Federal forest
and park managers only now are discovering the devastation
dealt to Western Washington recreation areas by last week's
rainstorm. Major trail bridges were knocked out, popular
Kennedy Hot Springs was buried and sections of several trails
and campgrounds, including the famed Pacific Crest Trail,
were washed away.
That's in addition
to several roads to important recreation areas that were
discovered washed out or buried immediately after the deluge.
"I've told some
people around here, it's not biblical in proportion, but
it's not too far below it," said Gary Paull, wilderness
and trails coordinator at the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National
Forest headquarters in Montlake Terrace. "It's demoralizing,
humbling. I don't know where to start. There is an awful
lot of stuff missing."
The major impact
will occur next summer, when thousands of hikers will have
to detour around areas of damage. Major bridges are not
likely to be rebuilt or relocated until late next year at
the earliest, and the most heavily damaged roads will prevent
access to some trailheads.
For example,
several [hundred] "through-hikers" travel the entire 2,000-mile
length of the Pacific Crest Trail, from Mexico to Canada,
every year. With several major bridges across unfordable
streams now gone in the Glacier Peak region of the trail,
hikers taking that route will need to make lengthy detours.
"If you want
to hike that trail, you're going to have to go around Glacier
Peak to the east," Paull said.
Federal forest
managers are still surveying for damage, and cost estimates
have not been tallied, but repairs are expected to total
at least several million dollars.
Heavily damaged
were trails, bridges and other facilities along the Whitechuck
and Suiattle rivers, in the Baker Lake area of the Mount
Baker-Snoqualmie Forest, the Ross Lake area of North Cascades
National Park, the west side of Olympic National Park and
Olympic National Forest, and the Nisqually and Carbon River
drainages in Mount Rainier National Park.
Because most
seasonal trail crews and backcountry rangers had been dismissed
for the season, a lot of trail damage probably will not
be discovered until next year. But U.S. Forest Service and
National Park Service officials are developing preliminary
repair figures for the damage that is known.
"We'll need large
quantities of cash," said Paull. "We're working on some
kind of estimate, but at an average of about $50,000 for
a major (trail) bridge -- you can do the math."
Several major
bridges were lost, including some that vanished without
a trace. They include:
The Skyline Bridge
across the Suiattle River on the Pacific Crest National
Scenic Trail (PCT). The bridge had been rebuilt and extended
in 1999.
A bridge across
lower Milk Creek, built with 5-foot I-beams.
Bridges along
the PCT at Vista Creek, upper Whitechuck River, upper Milk
Creek, Sitkum Creek and Switchback Creek.
Several bridges
crossing creeks along the Baker Lake Trail.
A bridge across
the Middle Fork Nooksack River on the trail to Elbow Lake.
Bridges across
popular Thunder Creek and Little Beaver Creek in North Cascades
National Park.
A bridge near
Christine Falls on the trail to Van Trump Park in Mount
Rainier National Park.
Kennedy Hot Springs,
for decades a popular soaking spot for hikers along the
Whitechuck River, was covered by a thick layer of debris,
as was a nearby historic cabin built in the early part of
the last century that in recent years served as rangers'
quarters.
"They're completely
buried," said Paull, who surveyed the damage by air on Sunday.
"A major debris torrent came down the Whitechuck and Kennedy
Creek. Same as on the Suiattle. Where the PCT crossed the
Skyline Bridge, there used to be a slope the trail climbed.
Now it's a cliff."
The Colonial
Creek Campground in North Cascades National Park was heavily
damaged when its namesake rerouted itself through the campground.
The Sunshine Point Campground near the Nisqually entrance
to Rainier National Park was closed after the Nisqually
River washed out part of a dike and 120 feet of road.
Rainier National
Park officials say hikers should expect foot-log bridges
at lower elevations to be gone; several on the Wonderland
Trail between Cougar Rock and Narada Falls are known to
be out. Paull said many foot logs -- maybe dozens -- are
gone in the Suiattle/Whitechuck and Mount Baker areas.
Olympic National
Park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said crews were so busy dealing
with damaged and closed roads that no one has had time to
survey damage to trails and bridges in the backcountry there.
"We really haven't
heard at this point," she said. "We just don't have that
many staff members. We know there are lots of downed trees
in campground and picnic areas. We imagine there probably
will be some trail damage."
The loss of several
key roads will have a larger immediate effect.
On the Peninsula,
for example, the Hoh River Road is closed to vehicular traffic
at the Olympic National Park boundary because of a washout
caused by the rampaging Hoh River. Until the road is repaired,
that puts the popular Hoh Rainforest off limits to all except
those willing to bicycle or walk the 5.5 miles to the Hoh
Visitor Center.
The popular Sol
Duc Road in the park is also closed due to damage in four
places. The North Shore Road at Quinault Lake is closed,
but repairs are under way. The nearby North Fork Road also
is closed. The Queets Road is closed at Matheny Creek Bridge,
which -- unless it is fixed before winter -- will prevent
steelhead fishermen from reaching popular drifts upstream.
Also on the Peninsula,
a washout on the Undie Road No. 2932 inside Olympic National
Forest prevents access to the Bogachiel River Trail.
In Mount Baker-Snoqualmie
National Forest, the Mountain Loop Highway is closed at
Barlow Pass on the south and at Bedal Campground on the
north. The Suiattle Road No. 26 is washed out near Buck
Creek, about 9.5 miles short of its end, blocking access
to three major trailheads in the Glacier Peak Wilderness.
The Whitechuck Road No. 23 is washed out one mile in from
the Mountain Loop Highway.
Two major concrete
forest-road bridges -- one on the Suiattle River, the other
on the Whitechuck -- were damaged, the former cracked clean
in the middle, the latter washed out on one end.
