Washington State Parks announced today the 2012 dates that its parks will be open for free:

• Jan 14 through 16 – Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend
• March 18 and 19 – In honor of Washington State Parks’ 99^th birthday on March 19
• June 9 – National Get Outdoors Day
• Sept. 29 – National Public Lands Day
• Nov. 10 through 12 – Veterans Day weekend

According to the state Parks and Recreation Commission: “The “free days” are in keeping with legislation that created the Discover Pass, a $30 annual or $10 one-day permit required on …

Read more »

UPDATE: The park sent a corrected statement on Jan. 7. The updated statement is below.

Margaret Anderson’s family released a statement this afternoon via Mount Rainier National Park:

The family of Margaret Anderson has asked Mount Rainier National Park to release the following statement:

The husband, daughters, and family of Margaret Kritsch Anderson, the fallen Law Enforcement Ranger

…

Read more »

I spent much of this afternoon emailing back and forth with Brian Vogt of Allentown, Wash., requesting that he share his group’s story and pictures with The News Tribune. His four-person group spent the night camping at Mount Rainier while a manhunt for a killer was going on near them.

Read the story here.

He and his party – Natalia Martinez-Paz, Matt Pokrywka and Jen Berthiaume – were hesitant to share their story because, Vogt said, “Our group feels strongly we don’t want to contribute to sensationalism in this story, and that the focus ought to be on the …

Read more »

UPDATE: The day after this was posted we contacted the four people in the hiking party. Click here to read their story.

By Craig Hill, Staff writer

While most of the world learned from the media that a killer was loose in Mount Rainier National Park, a group of backpackers in the park got the news in the form of a note scribbled on a coffee cup dropped from a hovering helicopter.

The hikers posted a report of their hiking trip at Rainier during the manhunt at nwhikers.net. The report, posted by “kayakbear,” did …

Read more »

C.R. ROBERTS
Staff writer

Henry Johnsen of the rural New Jersey town of Scotch Plains remembers slain Mount Rainier National Park Ranger Margaret Anderson as “a quiet, reserved person. She was a sweet, loving young woman.”

Johnsen has lived next door to Anderson’s family for more than a decade, and said Monday that he attended Margaret’s wedding to husband Eric six years ago.

He heard the news of her death Sunday when Anderson’s parents, Paul and Dorothy Kritsch, “walked across the driveway arm-in-arm.. It was late in the day. This was a most unusual visit. They walked toward me …

Read more »

From the Associated Press:

Police say they’ve identified a “strong person of interest” in the fatal New Year’s Day shooting of a Mount Rainier Park National Park ranger. Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer says 24-year-old Benjamin Colton Barnes is believed to have military experience and possess skills to survive in the wild. Troyer says the man’s vehicle was recovered, which had weapons and body armor.Police are still searching the park for a gunman who authorities say shot 34-year-old Margaret Anderson about 11 a.m.Troyer says armored vehicles were being brought in to remove about 100 people who are hunkered down

…

Read more »

While there were no local winners this year, there are still some stunning images chosen in the 2011 National Historic Landmark photo contest.

This year’s winning image is of Pecos Pueblo, located south of Pecos, N.M. The photo was taken by Eric Vondy of Phoenix.

The site’s real history is legendary. Led by an Indian guide called “The Turk,” famous Spanish explorer Coronado and his men set out from this pueblo to search for Quivira, one of the legendary “Seven Cities of Gold.” Abandoned in 1838, today the site, east of Santa Fe, is managed by Pecos National Historical Park. …

Read more »

What was the biggest story of 2011?

The News Tribune wants your opinion. Click here to take the survey. And don’t be shy about writing in your favorites.