The North Cascades National Park Visitor Center, near Newhalem on Highway 20 at milepost 120, will reopen this weekend. The center will then be open Saturdays and Sundays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through May 4.

Beginning May 5, the Visitor Center will be open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Employees of Seattle City Light were able to fix the water system and enable the Visitor Center to reopen," said Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins.

The center was closed this month due to a break in the main water line that shut down all water resources to

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The number of recreational visit to the national park system in 2007 rose by 3 million to 275 million. That’s according to a report released today by the National Park Service.

"Despite rising gas prices and the lure of electronic entertainment, this is great news," said National Park Service director Mary A. Bomar. "With all the recreation choices available, national parks still draw more visits than Major League Baseball, the National Football League, professional basketball, soccer and NASCAR combined."

After a record 287 million visits in 1999, and a one-year bump attributed to the 2004 opening of the

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Entrance and visitor use fees at Olympic National Park will remain the same through 2009. Acting park superintendent Sue McGill announced the decision this afternoon.

Last spring, park officials soght public to comment on a series of proposed changes to the park’s entrance and user fees, changes that were proposed to take effect in 2009. The proposal included increasing the park’s seven-day entrance pass from $15 to $25 for a vehicle and from $5 to $12 for an individual. The Olympic National Park annual pass was proposed to change from its current rate of $30 to $50. Camping and overnight wilderness use fees also were to be increased.

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Before yesterday’s World Cup race I headed up Blackcomb Mountain with colleagues from the L.A. Times and USA Today to ski the Blackcomb Glacier.

The scenery on the glacier and from the top of Blackcomb Mountain was definitely the highlight of the trip. A short hike is required to access the glacier but once you drop in the skiing is pretty intermediate.

Look for more on skiing the glacier this spring in the Adventure Section.

MORE COWBELL: Here’s video I shot of David Leon Moore from USA Today while we

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What’s the best part about covering the World Cup? I get to ski to work. I got about 15,000 feet of vertical in this morning before the racing started. Here’s the view down from the chairlift at the top of Whistler Mountain.

Hatchery steelhead fisheries will close Sunday on the Methow, Wenatchee and upper Columbia rivers to protect wild steelhead, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife just announced.



Steelhead fishing will close Sunday on the three rivers an hour after sunset.



The closures are necessary to comply with provisions of a federal permit that authorized steelhead fishing in those rivers, said Bob Leland, steelhead program manager. The permit prescribes strict limits on the incidental catch of wild steelhead, which are listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.



"We expect

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I got to ski the women’s downhill course this morning before the race. It was during pre-race inspection and skiing is a bit of an overstatement. Really those of us who were on the course – coaches, officials, athletes and media – were slipping the course checking out the features.

Some athletes were getting last minutes coaching and others where trying to visualize the runs.

The course was icy – just the way the skiers like it. I bit it just a few seconds after entering the course thanks to a pair of skis in major need of

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When the state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the next clam dig, set for March 7-12, it didn’t account for daylight savings time.

If the digs are approced, these are the low tide times:

EVENING TIDES

March 7, 6:21 p.m., +0.3 feet, Twin Harbors only

March 8, 6:58 p.m., +0.5, Twin Harbors and Long Beach only

MORNING TIDES

March 9, 8:28 a.m., +0.3: Twin Harbors and Long Beach only

March 10, 9:12 a.m., 0, Twin Harbors only

March 11, 9:59 a.m., -0.1, Twin Harbors only

March

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