Meet the Mazamas

Flora is an elder in both the Mazamas and the Quinault Indian Nation in Washington state. She jokes that just means she’s old, but in fact, she’s been very involved for many years in both organizations. She climbed 40 mountains – never the same one – and was active in trail tending for the Mazamas. At 88, she says this winter’s ski trip to Eastern Oregon might be her last, and it’s time to hang up her skis. But she plans to continue to lead “old lady hikes,” for the Mazamas as long as she can.

When not outdoors, Flora’s had a varied career, washing dishes in hospital kitchens, driving a school bus, testing water quality, helping with cardiac research and volunteering at the Forest Center at Multnomah Falls. She is a retired RN. 

Name:  Flora Huber

Pronouns:  She/her

Year Joined Mazamas: 1954

Present-day outdoor activities:  Leading “little old lady hikes”

What’s your earliest outdoor memory? That’d have to be clam digging on the coast or bullfrog fishing on the Willamette River with my family and my father and his friends. 

How did you first hear about the Mazamas, and what prompted you to engage with the organization? I had a teacher at Lincoln High School, Mrs. Obie, who was a sponsor for our square dancing club. She was a Mazama, her and her husband. We’d ride up to the Mazama Lodge in the back of their jeep with a bunch of kids. This was before seatbelt laws. We’d rent the stove at the lodge for 50 cents a day, so we could cook our breakfasts. Mrs. Obie taught me how to ski. Once I learned, I’d hitchhike up to Timberline Lodge and huff it up the Glade Trail because I didn’t have $5 for the lift ticket. 

As more people seek to recreate outdoors, what advice would you offer them? Just keep going and persist. There’s going to be more and more people. Get up early and get out on the trail.

What activities/situations/people most inspire you? Mazama climb leaders have always inspired me, and I had so many good ones. They’re just wonderful people who devote their time and energy to the outdoors.

What is your favorite book/movie/TV show/social media account that you follow and why? Pick one. I just read a book called Letters from Yellowstone. It compiled letters from a woman who was a med student who traveled to Yellowstone to be part of a group that cataloged flowers and vegetation in Yellowstone. Of course, it was the turn of the century, and she was quite an activist and loved the outdoors. I found it so very fascinating, how she persisted in her quest despite people who thought she wasn’t capable of being a scientist because she was a woman. Apparently there’s supposed to be another follow up book.

What’s on your adventure bucket list? Nothing too exotic. I’ll be leading a hike next Tuesday, and I hope to keep doing that three or four times a month. That’s adventure enough.