Point Defiance’s caretakers have always encouraged recreational users to keep the park clean.
Former University of Puget Sound track coach Joe Peyton learned this lesson in the 1970s when he invited the University of Washington down for a cross-country meet in the park.
The race went well. But after Peyton’s crew cleaned up and returned to UPS, the phone rang.
The park maintenance crew was calling: “Joe, you left some equipment at the park.”
When the crew of cleaners returned to the Point, they were told what they forgot: the chalk marking the course on the trails.
“It was funny,” said Sam Ring, a former UPS cross-country coach. “Ever since then, we started marking the course with flour. It works great, it’s cheap and it’s doesn’t last very long.”
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