RSSMount St. Helens -- Mountain of Trouble
Funding shortfalls close center, force delays on repairsFor The Yakima Herald-Republic
MAP LEGEND: 1. The Woods Creek bridge at milepost 4 south of Randle is closed for a salmon-passage project, but a temporary bridge bypass is in operation; expect short delays. 2. Road 26 is closed at Ryan Lake; due for repairs in 2009. 3. A major washout has closed Road 99 at Bear Meadows; repairs anticipated in time for the 2009 hiking season. 4-5. This stretch of Road 81, closed since the November 2006 rain/flood event, is due for repairs in 2009. 6. Flood damage has closed Road 83 east of the Marble Mountain Sno-Park, blocking access to the Lahar and Lava canyons; repairs are expected this fall. 7. Repairs to this Road 23 access to Takhlakh Lake are expected this fall; access to the popular campground is still available via 23 on the north side.
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YAKIMA -- Like the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, Washington's only national monument appears to have reached its pinnacle and entered a period of decline.
The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, established in 1982, faces a number of significant problems with road, trail, and facility closures. Still reeling from extensive damage in November 2006, the monument's difficulties continued this year with a 70-foot-wide washout along Road 99, about eight miles past the turn off Road 25 to the Windy Ridge vista point on the east side of the monument.
Earlier this year the Forest Service made a decision to mothball its most expansive visitor center on the west side at Coldwater Ridge. Two trails adjacent to the visitor center were also closed.
The Forest Service has struggled to gain adequate funding to reopen several major south-side roads, 81 and 83, which experienced major washouts when that 2006 storm brought 15 inches of rain over 24 hours. For the entire 2007 season and so far in 2008, visitors have not been able to drive to trailheads for such destinations as June Lake, Lava Canyon, Ape Canyon or Blue Lake.
"It's a bummer, but hold on because we're doing the work," said Chris Strebig, public affairs officer for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
Previously, the Forest Service decided to close the 8123 road leading to Blue Lake and Sheep Canyon trails.
"We've given up on that road," said Peter Frenzen, monument scientist. "We kind of said, uncle."
The most recent road damage on Road 99 has denied visitors access to the primary recreational access on the monument's east side. Visitors can drive in only as far as the Bear Gap viewpoint, 11 miles from Windy Point, and that means no roadside vistas from Windy Ridge, the closest road accessible point to the Mount St. Helens crater. It also means nobody can drive to the Norway Pass, Meta Lake, Independence Pass, Harmony Falls, or Plains of Abraham trailheads. Nor can they drive to the various pullout viewpoints above Spirit Lake.
"The silver lining in that cloud," Frenzen said, "is that if you're interested in biking, that (closed portion of 99) is the most amazing bike trail ever."
For those arriving at the monument from the east side, there are also no open visitor centers. Both the Woods Creek and the Pine Creek centers along Roads 25 and 90 have been closed for years.
Although an official estimate for repair of Road 99 has not yet been completed, the cost is likely going to be at least several hundred thousand dollars and federal highway funds will be needed, Strebig said.
"The repair isn't going to happen this year," he said. "We're shooting for next year."
* * *
Federal highways funds have become available for repairing the washout on Road 83, which will reopen access to Lava Canyon as well as the June Lake and Ape Canyon trailheads. That road repair, as well as a bridge replacement on the Lava Canyon Trail, are expected be completed later this summer or early this fall.
But damage to other roads and trails still remains backlogged -- a problem likely to continue.
"These are tough areas to maintain due to the volcanic material the roads and trails are built on," Strebig said. "It's the kind of terrain that's going to wash out."
When the Coldwater Ridge Visitors Center opened in 1993, Forest Service officials predicted one million tourists would visit the $11.5 million center during its first season. The visitor center is located 43 miles from Interstate 5 along Highway 504. Today the bulk of the visitors end up at the four-years-newer Johnston Ridge Visitor Center, which is six miles further into the park and offers better views of St. Helens.
Currently the building is still getting minimal heat and plans for its future are uncertain. The 17,000-square-foot building featured a variety of displays, including computerized exhibits and video shows. Strebig said the visitor center had a significant amount of backlogged maintenance needs, amounting to nearly $2 million.
"We chose to put the resources into keeping Johnston Ridge open," Frenzen said.
The Coldwater Ridge center is gated off and closed, meaning its expansive parking lot is off limits and so are two trails accessed from the center -- the Elk Bench Trail, connecting to the Lakes Trail along Coldwater Lake, and the interpretive Winds of Change Trail.
Visitors still have multiple options for interpretive centers along Highway 504. There's a Washington State Parks visitor center near Silver Lake, five miles east of Castle Rock; Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center, a Forest Service facility 27 miles east of Castle Rock; and the Forest Learning Center, a private facility 33 miles east of Castle Rock.
Besides Road 99, another forest road access is also closed off on the east side of the monument.
Road 26, which provides an alternate access to Road 99, is shut off this year at Ryan Lake and isn't expected to be repaired until next summer. This eliminates driving access to the Norway Pass Trailhead, one of the monument's more popular north-side hiking routes.
This season's Road 99 closure comes on top of last year's decision to eliminate interpretive talks by the Forest Service and such activities as guided walks at Meta Lake.
"We've scaled back on interpretive activities and put the emphasis at Ape Cave and limited campground programs on the east and south sides of the monument," Frenzen said.
* * *
In the early years of the monument's operation following the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens that flattened 230 square miles of forest, federal money poured in for construction of roads, bridges, trails and visitor centers. More than $100 million was spent on the new Highway 504 access, plus tens of millions for west-side visitor centers.
However, Mother Nature has not been kind to many of the road and trail improvements completed in those early years, particularly on the east and south sides of the volcano. Some closures have been because of the danger of volcanic activity. Climbing access and several trails across the crater's opening to the north were closed in recent years after a resurgence of earthquake and steam eruptions, but these opportunities opened up again in 2006.
Frenzen warned hikers to be aware of potentially difficult conditions when hiking across the area north of the crater's maw. Washouts frequently hamper travelers in that area.
"That area is prone to mudflows," he said. "They (the trails) keep washing out and we keep putting them back."
The Loowit Trail, a 30-mile route encircling Mount St. Helens which has received minimal maintenance over the last 18 months, is only advised for trekkers who have previous experience on this difficult route or are highly skilled on challenging terrain. Several major washouts on the southeast side of the mountain make both the Loowit and Truman trails especially hard this year, with areas requiring steep, unstable scrambling and stream crossings.
Unlike the Roman Empire, which took centuries to reach its apex and then crumble, the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument seems to have reached its own high point and begun to deteriorate in only a few decades. The vagaries of Mother Nature, as well as the ebb and flow of funding from Washington, D.C., will ultimately decide the fate of Washington's only national monument.
* Ron Graham, an elementary school teacher and native of the Yakima Valley, is an avid outdoorsman who has hiked throughout the Pacific Northwest.
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