Media Contact: Leanne Ingle, 360-704-4508; outside Thurston County calling area: (877) 284-6237, ext. 2508; e-mail: lingle@timberland.lib.wa.us.

Hahn (left) presents Spirited Waters: A Naturalist’s Journey on the Inside Passage at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 24 at the Montesano Timberland Library (W. H. Abel Memorial Library). Hahn will show slides and share stories from her intrepid 750-mile solo kayak journey through wild, pristine waters from Ketchikan, Alaska to her home in Bellingham, Washington. Besides light keepers, loggers, fishers and Kwakiutl carvers, the audience will hear about encounters with migratory gray whales, frolicking otters, bears, gale-force storms, yowling wolves, and whirlpool passages. The presentation is sponsored by the Friends of the W. H. Abel Memorial Library.

Grays Harborites will also get an entertaining lesson on wild harvesting sea veggies, land plants and marine shellfish with Hahn’s Feasting on Flotsam: Eating Between Tide and Forest as Cuisine, Culture, and Ecology at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 26 at the Elma Timberland Library, 118 N First Street, Elma. "If I had to pick a place for being marooned, it would be the shores and islands of the fecund Northwest coast where my favorite sea vegetables and plants grow," said Hahn. Ever eat a raw sea urchin? Barnacle stew? Samples of Hahn’s kelp chowder (minus the barnacles!) will be served up after the show. Displays of edible land plants from both sides of the Cascades will also be on view. The presentation is sponsored by the Friends of the Elma Timberland Library.

A veteran paddler, Hahn has guided natural history adventures and kayak trips in Washington, Canada, Alaska, Baja, Mexico and the Galapagos since 1987. She is the founder and former owner of Elakah! Kayak Expeditions and teaches for Elakah! and various businesses and organizations. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Studies and a B.A. in Writing, Literature and Ecology. Hahn honed her writing skills under Pulitzer-prizewinning author Annie Dillard. Recently, Hahn’s book, Spirited Waters: Soloing South Through the Inside Passage (Mountaineers Books, September 2001) won the Barbara Savage Miles from Nowhere Memorial Award for an adventure narrative. Copies of the book will be available for purchase after the presentations. For more information, people may call the Montesano library at 249-4211 or the Elma library at 482-3737.