Get To Know Your Grooming Operator; Joe Nelson AKA "Captain Ginge"

AN INTERVIEW WITH JOSEPH NELSON - Equipment Operator/Groomer in Winter, Maintenance Mechanic in Summer 

Tell us about your life/career before you started grooming trails in the Nordic Area. 

Before the parks I spent nearly a decade in the US Coast Guard. I was a crew chief/helicopter mechanic on MH-60 Helicopters. Along with that I was an EMT and worked counter drug and maritime law enforcement. I was stationed everywhere from the Arctic Circle to San Diego. Over that time, I saved 80 people’s lives and stopped hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of illegal drugs from hitting the streets. I loved every second of that job, and not a day goes by that I don’t think about that time of my life. One of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make was leaving that profession. 

Near the end of my second enlistment, I felt the drive to go back to school. It just so happened that my wife was offered a job here in Spokane, and my command needed me to re-up to take an assignment that I didn’t really want. We literally had 24 hours to decide our future, so we started researching the Spokane area and I found a video from fellas at Silverbow Fly Shop about fishing the Grande Ronde River. I was sold and so we moved. From there I attended Eastern Washington University and majored in Criminal Justice with a minor in Environmental Science. 

I quickly realized that Law Enforcement wasn’t for me anymore and thus I ended up taking a few odd jobs. One took me back to Alaska where I worked on environmental assessments and fisheries projects. Fun for me but my wife didn’t dig me being away from home. After that, I substitute taught for the Mead school district. I also dipped my toe in owning a woodworking business which was cool too but I didn’t know how to make a living at it. 

I saw a temp job open at Mt Spokane and figured why not, it’s only 6 months right? When I started up on the Mountain there were no maintenance staff at all. It was just a couple of rangers, park aides and some lovely volunteers, all trying to keep the place afloat. The magnitude and size of the job was daunting, and still kind of is. Without knowing what my role really was, I just went about finding things that were broken and fixing them. In that regard that’s still what I do. I guess the management was happy, so they offered me a full time job. A decision which I think they’ve probably regretted ever since… joking… sort of… It’s been a fun adventure and I’m honestly grateful for how things have worked out. I’ve learned a lot and have thoroughly enjoyed working with some wonderful people. 

What drew you to your current position? 

The diversity of the job. It’s never the same day twice up on the mountain which can be a blessing and a curse, but it’s fitting for me. While the winters have me running a groomer, the rest of the year I get the opportunity to work on everything up on the mountain and also all of the parks in NE Washington, including Riverside, Bowl and Pitcher, and Crawford Caves to name a few. On the mountain we’re constantly wrenching on equipment, working on trails, fixing buildings, maintaining water systems, you name it we have to figure out how to do it. That diversity keeps me energized and excited to show up. There’s always work to do and never a dull moment. I can honestly say that there hasn’t been one day where I’ve shown up to work and not wanted to be here. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you deal with? 

Grooming wise I’d say high winds, downed trees, extremely cold temps, mechanical breakdowns, poor grooming conditions and the dreaded tiller ruts!!!!!! 

Any crazy stories from your nights on the mountain? 

A couple of years ago we had a horrendous season with tons of trees coming down. One night, after having already wrestled with probably 20 trees that had fallen, the winds really picked up and I decided I needed to get out of the woods and quickly. 

I was headed back towards the Selkirk Lodge on Mica Rd just past the Upper Tripp’s cutoff when I came across another downed tree blocking my route. I got out of the Snow Cat and walked probably 15 yards to the tree. The wind was whipping, gusting 40+ mph at least. The wind and freezing temps stung my hands and face. As I finished cutting the tree I turned to head back to the groomer and then I saw it, another sizable tree had fallen directly between me and the groomer. I didn’t even hear it. It was one of those moments that make the hairs on your neck stand up. 

A more fun grooming story came when I was training Juan Grande (Big John). But first, let me quickly preface with I’m kind of a practical jokester. As we were headed up the road to Tripp’s Hut, I was telling John about the multiple cougars I’d come across, a wolf I saw after a Skijoring event, some bobcats, moose etc and I reminded him that he always needed to be alert because you never know what sometimes lurks around the next corner. 

As I pulled into the roundabout and parked the snowcat outside the hut entrance I could see that the door was slightly ajar. We hopped out of the machine, John was a few feet behind me and as I approached the hut I pointed out to him that the door was open and that he needs to use caution in case a wild animal had found its way inside. I opened the door cautiously and then quickly slammed it shut and as I turned to run back to the groomer. I started screaming “BEAR, BEAR, BEAR!” Juan Grande did the hardest U-turn a 6’14” giant human can do and sprinted back around the machine as fast as he could. He fishtailed around the tiller, scrambled over the tracks and popped up into the machine with the agility of a 3 legged cat. He was breathing hard, his eyes were as big as silver dollars. He glanced over my way panting and with a look of sheer terror he saw the smirk on my face. 

I tried to contain myself but I burst out laughing. He realized I had just pulled a fast one over on him, punched me in the arm and gave the disappointed head shake as he knew he had just been got. In case you were wondering, he was a great sport about it, we still get a laugh about that to this day. 

What’s your favorite part of the job?

So many things. My office is beautiful. Whether I’m grooming up to the lookout at Sunset, being around wildlife, the wonderful people I get to work with, the friends I’ve made in the community, the cookies people drop off to show appreciation, it all has an impact on me. I think however, that the most satisfying part of working up on the mountain is when I’m in town and I look up the mountain on a clear day and remind myself just how lucky I am that I get to be a little tiny part of the history of this place. It’s a neat, and I truly enjoy working up here every day. 

What’s your least favorite part of the job? 

Sometimes the magnitude of the job can be daunting. I wish we had more folks to get after all the work that needs to be done. It’s frustrating to see all the things I’d like to get done but don’t have the time, people and/or resources to do it all. Sometimes it feels like the best I can do is put out fires. 

I have to say though, we’re currently in a way better situation than we were 7 years ago when I started. We have an excellent staff who all desire to work hard and make this a better place. We’ve also had a ton of support from management to upgrade and modernize our equipment and facilities. For instance, after a 15 year struggle our leadership kicked some butt and now we’re finally seeing work getting done on a new, long overdue, maintenance facility. 

We’ve modernized our plow operations with the addition of a new blower, a few new loaders and a new grader. On the groomer side we just received a new “fancy pants” Prinoth Bison snow groomer. While it’s not outfitted yet for the Nordic trails, it will be soon which puts my mind at ease that we will soon have a full size back up that does the job if the primary machine goes down. There is a lot of good happening up here and a lot to look forward too.