Webmaster
05-20-2007, 05:55 AM
Slowly but nimbly, Brandes Prieto hiked across the boulders in the Carbon River bed, making her way toward the lowest glacier in the continental United States.
Most years the Bonney Lake woman needs just two hours to make the popular hike to the Carbon Glacier. But on this chilly spring morning she’d been hiking for nearly four hours and still had another hour to go.
This is bound to be a familiar story at Mount Rainier National Park this summer after an epic November flood did $36 million in damage to the park’s driving and hiking infrastructure. Visitors will be able to reach most of their favorite destinations, but they might have to work a little harder to get there.
For Prieto, that meant adding five miles of hiking up washed-out Carbon River Road to what’s usually a 3.5-mile hike. Along the way, she had to walk through a trail repair site, scramble down a slope where a 1,500-foot section of trail slid away and cross the river on a tangle of fallen trees.
“It’s like a different hike now,” Prieto said. “It’s amazing how much it’s changed since last year. But I think it might be more fun this way.”
Carl Fabiani, the park’s trail foreman, has worked at Rainier for 42 years and has never seen damage like that created when 17.9 inches of rain dumped on the park last Nov. 6-7.
“We have storm damage every year,” Fabiani said. “But this is about 15 years worth of damage at once.”
And while some trail damage and the road to Paradise were repaired during the last six months by a bulked-up winter park staff, there’s still much work to do. Some trails and roads won’t be fixed this summer.
In the case of the perpetually washed-out Carbon River Road in the northwest corner of the park, officials might decide to close it to vehicle traffic permanently.
And new trail damage is being found as snow continues to melt.
“I’ve never seen this much damage in a national park,” said Jill Baum of the Student Conservation Association, who is coordinating volunteer help. “I think we’re going to need at least two years before things are back to normal.”
THE ‘CONNECTIVITY’ FACTOR
Rainier typically gets two types of visitors: those who explore deep into the backcountry and those who don’t stray far from their cars.
“The casual visitor will probably notice things like trees in the river but drive by repaired damages and not even notice anything is different,” said park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga.
While the astute visitor might notice Sunshine Point Campground was ripped in half by the Nisqually River or that Kautz Creek has changed course, for the most part Nisqually Road looks the same as always.
The biggest difference for front-country visitors will likely be what park officials calls “connectivity.”
Uberuaga says about a third of visitors usually leave through a different gate than they entered. Visitors won’t have many chances to do that this summer because Highway 123 and Stevens Canyon Road are closed until October.
Park officials aren’t sure how this will change the summer experience, but they guess it could mean slightly larger crowds at popular destinations like Paradise and Sunrise. Visitors no longer can travel between Paradise and Sunrise without leaving the park.
Because of the road closures, the popular RAMROD – Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day – bike event in July will be rerouted to the east side of the park.
Eric Walkinshaw, the park’s project manager, says crews are working to plow a one-lane summer route through debris on Stevens Canyon Road. However, they can’t do the blasting required to repair roads until September, when spotted owl nesting season is over.
Car campers will find their options reduced by 40 percent this summer. Sunshine Point Campground was destroyed and Ipsut Creek campground now requires a five-mile hike because of the Carbon River Road washout.
“That will be tough on some people,” Uberuaga said. “But most people don’t use those campsites in the summer.”
White River, Ohanapecosh and Cougar Rock campgrounds will operate as normal this summer.
NO TRAIL CLOSURES
Hikers will see most of the remnants from the flooding this summer. Almost every trail in the park sustained some damage. The park will bolster its crews with nearly 3,000 volunteers to help with repairs.
Uberuaga says he won’t order trails closed because of damage. Instead, conditions will be posted at trailheads and rangers will warn hikers of damage.
No trail was harder hit than the 93-mile Wonderland Trail, which loops around the mountain. The route is a right of passage for Northwest hikers, but this summer they’ll be rerouted around two major washouts. One reroute will require a four-mile walk on the shoulder of Stevens Canyon Road. Several creek crossings also have been washed out.
“Hikers are going to find they have a real wilderness experience this summer,” said Jack Voigt, a trail repair leader. “Anybody who does the Wonderland this year will really accomplish something.
