Outdoorsman happy to take the lead

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By his very rough calculations, Lehman Holder is approaching 1,000 trips in his lifetime as an outings leader for the Sierra Club — about 400 of those in Southwest Washington during the past 15 years.

And while the outings actually are an incentive to recruit new members for the conservation club’s local Loo-Wit Group, Holder says the trips have been a priceless experience.

“Over the years, being an outings leader has enriched my life beyond my wildest imagination,” said Holder, 72, a Vancouver resident. “I’ve had so many wonderful times and met so many incredible people.”

Holder is a native Texan, with a degree in journalism from the University of North Texas. He worked in newsrooms in Austin, San Angelo and San Antonio for almost a decade, then joined the staff of the Boy Scouts of America.

He moved from Oklahoma City to Portland in 1989 and to Vancouver in 1991. He retired in 2000 as the Boy Scouts district executive in western Clark County.

Holder always had interest in the outdoors, but working two summers at a boys camp in Colorado during college fueled his passion.

“A lot of the interest I had in the outdoors kind of came to the front,” he said. “I discovered that I liked to climb mountains, I like to do all kinds of stuff outdoors — paddle canoes and so forth.”

He joined the Sierra Club in Austin, Texas, in 1973.

“They asked me what I wanted to do — political stuff, activist stuff, lead outings. I said, ‘I’ll lead outings.’ ”

Holder has been doing it ever since. He’s led backpack trips, hundreds of day hikes, even trips into caves. He limits his outings now to cycling, sea kayaking and cross-country skiing. A typical outing includes seven or eight participants and no more than 10.

Holder has given up the hiking trips.

“I’ve got gout in both my big toes,” he said. “Back in the mid- to late 1990s, I’d come in from a big hike and my toes would just be killing me.”

His cycling outings are April to October. Sea kayak is May to October and cross-country skiing is a December-to-March activity.

While Holder says he enjoys all three types of outings, he admits that the bicycle is probably his favorite.

His schedule always includes these four words if it’s a cycling trip: “No ride if raining.”

“The philosophy is that when it’s raining, the visibility is not as good, the streets get wet so they are a little slicker and traffic can’t see you as well,” he said. “I think there is a greater degree of risk. I want people to have fun on any outing I lead. If it’s raining and nasty, they’re not going to have fun.”

Holder lives near the east end of Discovery Trail. He rides two to three times per week, with a favorite route being west to Fruit Valley Road or even Frenchman’s Bar. It’s a 20- to 30-mile trip, depending on the specific route.

His Sierra Club rides also are 20 to 30 miles and what he calls a “social pace,” which is 10 to 12 miles per hour.

Ten years ago, Holder did a 540-mile solo ride the length of Oregon from Hells Canyon to Florence.

“It’s one the best things I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.

He leads two levels of sea kayak trips. The two-hour version is for first-timers. The three- to four-hour versions are from more experienced kayakers, cover longer distances and some wind and waves are possible.

Many of his kayak trips begin at Ridgefield on Lake River because kayak rentals are available there.

Kayak trips take advantage of Lake River, the lower East Fork of the Lewis River, lower Lewis River and into the Columbia.

His leadership of Nordic skiing outings is not limited to the Sierra Club. For 23 years, Holder taught beginners and intermediates in the Mazamas annual Nordic school.

Holder is on the executive committee of the Sierra Club’s Loo-Wit Group. He was formerly its chairman. The group has 1,400 members scattered from Goldendale to Long Beach.

“The whole purpose of the Sierra Club outing is to get people interested in joining,” he said. “It’s a membership incentive. If they join, a lot of those people will become activists and get interests in other parts of the club’s focus — public lands, clean air, clean water, political issues.”

Holder called the proposed oil terminal at the Port of Vancouver the No. 1 conservation issue in Southwest Washington.

“We’re trying to keep the pressure on them (the port commissioners),” he said. “What we want to do is to get them to void that contact with Tesoro-Savage.”

He said gravel mining in the East Fork of the Lewis River is the No. 2 local issue.

Holder has led five national Sierra Club outings. Only club members can participate in those outings, unlike the local trips open to anyone.

In 2008, he was nominated for the club’s national Oliver Kehrlein Award. Kehrlein was a legendary Sierra Club outings leader in the 1920s and ’30s.

At age 72, Holder has no plans to stop.

“I would not take anything for the experiences I’ve had leading people on these outings and that’s the primary reason I keep doing it and intend to keep doing it until I can’t any more.”