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ArcDome
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PostThu Jun 07, 2007 7:18 am 
According to the NFS website, the Harts Pass road is blocked at Dead Horse Point by a major rock slide. The following pictures are posted on its web page:
Yesterday we took a drive to the gate and it was posted with a "Road Closed" sign that stated that the road will be closed until early August but it might be open sooner. On a side note, we hiked up Robinson Creek about 3.5 miles to the second bridge crossing of Robinson Creek and the trail was in good shape. One of the stringers on the first bridge is broken so the FS is not allowing stock on the trail. The creek is running very high with snowmelt so the ford at the third crossing might be hard. The FS website says that there is snow on the trail about 4 miles in. It looks like the Robinson Pass trail might be the best alternative to accessing the Harts Pass area for the short term.

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Quark
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PostThu Jun 07, 2007 9:17 am 
Thanks for the heads up & tip on Robinson Creek trail (it's 11 miles in to Mid Fk, isn't it?) Bummer. I saw the damage listed on the website a coupla weeks ago, but it didn't (and still doesn't) say it's closed til August! I couldn't imagine it being left for so long. My guess is they have some engineering to do; that slope keeps coming down. I guess it's because vegetation is still not back 100% from the Needles fire and can't hold the soil...? Not sure if the fire went over as far as Dead Horse Point, but it still might be affected....? It was a slippery slope anyway, even before the fire. Of any road in Washington, I fear the Dead Horse Point portion of that road. I occasionally have nightmares about being on it when it fails. I figure the road was punched in by fever crazy miners and really isn't in the best place. The slope keeps slumping above the road; what's stopping the actual road and slope below it from slumping - or worse, caving while someone (read me) is on it. Of course they'll have it fixed in time for high hunt.

"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate." Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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Quark
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PostThu Jun 07, 2007 10:12 am 
If you're the driver, it's not nearly as freaky, though I admit I'm usually very glad when that portion of the drive is over. I try to gauge my time there early early going in, and late late going out, to lessen the chances of meeting another vehicle. Usually it's freakier to be the passenger no matter what mountain road you're on. Even with drivers I know who are extremely competent, and there's no way you can just fall off a road for no reason, it's still freaky to be the passenger. Dead Horse point though, damn. In my nighmare, that road just caves in. So.... hey, on another note....Anyone up for a trip to Harts Pass with me this fall? I'll drive! hockeygrin.gif

"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate." Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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jackchinook
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PostThu Jun 07, 2007 2:51 pm 
Quark wrote:
Of any road in Washington, I fear the Dead Horse Point portion of that road. I occasionally have nightmares about being on it when it fails.
A few years ago we were on our way up for some early season backcountry skiing at the pass (using snowmobiles for access). We rounded that corner and a huge snowslide had wiped out the point the day before, trapping a crew of 'bilers uphill from it. They fortunately had a few guys through already so they could all get rides down to the valley floor. But they had to leave the snowmobiles above it overnight and come back the next to dig out. They dug out a gap in the slide to ride through/over. One of them lost control of his sled and it went over the edge...fortunately the drive didn't go with it. That was a few minutes before we got there. By this time, they had some crazy pully system rigged up and were trying to hoist it back up the slope. I don't know what ended up happening to the snowmobile.

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ArcDome
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PostThu Jun 07, 2007 5:58 pm 
Quark wrote:
So.... hey, on another note....Anyone up for a trip to Harts Pass with me this fall? I'll drive! hockeygrin.gif
I think I would rather ride with Toonces. "Toonces, Look Out!"

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Magellan
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PostFri Jun 08, 2007 11:58 pm 
The Needles fire did not affect that exact area, but pretty close. There were some burns just below Cache Creek. (Uphill from DHP) The campground just se of Hart's pass burned, but they have already cut out the dead trees and cleaned it up. It was pretty amazing and very sad at the same time to see all the damage done by that fire. Now I have to see the Tripod leftovers. bawl.gif Last Chance Point scramble above Dead Horse Point

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Foist
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PostSat Jun 09, 2007 9:24 am 
Road Apple wrote:
Quark wrote:
So.... hey, on another note....Anyone up for a trip to Harts Pass with me this fall? I'll drive! hockeygrin.gif
I think I would rather ride with Toonces. "Toonces, Look Out!"
rotf.gif

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marionthegoat
That's a trail ??



