One Hike, Two Hike(s), Red Hike, Brew Hike

Autumn is here and with it comes the sublime reds, yellows, and oranges of the seasonal changes. But in a sense, despite the falling leaves, fall in Washington is a sign of new beginnings. The thirst of the area’s trees, mosses, and shrubbery is being quenched by the persistent rain, bringing with it a wild and wonderful growth of greenery and fungi.

These green winters are part of what make Puget Sound one of the best kept secrets of our country–oh yeah, you’d hate it here, rains all the time, better to stay in Cali. All of this is made possible by the one substance that we have in spades compared to California–water.

Häche Two Oh (H20) permeates just about everything we hold dear, even the snow-capped Cascades and Olympics. That’s why Washington Wild has made it such a focus over the years. As highlighted by the disastrous conditions of Michigan’s waters, poor water quality leads to devastating conditions for the flora, fauna, and folks of the accompanying watershed.

That critical recognition is why we work so hard to protect our own waterways. After enough hiking, most of our residents feel a sense of stewardship over the lands entrusted to our protection–that never really belonged to us in the first place. A good many of our members will be exercising that stewardship on Washington Wild’s #GivingTuesday.

Our members already have quite a few feathers in their collective caps. From protecting the 292,500 acre Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in 1985, to pressuring the US Congress to enact the 106,000 acre Wild Sky Wilderness Act, we all have plenty of experience in keeping our humble state wild.

In fact, that very same Wild Sky Wilderness Act helped to protect the full watershed that feeds into Leavenworth, and which provides the water for Icicle Brewing’s esteemed beverages. These libations for Mother Earth have been pouring in from all over the state, thanks to our Washington Brewshed coalition of brewers.

The pint-pouring comes to a foamy head on #GivingTuesday (following the obsessively-promoted Black Friday and Cyber Monday), where our friends at four breweries are donating a dollar off of each of their beers sold to Washington Wild. So, regardless of if you’ve opted out into a long weekend hike or bought your next winter’s supply of snow gear, come join us on Tuesday and regale your adventures while helping to keep our streams clean and our forests lush.

Written By Washington Wild Volunteer James Leamy

This #GivingTuesday stand up to protect wild places by supporting Washington Wild by having a beer at one of our Brewshed® Happy Hours, making a charitable donation, or signing up to volunteer! Help us reach our mini campaign goal of 100 supporters and $2,500 this #GivingTuesday!