[C Dog]

I went up to Goat Lake this weekend (see trip reports), and on the way noticed that "The Sinkhole" -- that gravelly patch of road on the MLH between Verlot and Silverton -- had been paved over! Anyone know when this happened?

[MCaver]

If memory serves, about 6 months ago at least.

[JimK]

When I first started hiking the Mountain Loop Highway back in about 1983 it was paved. Every year or two it would sink a bit and the pavement would crack. Several times the pavement was so deformed that it was impossible to get by. Imagine pavement buckled at a 90 degree angle. The county solved this problem by stopping the repavement. It has worked like a charm ever since. Now they have gone and repaved it. I guess I better get something with super high clearance to get through when (not if) the road is again impasssable...

[Ice Girl]

It was paved before the earthe quake a year and a half ago. i only remeber because i was on the rd. to Headlee pass and when we came out the sink hole rd. was pretty, let say ruff. Ice Girl

[Sawyer]

The Sinkhole has been sinking since the Everett and Monte Cristo Railway was put in in the 1890's. They repaved it twice in the past couple years. Who knows why. Today I noticed that the west end has a new sunken hole developing.

[Bushwacker]

Went into Big Four today. Sinkhole doesn't seem to be deteriorating at a rapid rate. But then again it's only a matter of time. BW

[Sore Feet]

Kind of dissapointing. The sinkhole is one of the first things I remembered about the Mountain Loop area from when I went camping up there back in the day (not that it was that long ago....) - paving it sort of removes the novelty of it all. But yeah, it's been paved for over a year now.

[C Dog]

[JimK]

I hiked up Mt. Dickerman a few weeks ago and on the way back I bounced over a crack in the roadway. It will fill with water and freeze/thaw all winter. Within a year or two the road will be closed. It happened before and it will happen again. Why can't they just leave the dirt stretch?

[Newt]

I'm thinking there's a few cracks. Gravel would be the way to go for least cost. At least it would be easier to maintain. Build it up to match the grade which is something that I don't remember them doing with asphalt. Of course if R-51 woulda passed there coulda been a bridge in the works. hahaha NN

[JimK]

I am still opposed to paving this short section of roadway. I did however receive a detailed reply to my questions from Snohomish County. Here is there reply. Kudos to Steve Pratt for taking the time to answer. Hello Mr. Kuresman: Thank you for your email dated 11-11-02 addressed to the 'roads contact' on the Sno. Co. website, regarding the "sinkhole" on the Mountain Loop Hiway. The sinkhole is caused by the continuing sliding or sloughing of the clay material upon which the road is built. Due to the topography and geology of the area, there is no simple solution to the continual sinking of the roadway surface. You are correct that we did replace the gravel with an asphalt surface several years ago, and that the asphalt has started cracking again in a couple of locations. The decision to resurface this section of the road with asphalt was made in conjunction with some significant drainage improvements that were made at the site and with the thought that those drainage improvements might slow down the sloughage. Obviously, that effort has been only moderately successful. There are two reasons that the Road Maintenance Division prefers to keep the surface paved. One is the costs of sending a grader up to regrade the gravel, and to add crushed surfacing top course material to keep the driving lanes driveable, is rather significant due to the distance from our nearest maintenance facility, Arlington, and the frequency with which the public requests that we grade/maintain the gravel portion. Second, when we have it in gravel, we are required for liability reasons, to post stop signs and reduced speed limit signs approaching the sinkhole section from either direction, east or west. Unfortunately, we've experienced a tremendous amount of vandalism on our signage, which exposes the County to a significant liability. The signs have been defaced, cut off, and even burned up by vandals. Since we don't have staff drive the MLH every day, any extended periods without appropriate signage is problematic. I assure you that one claim far exceeds the rather minimal costs of patching the asphalt surface. The bottom line to all of this: we will not allow the MLH to become impassable, if it is within our ability to do so. (There is an even more significant problem located about a mile to the east of the sinkhole at Waldheim Hill, that is going to require a major road reconstruction effort to avoid the entire roadway slipping into the river). As you are probably aware, Snohomish County has made a great effort to improve conditions on the MLH over the past six years. The road is in the best condition that it has ever been in since the County took over maintenance on the road some fifty years ago, particularly from Silverton to Barlow Pass. We greatly value the MLH as the tremendous asset that it is for the citizens who use the many recreational opportunities in the Mt. Baker/Snoqualmie National Forest. Thank you again for your email and your interest in the MLH. Steve Pratt, Director Road Maintenance Division Snohomish County Department of Public Works

[MCaver]

Kudos to Mr Pratt for taking the time to explain things. It's a shame more people don't do the same. It would more than likely alleviate any ill will over the situation.

[Newt]

I just got back from driving the MLH and am glad to report that they have patched the cracks in the Liberty Bell. Err, ahh, the sinkhole that is. Your tax $ at work NN

[JimK]

I just received another note from Mr. Pratt on the status. I am not the least surprised to hear the hole is sinking again. Hello Mr. Kuresman: Just thought I'd give you an update on our favorite sinkhole on the Mountain Loop Hiway. Mother nature has not been kind to our remedial repair efforts these past sixty days.... the sinkhole is up to its old tricks again... So, in the next several days, based upon an interim repair as designed by our resident geotechnical engineer, we are going to remove the breaking up asphalt at the easterly end of the sinkhole, and rebuild the subgrade, using some rather sophisticated geogrid fabric wrapped building "blocks".... we will leave the driving surface on the easterly end in gravel for the forseeable future... This coming construction season, probably right after the 4th of July Holiday, we will do the complete repair of the area, again per the geotech engineer, and we currently plan on leaving in gravel for the winter of '03-'04.... we will evaluate our position on whether to attempt to overlay the gravel surface with asphalt in the summer of '04... This also means we will revert back to our previous efforts at traffic control/speed control and the requisite signage,,,, we'll just have to hope the "natives" won't get too carried away with vandalism... This is the latest news from Lake Wobegone,,,, ah, the "best laid plans of mice and men".... it was, at least, worth the effort... I will inform you of any future developments along our favorite scenic byway... Steve Pratt, Director, Road Maintenance Division Snohomish County Dept. of Public Works One more round of applause for this public servant taking the time to keep the public informed.

[Newt]

Funny you posted this. I was up there yesterday and it appears that the cracks have been patched a couple of times and are about do again. It seems to sink about an inch a month. I did a job this summer using geogrid fabric to help with a situation similar to the Hole. We didn't use blocks tho. Just layed out flat. On the up hill side we put in trench drains the went in up to 12' deep. I looked in my Everett/Monte Cristo Railway book and that sucker has been a problem since day one. Kinda like along the river. Funny they didn't realign the road to avoid it as they had done in other places. NN