Forum Index > Trail Talk > Middle Fork Road closure update
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lopper
off-route



Joined: 22 Jan 2002
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lopper
off-route
PostTue Feb 18, 2020 4:23 pm 
As a hike/snowshoe trail, the Bessemer road seems like a good route to try to keep usable. Here are four more 1986 views from there, plus a cross-valley photo showing the upper road zigzags as viewed from the S.
86PrattPreachrFrmBessemer
86PrattPreachrFrmBessemer
86OlysFrmBessemer
86OlysFrmBessemer
86MFKfrmBessemer
86MFKfrmBessemer
86ChikThomFrmBessemer
86ChikThomFrmBessemer
road track
Bessemer from Lookout Point
Bessemer from Lookout Point

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JimK
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JimK
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PostTue Feb 18, 2020 6:00 pm 
I too hope a route can be repaired/built to the summit. It is a really good trip for significant elevation gain without Mailbox like crowds. The views are much better than expected. I took this somewhat shaky video clip last May.

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Hutch
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Hutch
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PostThu Feb 20, 2020 3:28 pm 
Also hope it can be salvaged, as I'm a sucker for long, gradual logging road walks where you can trudge out some mileage without seeing many others. Bessemer was always a favorite for that.

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Brucester
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Brucester
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PostSat Feb 22, 2020 11:20 am 
lopper wrote:
86DozerBsmr
86DozerBsmr
Cool dozer! Is that another one of Dirty Harry's? How much abandoned equipment remains in the Midfork?

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nordique
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nordique
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PostSun Mar 01, 2020 10:00 pm 
I took my crutch up that road today, since the rest of my hiking friends wanted to check it out. What an impressive collection of bad signs: big long cracks in the road, some parts of the road sluffed off down the hill, a lot of wet clay everywhere. No amount of money, to my mind, is going to save that road nor repair it. It makes me worry about the future of hiking up the Middle Fork. My photos from today: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmLHYvSY

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Backpacker Joe
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Backpacker Joe
Blind Hiker
PostMon Mar 02, 2020 7:16 pm 
They never should have paved it!

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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Brushwork
Food truck



Joined: 18 Aug 2018
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Brushwork
Food truck
PostMon Mar 02, 2020 7:28 pm 
Bessemer rd isn’t paved.

When I grow up I wanna play.
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Malachai Constant
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Malachai Constant
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PostMon Mar 02, 2020 7:29 pm 
Have to kinda agree with Joe this used to happen every couple years or so but could be cleaned up to its usual pothole hell by some equipment. Now that it is paved repairs will take a lot longer and be far more costly.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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ThursdayHiker
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ThursdayHiker
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PostMon Mar 02, 2020 10:52 pm 
Drone video of Bessemer mudslide that I took with Monty. Monty showing off his fearless sense of balance.

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ThursdayHiker
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ThursdayHiker
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PostMon Mar 02, 2020 10:53 pm 
Drone video of the Mid Fork Road mudslide.

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Backpacker Joe
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Backpacker Joe
Blind Hiker
PostTue Mar 03, 2020 5:08 am 
Those are some nice perspectives. Thanks. I bet the Midfork is closed for years.

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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Brucester
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Brucester
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PostTue Mar 03, 2020 6:14 am 
A quick visit to REI to pick up a NW and Discovery Pass and I mentioned something like "the Middle Fork will be closed all year?" He said "no, possible work being start sometime in April." He is a man of few words so I left it at that....

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Backpacker Joe
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Backpacker Joe
Blind Hiker
PostTue Mar 03, 2020 6:41 am 
Anything is possible. I cant remember the exact year, but sometime in the late 80's there was a slide between Dingford creek and Goldmyer that closed the road. I was a big slide. There was a Volkswagen buss trapped on the other side. They ultimately detoured the road up the left hand side around the slide, but it took years to complete.

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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rossb
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rossb
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PostTue Mar 03, 2020 8:47 am 
Malachai Constant wrote:
Now that it is paved repairs will take a lot longer and be far more costly.
Not necessarily. There is no reason why the damaged section has to be paved. They could put gravel down on those spots if they wanted. The Mountain Loop Highly has sections that are paved and unpaved. Come to think of it, so does the Middle Fork. The main problem is, this was just a huge event. The same type of event that wiped out the Suiattle Road for years, and destroyed the White Chuck Road permanently (both of which are gravel).

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Randito
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Randito
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PostTue Mar 03, 2020 9:59 am 
It will be interesting to see how repairs develop now that King County is maintaining the road instead of the USFS. My perception is that under the USFS annual road maintenance budgets are very thin and cover only very basic repairs, such as clearing a few downed trees and occasionally grading the road to reduce potholes. When something big happened, the district ranger would need to apply for special funding and that would take at least a year to be approved. King County has a much bigger road budget, but their priorities are keeping roads open for citizens to reach residences and businesses. So as long as the road crews are busy fixing roads like Ames Lake road which also was damaged by a mudflow it's not going to get to the top of the list. I also think King County doesn't want to repair a non-critical road with a decent chance of having another mudflow in the next few months. I'll bet there will be a lot more squawking from North Bend businesses to repair the road by May when hiking season starts heating up.

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