We're Moving!

In search of some natural light and a little more elbow room, Washington Trails Association is leaving its warren-like office in Seattle's Belltown for airier, brighter digs near Pioneer Square.

This week, we've been packing up the office - going through six years of accumulated forest plans, outreach materials, old tools and way-back issues of The Signpost, the predecessor to Washington Trails magazine.

This is the fun part of packing up - finding the cool, old stuff. My favorite has to be the copy of Camp Grub - An Out-of-doors Cooking Manual by Elon Jessup. This 1924 book is full meaty (and I mean that literally) ideas for cooking outside. When we get settled in the new office, I plan to take some time to read this collector's item.

What else have we found? How about the beautifully illustrated Soleduck Environmental Assessment/Draft Development Plan from 1988. Or Packrat Papers #1, published by WTA in 1972. More recent are the 2003 parking ticket and the newspaper orgami crane from 2007.

Hanging on our walls for years - and through two office moves - have been two wooden-framed mid-20th century backpacks, origin unknown. After we dust them off, they will certainly find new life in our new space.

Speaking of dusting things off, we will be doing quite a bit of that next week. If you find you can't reach us, it's because we anticipate that we might not be fully plugged in until Wednesday. Certainly on Monday - no telephones, no computers. Just lots of unpacking!

We look forward to serving hikers again by mid-week, inspired by being able to look out our big windows (that open) and our little peek-a-boo view of Puget Sound. And now, if you pardon us, we need to label a bunch of boxes, unplug our computers and hope they all end up in the right place!