My third hike to spectacular Spider Meadow in the central Cascades, which turned out to be a passing of the baton to my grandson, Isaac Richardson It was supposed to be a story about backpacking in the era of COVID-19. At least that’s how I originally pitched it to an editor at The Seattle Times in the summer of 2020. There was only one problem: No official at the Wenatchee Ranger Station, which oversees the trail to Spider Meadow, wanted to talk to me. And that was a bit unusual, because PR folks at the U.S. Forest Service have always…

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