A well-connected friend with a conscience just called, with word of an Oct. 10 ground-breaking ceremony at Paradise for a new visitor center that will welcome motorized tourists to Mount Rainier.

A bipartisan duo, U.S. Reps. Norm Dicks (D) and Dave Reichert (R), will be on hand as the National Park Service puts its best foot forward.

Amidst all the good feeling, however, here's one writer who hopes the congressmen get asked some tough questions.

Another missive came in the mail today, this one from a hiker who tried to complete the Pacific Crest Trail in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

He found the usual route, around the west side of Glacier Peak, to be impassable due due to damage from the late fall 2003 flood. The rushing, glacial Suiattle River remains unbridged.

Instead, my correspondent found himself climbing straight up through overhanging brush and then up an exposed open rock face to 6,400-foot Little Little Giant Pass, and then down an equally exposed face into the Napeequa River valley.

"The Pacific Crest Trail is one of two iconic trails in our country, the other being the Appalachian Trail," he wrote. "In the almost five years following trail damage, funds have not been available to complete repairs.

"Moreover, the detour going over Little Giant and subsequently Boulder Pass involved negotiating what could kindly be referred to as climbers trails.

"My hiking memories go back to the 1950's, a time when trails were maintained. Now, U.S. Forest Service budgets have been so severely cut that trail maintenance is limited. Our trip was unfortunately aborted, as there was no safe choice through this trail section."

"To my mind, this is another example of the suffering infrastructure of our country. Compared to other government expenses, repair costs of the Pacific Crest Trail damager are trivial."

Rep. Dicks is chairman of the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee, which writes the Forest Service budget. Rep. Reichert is making a big deal of his 85 rating (out of a possible 100) by the League of Conservation Voters.

Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., whose district includes the battered section of Pacific Crest Trail, is proudly running with an endorsement from the Sierra Club.

Why can't you guys do something about the backlog of repairs remaining from a storm five years ago?

After all, much of the trail system dates from the 1930's, built by Civilian Conservation Corps crews in the midst of the Great Depression. Why can't we maintain it now?