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marionthegoat
That's a trail ??
PostSat Jun 09, 2007 9:50 am 
Magellan wrote:
The Needles fire did not affect that exact area, but pretty close. There were some burns just below Cache Creek. (Uphill from DHP) The campground just se of Hart's pass burned, but they have already cut out the dead trees and cleaned it up. It was pretty amazing and very sad at the same time to see all the damage done by that fire. Now I have to see the Tripod leftovers. bawl.gif Last Chance Point scramble above Dead Horse Point
waah.gif Meadows CG was one of my top fave car-camp spots. Google Earth gives a pretty detailed view of what got toasted and what didn't in this area. It's also got portions of the Tripod area, complete with smoke plumes.

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ArcDome
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PostSat Jun 09, 2007 6:35 pm 
We took a walk up to the slide this morning to check it out. We parked at the gate and walked about 2.5 miles to it. It was lightly raining so it was a pleasant walk. The road is in pretty good shape with a few down trees that have been cut out of the way. The slide does not look really bad but I don't know if they can simply push the rocks over the side of the cliff or if they will need to haul them out. If they have to haul them out, that may be time consuming because there are not any areas to turn a truck around close by. They would have to back the trucks up from about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away and there is not much room to use a loader. There are a few huge rocks that will need to be dynamited. After turning around, we came around a corner of the road and came across a bear wandering down the road ahead of us. It took awhile before it noticed us so I was able to take a few pictures. After returning to the car, we took a drive to the West ForK Methow TH and took a few pictures of the slide from below.
Road closed sign.
Road closed sign.
Slide1
Slide1
Slide2
Slide2
Bear
Bear
Slide from West Fork Methow TH
Slide from West Fork Methow TH
edit 070610 Fixed photo code and Flickr settings

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Magellan
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PostSun Jun 10, 2007 4:21 pm 
Quark wrote:
I figure the road was punched in by fever crazy miners and really isn't in the best place. The slope keeps slumping above the road; what's stopping the actual road and slope below it from slumping - or worse, caving while someone (read me) is on it..
The road was punched in by miners. The portion at dead horse point was put in by the FS. The miners had a series of wooden boardwalks suspended from iron bars pounded into the hillside. As you can imagine, the boardwalk did sway quite a bit when a horse hauling hundreds of pounds of mining equipment went by. I am not making this up!

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Magellan
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PostSun Jun 10, 2007 4:22 pm 
Well I wanted to look at the pictures, but they seem to have been removed.

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Tom
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PostSun Jun 10, 2007 5:12 pm 
Magellan wrote:
Well I wanted to look at the pictures, but they seem to have been removed.
Road Apple, you need to make the flickr pics public (not private) or the larger sizes won't be visible here.

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ArcDome
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PostSun Jun 10, 2007 6:07 pm 
The photos should be visible now.

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Foist
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PostSun Jun 10, 2007 7:42 pm 
Tom wrote:
Magellan wrote:
Well I wanted to look at the pictures, but they seem to have been removed.
Road Apple, you need to make the flickr pics public (not private) or the larger sizes won't be visible here.
Uh oh, quoting the previous post? Tsk tsk. nono.gif wink.gif

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marionthegoat
That's a trail ??



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marionthegoat
That's a trail ??
PostSun Jun 10, 2007 7:51 pm 
Deadhorse Point
No, Magellan's not making this up. The 'road' was originally put in by a colonel Thomas W. Hart, and was built to accomodate narrow 24" gauge wagons. His crew reportedly killed 160 rattlesnakes in one day while grading near DHP. The Ballard brothers widened the road to 36" in their early development of the Azurite Mine in 1930. They commissioned a mechanic in Twisp to build a custom cut-down model 'T' truck with two transmissions in tandem to negotiate this road, a feat which earned the mechanic $1,000. Later road improvements were performed by the CCC and the FS. Next time you drive it, imagine the road being only 36" wide. paranoid.gif

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