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Dave Creeden
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Dave Creeden
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PostTue May 26, 2015 1:54 pm 
Status for Canyon Creek Trail; Boulder Creek Trail, West Fork Methow River Trail, Mebee Pass Trail and East Creek Trails. The Canyon Creek Trail connects Chancellor with the North Cascades Highway at Granite Creek in a distance of little over 9 miles. At about 6 miles distance from the Granite Creek trailhead, it intersects the Boulder Creek Trail. The abandoned Boulder Creek Trail crosses McKay Ridge at 6,200 feet, then descends to East Creek, going past Gold Hill Mine. There is a sign near the beginning of the Canyon Creek Trail, proclaiming it is maintained by the Skagit County Audubon Society, but I haven’t seen any evidence of recent trail maintenance activity on my hikes in September of last year and in early May. There are numerous blow downs, but no show stoppers. Shortly beyond where Boulder Creek crosses the Canyon Creek Trail, there is a short section where the trail has been eroded beneath a rock cliff, but it is no big deal IMO. Twice in the past year I had cleared brush on the Boulder Creek Trail, once coming down from McKay Ridge to about 5,000 feet and then up the trail to about 4,600 feet. On May 8th I finished clearing the trail as best as I could, but again there are plenty of large blowdowns, which can be gotten over or around. When I got back to my car, I drove the 3 or 4 miles eastward on the NCH to the East Creek Trailhead to check out the log crossing over Granite Creek, which was still intact. On May 22nd I went mountain biking in the Methow Valley and I had a chance to speak to woman who co-owns Goat’s Beard Mountain Supplies in Mazama, about the West Fork Methow River Trail. About 1.7 miles up the trail, a large avalanche had wiped out about a ¼ mile of the trail in winter of 2013/14. She told me that there was a meeting hosted by the Forest Service with local community the previous night and one of the topics was what it would take to repair the trail. The Forest Service said it would take around $200,000 to fix the trail, but they had doubts whether it could even be done without the assistance of heavy machinery or helicopters. Apparently someone in the audience even suggested removing the debris with dynamite! Point is the Forest Service doesn’t have that kind of money and they have only two personnel to maintain trails in the whole Methow Valley District, which also had numerous trails ravaged by the Carleton Complex fire last year. Anyway on May 23rd I hiked the 8 miles up the West Fork Methow River Trail to the junction with the PCT. Besides the avalanche debris, the bridge over Trout Creek is badly damaged and there are numerous blowdowns thanks to a fire in the valley in 2003. I continued south on the PCT for about 2 miles to the Mebee Pass Trail, which reaches the pass (6,480 ft.) in a little over 3 miles. I hiked up to about 5,700 feet, where I hit continuous snow. I then turned around and spent the next 4 hours clearing the trail as best I could. By the time I hit the junction with the PCT, thunder and lightning was bouncing between Holliway Mountain and Azurite Peak, followed by a steady downpour as I continued northward to the intersection with the West Fork Methow River Trail. On the drive home on May 24th, I stopped by the East Creek Trailhead, to check on the log crossing again. Something had smashed into the left hand log, moving it further downstream and the log had rotated such the that the four steps were now positioned on the side of the log. It is only a matter of time before the left hand log is swept away. The height of the water in Granite Creek also covered the first two steps on the right hand log.

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iron
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PostTue May 26, 2015 2:05 pm 
yikes. hope that log bridge holds on awhile longer! $200k to fix a trail? not to derail the thread, but it sure seems like some folks with shovels and a lot of free time could do it for less. different times, of course, and i suppose it could be be rock they're dealing with, not dirt.

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Dave Creeden
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Dave Creeden
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PostTue May 26, 2015 2:18 pm 
Here is TR from WTA giving a fuller description of the damage along with photos. http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report.2014-08-18.2399502719 One option would be to re-route the trail several hundred feet above the debris field - don't even attempt to deal with the tangle of huge trees smashed by the avalanche.

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Redwic
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PostTue May 26, 2015 5:40 pm 
Thank you for the updates, Dave. Much appreciated! For people wanting to reach Mebee Pass in the future, it seems like it is only a matter of time before Granite Creek will either have to be forded (most likely upstream), or the approach from east of Mebee Pass will need to be revisited as the preferred option. Unfortunate. paranoid.gif

60 pounds lighter but not 60 points brighter.
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Dave Creeden
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Dave Creeden
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PostTue May 26, 2015 5:59 pm 
Yea I agree, it is only a matter of time before the log crossing gets destroyed. An approach from the east side will be the easiest. The Canyon Creek/Boulder Creek Trail isn't that convenient. The Forest Service just doesn't have the resources to build another bridge.

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puzzlr
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puzzlr
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PostTue May 26, 2015 6:40 pm 
Thanks -- for the post and for the work on the trails.

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Jetlag
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PostTue May 26, 2015 10:59 pm 
Really appreciate the update and all the work you've done in the area. Best wishes on future excursions!

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Magellan
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PostWed May 27, 2015 6:20 am 
Thanks for the news and the trail clearing efforts, Dave. up.gif

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RodF
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PostWed May 27, 2015 6:18 pm 
Dave Creeden wrote:
The Forest Service just doesn't have the resources to build another [Granite Creek] bridge.
I count 32 steps or treads in your photo, so the span is perhaps 40 feet? That's well within the capabilities of volunteer trail groups, using a skyline. (It sure is much easier if it's done before the existing footlog is lost, rather than after! Having a temporary crossing to use when rigging makes the job much easier.)

"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir "the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
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