One of the benefits of having lived in the Portland area was my brief association with the Mazamas. The Mazamas were founded in 1894 on the summit of Mount Hood as a mountaineering education organization. I didn’t really participate much, (I’m sure I would have if we’d stayed in the area), but the biggest reason I joined up with to be able to get access to their library. The headquarters of the group is located in the historic Mt. Hood Masonic Lodge out on 43rd and Stark. It’s a pretty cool old building, very much worth just dropping by and checking out. The building has a handful of offices and a large meeting room, and lots of other little rooms tucked around here and there. The library and archives are downstairs, which is where I’d head during my lunch hour just to browse the collection and see what kind of treasures I could find.

Guide books, biographies, historic narratives, trip reports, magazines, movies, maps - it’s all downstairs. Summit registers are archived downstairs as well, with records going back to the first ascents of northwest peaks in the 1800’s. The cool part is that they still have so much stuff that isn’t even shown, but stashed away because there’s just no room. They also archive and display gear of historic or other interest, which is displayed upstairs in a rotating exhibit. There’s still a bit of sadness when I think of all the good stuff in there, and me down here. I did manage to find a lot of bits and pieces that will appear in future posts here though, so I am grateful for the short time I did have to root around downstairs. I also introduced myself to one of the Library Committee archivists, Jeff Thomas, and had offered my help in preserving some of the older format videos and films. I didn’t get a chance to really jump into things with the whole Wyoming move happening, but I did manage to digitize some of their old VHS tapes. I also have a few of the Spring brothers films they didn’t yet have in the collection, so there’s still some communication that will have to happen.

In the meantime, I’ll share some cool maps scanned from a small book that was not in super-good shape, but worth hanging on to, for both its content and visual interest. The Olympic peninsula is a pretty unique place, and one that I wish I’d been able to spend more time in. Living on the east side of the Sound for so many years and seeing the summits of Mt. Constance and The Brothers made them a permanent part of my mountain memory. Spending actual time up there has only happened in the form of a Mt. Olympus trip last year, a Boy Scout 50-miler up the north fork of the Quinault River and out the Elwha, and a handful of trips out to the Ozette area up on the western-most tip of the peninsula, but I hope to get back up there from time to time and kick around some more. These maps are not super detailed, but I really liked the minimalist approach and the colors, as well as just being able to connect the maps with locations and photos and memories from past trips. Enjoy.

See the entire set @ flickr »

I can’t remember where I came across these scans, but I’m just glad I did. After last year’s Mount Olympus trip I’ve been very interested in the history of that beautiful area and just thought these were a fun find. The artist’s name is August Lenox, and was primarily known for his oil paintings of the old west. He worked for Disney for some time however, and was responsible for the comic versions of many True-Live Adventures, including Beaver Valley and Bear Country, as well as the Olympic Elk. We didn’t see any elk on our trip last year, which is as good an excuse as any for going back…

After having spent all day in a company meeting I was pretty much forced to stop by the Seattle Patagonia store to get my mind wrapped around something other than web strategy, design, development, UX, analytics, optimization, and social networking. Not that there’s anything wrong with that - but I just needed a bit of a distraction tonight instead of thinking about work all weekend. They usually have a pretty interesting book section at Patagonia, and tonight I found a couple of keepers.

1. Northern Oregon Wilderness Areas - Donna Ikenberry Aitkenhead
2. Early Hiking in the Olympics 1922-1942 - Paul Crews

The guide book is a bit old, but just seemed like a book that would be good to have given my current location, and ever since last summer’s Mt. Olympus trip, I’ve become a sucker for anything about the Olympic range. Should be a good read.