“People are used to trails that are so well-maintained, so it’s going to be a real adventure this season.”
Voigt says hikers should allow a couple of extra days to finish the Wonderland, and should check on their other favorite trails before heading out. Most people need 10 to 12 days to make the hike.
Even climbers who typically spend their time above the creeks and trees where the damage is will find the going a little more challenging this summer.
The Glacier Basin Trail, the approach to the second most-popular climbing route, sustained about $200,000 in damage. It could take more than a year to repair, but Fabiani says a temporary but hardier route will be established during climbing season.
“We should be fine. It will just take a little bit more hiking to get there,” said Eric Simonson, co-owner of International Mountain Guides. “But as climbers, I like to think we can handle that.”
SWIFT-WATER WORRIES
In April, just outside the Ipsut Creek Campground, hikers with a keen eye might have noticed a reminder to be careful when passing obstacles left by the storm. There, small, freshly cut wedges of timber could still be found.
In March, a recovery team had to use chain saws to remove the bodies of two hikers from a logjam in Ipsut Creek. Robert and Frances Annette Blakely of Puyallup were visiting the campground where the bridge washed out. When Frances Annette tried to cross the creek on a fallen tree, she fell in and was swept downstream. Robert jumped in after his wife and also drowned.
“I fear that there are going to be more incidents like this all over the Cascades when people get out there and see how dramatically their favorite trails have been impacted,” said Tom Minor, a swift-water rescue instructor. “And especially at Mount Rainier where there is so much damage.”
Fabiani says his trail crew’s primary objective is to make the trails as safe as possible, but that fixing every stream crossing by the start of hiking season is impossible.
“Hikers need to be careful,” Fabiani said. “If they come to a crossing that makes them feel uncomfortable they need to just turn around.”
As deadly as the storm debris can be and as mangled as the hiking infrastructure still is, words like devastation and destruction still don’t seem to fit.
“It’s still just as beautiful as always up here,” said trail repair leader Voigt. “The mountain wasn’t damaged, it was the human elements that were hurt. This is just nature doing its thing, and it’s pretty awesome to see.”
source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/story/66713.html
Most years the Bonney Lake woman needs just two hours to make the popular hike to the Carbon Glacier. But on this chilly spring morning she’d been hiking for nearly four hours and still had another hour to go.
This is bound to be a familiar story at Mount Rainier National Park this summer after an epic November flood did $36 million in damage to the park’s driving and hiking infrastructure. Visitors will be able to reach most of their favorite destinations, but they might have to work a little harder to get there.
For Prieto, that meant adding five miles of hiking up washed-out Carbon River Road to what’s usually a 3.5-mile hike. Along the way, she had to walk through a trail repair site, scramble down a slope where a 1,500-foot section of trail slid away and cross the river on a tangle of fallen trees.
“It’s like a different hike now,” Prieto said. “It’s amazing how much it’s changed since last year. But I think it might be more fun this way.”
Carl Fabiani, the park’s trail foreman, has worked at Rainier for 42 years and has never seen damage like that created when 17.9 inches of rain dumped on the park last Nov. 6-7.
“We have storm damage every year,” Fabiani said. “But this is about 15 years worth of damage at once.”
And while some trail damage and the road to Paradise were repaired during the last six months by a bulked-up winter park staff, there’s still much work to do. Some trails and roads won’t be fixed this summer.
In the case of the perpetually washed-out Carbon River Road in the northwest corner of the park, officials might decide to close it to vehicle traffic permanently.
And new trail damage is being found as snow continues to melt.
“I’ve never seen this much damage in a national park,” said Jill Baum of the Student Conservation Association, who is coordinating volunteer help. “I think we’re going to need at least two years before things are back to normal.”
THE ‘CONNECTIVITY’ FACTOR
Rainier typically gets two types of visitors: those who explore deep into the backcountry and those who don’t stray far from their cars.
“The casual visitor will probably notice things like trees in the river but drive by repaired damages and not even notice anything is different,” said park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga.
While the astute visitor might notice Sunshine Point Campground was ripped in half by the Nisqually River or that Kautz Creek has changed course, for the most part Nisqually Road looks the same as always.
