The North Cascades Highway, Highway 20, is expected to reopen today at 8 p.m., according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Crews have been able to take advantage of the warm weather that has sped the melting of snow to clear Rainy Pass (4,855 feet) at milepost 157.5 and Washington Pass (5,477 feet) at milepost 162.5.

Each winter, the state closes the highway on the west at milepost 134, east of Diablo, and on the east at milepost 170, 14 miles west of Mazama.

Opening of the highway allows drivers to again travel the Cascade Loop,

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Edgeworks Climbing gym is looking for volunteers to judge and belay climbers at Saturday’s T-Town Climbing Challenge. Here’s the lowdown from the gym:

Edgeworks T-Town Climbing Challenge

Saturday, April 25th, 10am – 5pm

Volunteers Needed:

-Judges: No Experience Necessary

-Belayers: Edgeworks Belay Certification Required

What you get for helping out:

-Edgeworks T-Shirt

-A wonderfully fulfilling lunch supplied by Edgeworks

-A great opportunity to see some of the region’s best climbers. Some of the climbers that will be at the comp are nationally ranked; they’re good!

We

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From the NPS:

North Cascades National Park maintenance crews, with the assistance of two local construction companies, successfully installed a new bridge on the Cascade River Road over the North Fork of the Cascade River. The construction of the new bridge was a challenge due to the remote location and narrowness of the road. It was not possible to navigate the two 85-foot sections of the bridge which were manufactured by Big R Manufacturing of Greeley, Colorado via truck and trailer around the tight corners.

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The Tacoma Astronomical Society is holding a free public night star party Saturday night.



The 9 p.m. event begins with a presentation on using binoculars for star gazing by John Finnan in Room 202 of the Olympic Building at Pierce College’s Fort Steilacoom campus. If the weather allows, members will set up telescopes to view the night sky.

Click here for more information and a calendar of upcoming events.

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An infusion of $54 million of economic recovery funds will advance the timetable for the removal of two Elwha River dams at Olympic National Park by a year. Another $3.3 million will allow Mount Rainier to deal with a backlog of maintenance projects.

The National Park Service Wednesday announced nearly 800 projects totaling $750 million will move forward with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

In all, more than $62 million will fund 33 Park Service projects in Washington.

Here is the list of projects.



Mount Rainier

$839,000: To

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Thanks in large part to some nice weather, more than 1,100 volunteers turned out Saturday for the annual Washington Coast Cleanup.

Working at beach locations along the state’s entire Pacific coast, volunteers hauled away an estimated 22 tons of plastic water bottles, household trash, lost fishing gear, and other types of marine debris, said David Lindau, program coordinator for Washington CoastSavers.

A few weeks before the event, Lindau was concerned because the number of people signing up was down from previous years. Some publicity and a good forecast helped draw plenty of help.

My family and I

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Most of the trails at Mount Rainier National Park are still deep under snow, but park officials already have an idea of the damage.

Carl Fabiani, the park’s trail foreman, said "there is a little more trail damage than normal." During a recent helicopter flight park officials found several washed out bridges around the park.

Fall flooding washed out a bridge in Stevens Canyon and another over Devil’s Dream Creek near Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground.

Compounding the damage is the fact the park is still trying to repair the damage from the epic 2006 flood.

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Reaching the summit of Mount Rainier is one of the top 10 adventures in the United States, according to National Geographic Adventure magazine.

Whle many folks travel the world looking for adventure, the magazine in its April/May issue offers a list of the 50 best American adventures.

Here are the top 10 adventure:

Biking the Continental Divide Trail, which takes you through a multistate region.

Kayaking Lake Yellowstone in Wyoming

Paddling the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon

Climbing Mount Rainier

Canoeing the lakes, ponds and other waterways of the Adirondacks in New

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