 

Burly bears and hawks 

Mosquitoes and stripe-backed snakes 

     Provides and abides

    Asking nothing in return.

Sonya Langford

July 2026