Mark your calendar for this one – a pair of events on Observatory Hill in Goldendale. The first is the dedication of a new set of information signs on the trails at five pm Thursday at the trailhead.
Veronica Clevidence of Goldendale Enrichment says the project started with a donation from wind and solar company Avengrid. It was originally intended for construction of a splash pad, but the donation was not enough to cover that project, so they pivoted to the new trail signs:
“There are actually five signs. There is a sign for plants, for animals, and for trees. And then at the very end of the trail, there is the two-part story which is the five mountain sisters: Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Ranier and Simcoe, fighting and eventually killing Simcoe because they were jealous of her.”
Veronica said the story came from Bronsco Jim, Jr., Chief of the River People. He also helped make the signs bilingual, by translating the English into the local tribal language.
And there’s the second event of the night:
“Directly afterwards at 6:00 PM, the observatory is showing a documentary about the River People. It was really neat that the stars aligned to where the observatory was also showing this documentary so that we could line them up on the same day.”
###