[pct-l] Deadly Storm Wipes Out Road at Mt. Hood

[Freiman, Paul]

The PCT, between fires and floods, has sure been rough this year for everyone except Scott  :-)
Capt Bivy



Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 18:36:12 -0800
From: Wayne Kraft <wayneskraft at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Deadly Storm Wipes Out Road at Mt. Hood
To: Jim Keener <jlkeener at yahoo.com>
Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net
Message-ID: <9A1D3A11-2807-4828-B957-2698BBE1F56F at comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=US-ASCII;       delsp=yes;      format=flowed

It may be a while before there is any assessment of damage to the 
PCT. Access to the trail is cut off at many popular spots  Lolo Pass 
Road, for example, which crosses the PCT just north of Mt Hood is 
wiped out and may not be open for a while.  During this storm huge 
amounts of rain were dumped in short periods of time and it was 
extremely warm.  Hourly records kept for a location at 7000' at a 
location above Timberline Lodge showed 24 hour periods of heavy rain 
during which the temperature did not dip below 50 degrees.  Any 
accumulated or lingering snow was doubtless added to the deluge.  
There are not many rain gauges up there, but to give some 
perspective,  Saddle Mountain, a popular hiking destination in the 
Oregon Coast Range recorded 17 inches of rainfall in five days.  I 
anticipate that the Zigzag and Little Zigag Canyons that the PCT 
crosses just after it passes Timberline will show substantial 
erosion, that the Sandy River, about 10 miles from Timberline will 
have damaged the trail in some way and that the Muddy Fork may have 
demolished the brand new bridge on the Bald Mountain alternate.  I 
would love to see some of this first hand, but it is not likely to 
happen.  I am concerned that, until the situation stabilizes, there 
is a risk of multiple landslides with hikers caught between them with 
no way out.  Once this situation stabilizes, the trail will probably 
be covered by snow soon thereafter.  I mention the Mt Hood area 
because I know it best.  There may be similar problems to the south 
of Mt Hood and, I am sure, up into Washington

This will be a crucial year for volunteer trail maintenance activity.