The biggest difference for front-country visitors will likely be what park officials calls “connectivity.”
Uberuaga says about a third of visitors usually leave through a different gate than they entered. Visitors won’t have many chances to do that this summer because Highway 123 and Stevens Canyon Road are closed until October.
Park officials aren’t sure how this will change the summer experience, but they guess it could mean slightly larger crowds at popular destinations like Paradise and Sunrise. Visitors no longer can travel between Paradise and Sunrise without leaving the park.
Because of the road closures, the popular RAMROD – Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day – bike event in July will be rerouted to the east side of the park.
Eric Walkinshaw, the park’s project manager, says crews are working to plow a one-lane summer route through debris on Stevens Canyon Road. However, they can’t do the blasting required to repair roads until September, when spotted owl nesting season is over.
Car campers will find their options reduced by 40 percent this summer. Sunshine Point Campground was destroyed and Ipsut Creek campground now requires a five-mile hike because of the Carbon River Road washout.
“That will be tough on some people,” Uberuaga said. “But most people don’t use those campsites in the summer.”
White River, Ohanapecosh and Cougar Rock campgrounds will operate as normal this summer.
NO TRAIL CLOSURES
Hikers will see most of the remnants from the flooding this summer. Almost every trail in the park sustained some damage. The park will bolster its crews with nearly 3,000 volunteers to help with repairs.
Uberuaga says he won’t order trails closed because of damage. Instead, conditions will be posted at trailheads and rangers will warn hikers of damage.
No trail was harder hit than the 93-mile Wonderland Trail, which loops around the mountain. The route is a right of passage for Northwest hikers, but this summer they’ll be rerouted around two major washouts. One reroute will require a four-mile walk on the shoulder of Stevens Canyon Road. Several creek crossings also have been washed out.
“Hikers are going to find they have a real wilderness experience this summer,” said Jack Voigt, a trail repair leader. “Anybody who does the Wonderland this year will really accomplish something.
“People are used to trails that are so well-maintained, so it’s going to be a real adventure this season.”
Voigt says hikers should allow a couple of extra days to finish the Wonderland, and should check on their other favorite trails before heading out. Most people need 10 to 12 days to make the hike.
Even climbers who typically spend their time above the creeks and trees where the damage is will find the going a little more challenging this summer.
The Glacier Basin Trail, the approach to the second most-popular climbing route, sustained about $200,000 in damage. It could take more than a year to repair, but Fabiani says a temporary but hardier route will be established during climbing season.
“We should be fine. It will just take a little bit more hiking to get there,” said Eric Simonson, co-owner of International Mountain Guides. “But as climbers, I like to think we can handle that.”
SWIFT-WATER WORRIES
In April, just outside the Ipsut Creek Campground, hikers with a keen eye might have noticed a reminder to be careful when passing obstacles left by the storm. There, small, freshly cut wedges of timber could still be found.
In March, a recovery team had to use chain saws to remove the bodies of two hikers from a logjam in Ipsut Creek. Robert and Frances Annette Blakely of Puyallup were visiting the campground where the bridge washed out. When Frances Annette tried to cross the creek on a fallen tree, she fell in and was swept downstream. Robert jumped in after his wife and also drowned.
“I fear that there are going to be more incidents like this all over the Cascades when people get out there and see how dramatically their favorite trails have been impacted,” said Tom Minor, a swift-water rescue instructor. “And especially at Mount Rainier where there is so much damage.”
Fabiani says his trail crew’s primary objective is to make the trails as safe as possible, but that fixing every stream crossing by the start of hiking season is impossible.
“Hikers need to be careful,” Fabiani said. “If they come to a crossing that makes them feel uncomfortable they need to just turn around.”
As deadly as the storm debris can be and as mangled as the hiking infrastructure still is, words like devastation and destruction still don’t seem to fit.
“It’s still just as beautiful as always up here,” said trail repair leader Voigt. “The mountain wasn’t damaged, it was the human elements that were hurt. This is just nature doing its thing, and it’s pretty awesome to see.”
source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/story/66713.html