FS-74 part 2

[Webmaster]

The snow has finally melted off enough to get my bike almost to the bridge that crosses the west fork of the White river. Almost. It has become quite a ride. The winter has blown down a number of trees. Future trips will have a saw strapped to the bike so that I may carve a passage through some of these downed trees.

The adventure really begins with a seeming death or at least injury defying passage across the first major destruction of fs-74, about 6 miles back.

http://explore-greenwater.com/pix/upperFs746.jpg


http://explore-greenwater.com/pix/fs7413.jpg

After that point it seems that for too many stretches I had to get off the bike every hundred yards or so to get around another downed tree. The adventure turns shockingly interesting again at about 6.5 miles back, where the second washout has taken place.

http://explore-greenwater.com/pix/upperFs741.jpg

Prior to the floods, where the river flowed was a long way from where a branch of it does now. Note the bridge in the distance.

The shots below were taken about a hundred yards or so from the one above. The area is passable but not by bike. Note also that there is about a 30 yard gap between the SW side of the bridge and the approach.

http://explore-greenwater.com/pix/upperFs742.jpg

http://explore-greenwater.com/pix/upperFs744.jpg

The image below was taken from the upstream side of the bridge. The amount of silt build up underneath the bridge is substantial. I’d guess the river bed is at least 4 feet higher now than it was last fall. On the left side of the bridge there used to be a large placement of 5 man boulders. These are nowhere to be seen! The area to the right of the bridge has been dramatically altered as well.

http://explore-greenwater.com/pix/upperFs743.jpg

A photo of the bridge deck hints at the amount of water that flowed violently through here. Water flowed over the bridge, at least 20 feet above the current water level :eek: and left some wood debris on the bridge deck.

http://explore-greenwater.com/pix/upperFs745.jpg

[gulfvet100]

I had no idea that there was so much damage up there. I have been planning a trip up to Lonesome Lake, drove up to the gate yesterday only it was closed. Saw all of the downed trees and I just figured that the county will clean it up and open it again...I guess not. I am wondering if there is another way up to Lonesome Lake and if you kinow if those FS roads sustained as much damage as 74 did?

Wonderful pictures!

[Webmaster]

Hi Gulfvet100 and welcome to the forum! Lonesome Lake is accessible from USFS-75 and I think also USFS-73. I don’t know if either is open at the moment. If you go to the Greenwater General store they have a couple maps of the area. One is pretty big, and highly detailed. Get that one. I can’t find mine at the moment or I’d tell you the name.

The damage is very extensive. Last summer a number of folks volunteered more or less at random to clean up the fallen trees. The USFS helped a lot. This year due to all the snow and the inevitable melt off, I suspect there will be as many down trees as there was last year, so a saw of one type or another is advised, especially to the early season travelers.

Thanks for the kind words on the pix!

[Stretch]

You can take the lower FS75 entrance to access the road to Lonesome. As far as I know, there will still be snow kinda low, so drive yer highboy up.

[Stretch]

Go to this link and type: lonesome lake, greenwater, wa. Then zoom in on the light blue markers ( should be two of them ). Scroll to the one not marked A. This is Lonesome Lake. Follow 7530 back to 75 and eventually to 410.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl