Tag Archives: storm

Middle Fork road gets plowed

An unexpected benefit of the paved road became apparent after two snow storms in early December left 6″ of snow on the Middle Fork road. Snow like this is not unusual, but typically doesn’t stick around on the valley floor very long and the road slowly becomes more accessible as trucks and other high clearance vehicles create ruts.

So it was surprising to many visitors that King County plowed the road on Monday, December 12 and then again in the morning on Tuesday. The plowing went as far as the Middle Fork trailhead, including the parking areas there and most of the parking pullouts along the road up to that point. Beyond the trailhead, driving was significantly more difficult because of deep ruts and the monster potholes that begin at the Taylor River bridge. Some vehicles were getting farther up the road, but not all (see photo below). With expected cold weather in mid December the slushy snow will turn to ice. Warmer weather is forecast before Christmas and the road will thaw out but continuing snow accumulation will continue to make it challenging to drive to the Dingford trailhead.

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Plowing on both Monday and Tuesday made for an easy drive despite the heavy snow accumulation

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The plowing extended all the way to the Middle Fork trailhead, including the various pullouts along the road

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The Middle Fork trailhead would have been inaccessible without plowing. The bathroom is open but not serviced in the winter so bring your own TP.

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Beyond the Middle Fork trailhead the road was not plowed and only passable to high clearance vehicles with good traction

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Taylor River bridge potholes before the most recently snow storm. They can be slippery and difficult to drive through when traction is reduced by slush and deeper snow.

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Whether walking or driving, winter in the Middle Fork can be beautiful. Here the sun shines through cold fog at the Taylor River bridge.

This Chevy Trailblazer tried to drive up Hell Hill and ended up stuck in a muddy ditch. Later his friends came in a pickup to pull the vehicle out.

If a tree falls in a river …

If a tree falls in a river, does it make a sound? During the recent high water event on the 20th, another big tree fell into the river upstream of the bridge. Long time observers standing on the Big River Bridge at MP 5 on the Middle Fork river may have noticed the upstream west bank has been steadily eroding for at least the last decade, and probably longer. The west bridge pier and abutment are adjacent to the Granite Creek confluence immediately upstream of the bridge, but so far they do not appear to be threatened by the river channel migration. This tree will likely be transported down river and lodge itself on the bank during the next period of high water flow which is almost certain to happen this fall or next spring.

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After living on the edge for years, this tree almost certainly fell during the October 20, 2016 high water event. This photo was taken 12 days later.

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A couple months ago in September the tree was seemingly clinging to nothing but air.

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The tree on the left is the one that just fell, and was undercut, but did not lean. Logs jammed at the east bridge pier from the fall 2015 storms may be contributing to erosion of the bank on this side.

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A view of the fallen tree showing it’s proximity to the Granite Creek confluence. All of the trees in the cluster at the confluence will probably be gone in a few years.

20161101TreeInRiver07

Closeup of the root ball that pulled out of the bank



This is not the first tree to fall recently. In 2011 another tree in the same location fell after leaning over the river for years.
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In 2011 a tree adjacent to the one that just fell was leaning toward the river

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And in November 2011 it fell into the river. There was no extreme high water event around this time so it must have literally reached it’s tipping point. The standing partner near it’s base would last 5 more years before itself succumbing to continuing bank erosion on the west side upstream of the bridge.

First high water event this fall

The first big fall rain event of the year swept through Washington on Oct 20, 2016 with the river reaching a peak level of 14,500 cfs and staying close to that for almost 3 hours. The storm caused no apparent damage either along the paved portion of the road or on the gravel section to Dingford Creek and Goldmyer hotsprings.

After a severe series of storms in the fall of 2015 this year has been relatively calm so far with no sudden spring thaws. The previous significant river flow peaked at only 11,800 cfs at the TANW1 gage on February 15, 2016.
20161020TANW1RiverGage

20160903MineCreekLogJamBefore

Mine Creek log jam before the first high water this fall. It’s unusual for this river eddy spot to have so few logs stranded on the gravel bar.

20160903MineCreekLogJamAfter

The log jam at Mine Creek was refilled with log debris and rearranged again as it is with every high water event

20161013GreenRidgeCreekDry

Green Ridge creek was surprisingly still dry in early October

20161020GreenRidgeCreekFlowing

Green Ridge creek flowing strongly again after recent heavy rains

20161021DingfordFalls

Dingford Creek falls is in full fall roaring mode

Fall storms block trails

Three severe fall storms have been devastating to some of the Middle Fork trails. This update summarizes what is known as of January 12, 2016. Updates will be added as news trickles in.

Little Si
No reports of problems in recent trip reports

Mount Si
A hiker on the day of the most recent storm reported no serious blowdown

Teneriffe Falls / Peak
On the WTA site Stuke Sowle posted a January 8 grand tour trip report including Teneriffe falls and peak, the CCC plateau, Mailbox Peak, and Granite Creek trail.

Mailbox Peak
About two dozen trees are down across the new trail, but deep snow obscures the trail higher up. There are no reported trees down on the old trail. The DNR has cleared trees blocking access to the parking lot. Some recent storms have left slippery snow on the access road to the parking lot so on those days the gate is left locked to prevent cars from sliding down the relatively steep slope.

Granite Creek – This trail has a large number of trees down and is impassible beyond the Granite Creek bridge. As of December 26 a trail has been broken in deep snow as far as the bridge.

Granite Creek blowdown near the trailhead

Granite Creek blowdown near the trailhead

Blowdown on the Granite Creek trail beyond the bridge. Photo by Kevin Smythe

Blowdown on the Granite Creek trail beyond the bridge. Photo by Kevin Smythe



December 7 seekingultra report: Granite Lakes trail windstorm destruction“The Granite Lakes trail off of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie road has been obliterated by blowdown after the bridge crossing Granite Creek. There are 100+ blowdowns in the 1/4-mile past the bridge and the 100 yards ahead we could see when we stopped appeared to be more of the same.

December 19 WTA report: Thompson Lake, Granite Lakes Trail“After the second bridge is when the trail starts to become difficult to navigate. We went up and over fallen trees for about 30-40 minutes with NO relief and none that looked like it was coming. Ultimately it became too much and a little unsafe for the dogs to navigate.”
Deep snow on the Granite Creek bridge

Deep snow on the Granite Creek bridge



Sitka Spruce – Minor blowdown but still passable. The log over the small creek near the concrete bridge is partially washed out. Whitebark@nwhikers.net reports that he cleared some of the blowdown on December 29.

Partially washed out Sitka Spruce creek bridge

Partially washed out Sitka Spruce creek bridge

Blowdown on the Sitka Spruce trail

Blowdown on the Sitka Spruce trail


Pratt River – There are 27 trees down in the first .6 miles to the Rainy Creek bridge and it is very difficult to get past some of them because of steep slopes below the trail. The root ball of two trees pulled up part of the trail about 1/4 mile in but it is still easily passed.

Pratt River trail blowdown

Pratt River trail blowdown

Pratt River trail blowdown

Pratt River trail blowdown

Pratt River trail blowdown

Pratt River trail blowdown

Rainy Creek bridge. A big tree just missed it on the far side

Rainy Creek bridge. A big tree just missed it on the far side


CCC – No recent reports. Status is unknown.


Bessemer Roadoneeyedfatman@nwhikers.net posted a Bessemer Road trip report from January 9, 2016. The Middle Fork road was icy and difficult to drive, there was some tedious blowdown on the Bessemer Road. He turned around at ~2900′.

Tedious blowdown on the Bessemer Road. Photo by peaklist@flickr


Middle Fork – There are three trees down in the first mile, two of these are difficult to cross. Beyond that is unknown but probably bad. The winds were severe in this part of the valley based on the number of trees down across the road on the other side of the river.

Recently fallen trees by the Gateway bridge

Recently fallen trees by the Gateway bridge

Blowdown on far side of Gateway bridge

Blowdown on far side of Gateway bridge

Middle Fork trail blowdown

Middle Fork trail blowdown

Middle Fork trail blowdown

Middle Fork trail blowdown

20151215BurntbootBridge

Damaged, but still usable log bridge over Burntboot Creek near Goldmyer Hot Springs. The December storm undercut the support on the far side and lowered the two big logs so they are no longer roughly level as before. The closer log has also been rotated so the flattened part no longer points up. Photo by Bill Davis.



Dingford Creek – No recent reports. Status is unknown but this part of the valley did not experience the worst winds and the trail is probably buried under snow for the winter season after the heavy snows of the Christmas week.

Taylor River The last quarter mile to the trailhead has been washed out. Park at the wide spot just past the first Taylor River bridge. The trail was apparently not hit too hard. On 12/19/2015 PataGenn at WTA reported “Snow started before the MF trailhead. 3-4″ of snow at the beginning, 7-8″ when we turned around at about 3 3/4 miles. Snow falling from the trees as it warmed up.” Photo by PataGenn.


 

Dutch Miller Gap – No recent reports. Status is unknown but this trail is probably buried under snow for the winter season after the heavy snows of Christmas week.

December storm extends road closure

Just as the Middle Fork road was about to be opened for the winter season another major storm blew through resulting in yet another extension of the closure. Four inches of warm rain was recorded at Valley Camp for December 8 with an additional 1.22 inches the following day. The TANW1 gage showed a double peak, first at 25,000 cfs at 6pm on December 8 and 24,000 cfs at 5:15am on December 9.

After seeing the effects, the road closure was justified as wind gusts blew down numerous trees, mostly in the first two miles of the road above the Mailbox trailhead. About seven medium sized trees blocked the road to the Dingford trailhead and these were cleared by Friday. Reports continue to come in of blowdowns on trails, but the full impact of this series of severe winter storms may not be known until spring.

After the storm on Wednesday, December 9, a geotechnical engineer inspected the slope and Champion beach and approved opening the roadway through the slide area. There is barrier in place to catch any debris that may come down. ACI is clearing the downed trees through the project area and the road may be open to the public as early as Thurday, December 17.

Atmospheric River from Cliff Mass weather blog

Atmospheric River from Cliff Mass weather blog

TANW1 Discharge

Early forecasts for this storm predicted a very dangerous crest of up to 32,100 cfs. Fortunately that did not occur or else much more damage would have been done.

Early forecasts for this storm predicted a very high crest of up to 32,100 cfs. Fortunately that did not occur or else much more damage would have been done.

Comparison of the four major storms so far in 2015. The most recent storm didn't crest quite as high but lasted longer

Comparison of the four major storms so far in 2015. The most recent storm didn’t crest quite as high but lasted longer

20151209FloodedRoads

SW Mt Si Blvd was blocked off here and at Bendigo Blvd

20151208BrawlingCreek

Brawling Creek just above the Middle Fork river

20151208SitkaSpruceCreek

Sitka Spruce creek trail bridge was partially washed out and submerged under murky clay-filled water

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Trees down blocking the Mailbox trail parking lot

20151209MudFlowPattern

Small creek creates interesting mud flow patterns

20151209IslandDropBlowdown

Blowdown cleared by Island Drop

20151209MineCreekBridgeDamage

Mine Creek bridge damage

20151209MineCreekBlowdown

Blowdown by Mine Creek

20151209ChampionBeachRockButtress

Temporary rock buttress supporting Champion Beach road cut

20151209ChampionBeachOverview

Overview of area by Champion Beach that has been a concern for earth movements

20151209TopOfRockButtress

Area above temporary rock buttress that protects the road against minor mud and clay slumping

20151209RoadBlockedByTree

Big tree blocking road beyond Champion Beach

20151209SmallSlumpByRoad

Slumping road cut

20151216MiddleViewPulloutErosion

Partial washout of a dispersed camping site pullout. This pullout was built in 2014 as part of the paving project.

20151216SevereBankErosion

Severe bank erosion by a dispersed campsite downstream of Camp Brown. The river is aggressively migrating toward the road here with each major storm.

20151216TaylorSpurErosion1

Further erosion of the Taylor River spur road. The river will likely flow here often now so it’s unlikely this will be repaired to a level suitable for motorized access.

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Further erosion of the Taylor River spur road. The washout is deeper than it appears in this photo.

20151211NewBlowdownOnDingordRoad

Fresh blowdown on the road to Dingford Creek from this storm. This was the major impact between the turnoff at the Taylor River and the Dingford Creek trailhead. Photo by Charles Lingel.

Before and after clearing debris from the road

Not all trees fall during the storm. The high water undercut the bank and the next big snow fall brought the tree down.

Not all trees fall during the storm. The high water undercut the bank and the next big snow fall brought the tree down.

Related News

Third 2015 high water event

A third 2015 storm caused high water flows on the Middle Fork river on November 17, the first time there have been three such significant events in a calendar year since records started in 1961. The peak flows rank this storm as the 10th highest to-date. The previous two events this year were the January 5 storm (8th highest) that closed the Middle Fork road for months, and the recent October 31 storm on Halloween that had somewhat lower flows and only caused a minor washout on the Taylor River road spur. The peak water flow of 27,300 cfs was just below the peak level of the January 5 event. Flow levels over 20,000 cfs were sustained for 10 hours.

On Thursday, two days after the storm passed, the WFLH announced that the road would be closed at least until Wednesday, November 25, 2015, an extension of 5 days from the previous closure. The closure point was moved to just beyond the Mailbox trailhead so it would be available for weekend. The concern for public safety is about some large boulders poised above the road at the new bank cut just before Champion Beach that could come down onto the road. Then on Wednesday, the closure was extended to noon Friday, December 4, including the Thanksgiving weekend. That date came and went with no opening and the most recent newsletter announced that the road will be closed indefinitely. The Mailbox trailhead will continue to be accessible.

20151118HighWaterComparison

Comparison of three 2015 high water events

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Middle Fork river at Island Drop on 11/17/2015. Photo by WFLH.

This is a summary of the known after effects of this storm. Most of the trails have not yet been surveyed. All MP numbers are measured from the turn off onto the Middle Fork road.

  • The lower road below the Taylor River turnoff where paving construction has improved the culverts has not sustained significant damage and minor issues have been repaired
  • A large number of trees blew down at MP 8.5. These were cleared by late Tuesday to help get some people out that were stuck behind them. The water was at least a foot deep over the road and running with a strong current when the river crested at ~9pm Tuesday.
  • At Champion Beach (~MP 4.5) mud and boulders are threatening to come down onto the road surface. The road closure has been extended to allow the contractor to stabilize this area.
    20151114StabilizingRoadCut

    Stabilizing the road cut by Champion Beach

  • Many trees were blown down between the Taylor “Y” and the Dingford Trailhead, some up to 3 feet in diameter. By Wednesday, November 18 these were cut out enough to let a vehicle pass although there are a few spots that require a high clearance vehicle and the road is in general rocky and full of potholes and downed limbs. Pickups and high clearance jeeps should not have trouble. A Subaru Forester made it through both with a lot of rock scraping underneath, especially at Oil Pan Creek.
    1. MP 14.5 – A small creek by a multi-trunked alder is not too hard to cross.
      20151125MultiTrunkAlderCreek

      Minor creek crossing by a multi-trunk alder

    2. MP 14.9 – The Garfield wash (aka Moore property) has a deeper gully on the near side. Pick your route carefully to minimize scraping.
      20151125GarfieldWash

      Garfield wash with a significantly deeper channel

    3. MP 15 – Oil Pan Creek is just beyond the Garfield wash and has a large new washout with steep banks up to two feet high. A ramp has been constructed on the right. This is the most difficult spot before reaching the Dingford trailhead.
      20151118PostStormClearing21

      Washout at Oil Pan Creek. Photo by Dick Craig.

  • The spur to the Taylor River trailhead is heavily eroded in three places and is not driveable even with high clearance vehicles. Park just beyond the bridge to hike in this area and walk the additional half mile to the trailhead.
    20151125TaylorRoadWashout1

    A two foot deep channel has been scoured out of the Taylor River road just beyond the Dingford road turnoff

    20151125TaylorRoadWashout2

    The Taylor River first crossed the road here during the 10/31 storm, but the more severe 11/17 storm deepened the channels significantly

  • The Mailbox trail is a mess with lots of trees down. The old trail is blocked ~200 yards up from the kiosk. DNR is working in the Mailbox parking lot clearing trees that fell across the road.
  • There is a large amount of blow down on the Granite Lakes trail. The lower part of the trail is bad enough, but still passable. However, beyond the bridge about 3.5 miles in it is nearly impenetrable; a group of very hardy trail runners were turned back on December 5.
    20151209GraniteCreekBlowdown

    Blowdown on the lower Granite Creek trail

    20151205GraniteCreekBlowdown

    Massive blowdown on the Granite Creek trail beyond the bridge. “There are 100+ blowdowns in the 1/4-mile past the bridge and the 100 yards ahead we could see when we stopped appeared to be more of the same.” Photo by Kevin Smythe.

On November 18, the day after the storm, the first team of volunteers began the hard work of clearing the blowdown beyond the Dingford road turnoff as far as the Dingford Creek trailhead. Nearly 80 trees needed to be cut. The chainsaw work is hazardous on trees like this, many of which are under extreme stresses. Once the trees are on the ground and limbed, it is surprisingly hard work to toss all the limbs and debris off the road and roll or tip the sections of trunk far enough to be out of the way. Kudos to the many hours spent by these folks, which relieves the short-staffed Forest Service of having to schedule time for road work here.

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Trees down at the bottom of the switchback on the road to Dingford Creek trailhead. Photo by Dick Craig.

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Partially cleared blowdown on the road to the Dingford Creek trailhead. Photo by Dick Craig.


On November 25, a second team continued to clear the road beyond the Dingford gate.
20151125RoadClearing

Blowdown between Dingford Creek and Goldmyer

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Successful clearing of several fallen trees

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Clearing is not all hard work — it can be beautiful along the road as here a little before the Dingford trailhead with the sunlight streaming through mists.


On December 1, a third team of volunteers went in to clear an additional thirty trees on the gated road between Dingford and Goldmyer, now with a light covering of snow from recent cold and rainy days.
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More clearing on December 1 near Goldmyer. Photo by Dick Craig.

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Cleared cluster of downed trees. Photo by Dick Craig.


Downstream the combined flow of the three Snoqualmie River flows exceeded the Phase 4 flood level of 38,000 cfs.
20151118SumOfForks

Combined Snoqualmie River flow crests


Related News

  • 11/16/2015 Seattle Times – 65-mph wind gusts, falling trees, full rivers, mountain snow
  • 11/17/2015 National Weather Service – Flood and Wind Warning “The storm currently impacting the western Washington is delivering heavy rain over the mountains with snow levels above 7000 feet. This will drive the area rivers like the Elwha and Snoqualmie Rivers above flood stage.” and “Wind … south or southwest 25 to 40 mph with gusts near 60 mph are expected.”
  • 11/18/2015 Seattle Times – 2 killed, thousands without power as winds hit Washington state

    Wind travels across Lake Washington, buffeting the 520 floating bridge as the storm grows in strength. (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times)

  • 11/19/2015 Save Snoqualmie Falls – A beautiful close up video of the falls at high water, although not at the peak flow of this event.

Severe rain storm closes Middle Fork road

In early January the northwest was the recipient of another atmospheric river delivering moisture from the central Pacific. Cliff mass wrote “As much as 13 inches on the coast, with many locations getting 5-8 inches. But less than a quarter of an inch in the rain shadow over parts of Puget Sound and NW Washington. Big totals (4-6 inches) along the western slopes of the Cascades.” Rain gages in the North Bend area recorded over 4 1/2 inches of rain within a 24 hour period and the Middle Fork river responded with the 8th highest recorded flow to-date. Unfortunately the TANW1 gage, which is the only one that measures the Middle Fork in isolation failed midway through the event, but the last measured discharge* was 27,300 cfs at 11:15am, a couple hours after the rain had let up so the actual peak was likely close this value.

20150105RiverAccessUnderWater

Flooded river access by Concrete Bridge

20140105RainMeasurements

Precipitation map for Middle Fork area. The North Bend stations would eventually record 4 1/2 inches of rain on the morning of January 5.

20150105TANW1Gage

Discharge as measured by the TANW1 river gage. Unfortunately the gage failed midway through the storm so the rest of this graph was inferred as a proportionate estimate from downstream gages measuring the combined flow of all three forks.


An event with such high flows would normally have serious consequences for the Middle Fork road. This time was unique in that the Middle Fork paving project had completed the first of three years of work with the last two miles of pavement completed including many new culverts for improved drainage. Most of the new work held up well to the extraordinary water flow levels but a few exceptions resulted in the road subsequently being closed until Memorial Day.

  • The biggest problem was at the newly constructed box culverts at the stream crossings just beyond the CCC trail, otherwise known as Bessequartz Creek. The problems with this creek date back to a landslide on the southeast ridge of Bessemer in the 1998-2003 period that deposited a load of rocks into the drainage. With each major rain event the rocks were moved further downstream, first inundating the road during the massive 2009 flood. This current flood brought down enough rocks and logs to completely block one of the box culverts. The stream then overflowed the road, covering it with small boulders and forming new drainage channels across the recently reconfigured road bed.
    20130601BessemerRidgeLandSlide

    Old landslide scar visible on Bessemer’s southeast ridge

    20150105BessequartzWashout1

    Bessequartz Creek washout

    20150105BessequartzWashout2

    View up Bessequartz Creek showing the rocks and logs that have filled up the previous stream channel and blocked the box culvert. The stream should be draining directly under my feet.

    20150105BessequartzWashout3

    Almost no water is coming through the culvert because it’s blocked on the upstream end. The water has undercut the concrete slats.

    20150105BessequartzWashout4

    View of the Bessequartz Creek washout from the upstream side

  • A second major problem occurred just before the Bessequartz Creek crossing by the CCC trail junction where the road slumped because of a soft and unstable lens of clay under the road bed. The same area has been a problem in previous years as well. The paving plans call for a “deep patch” in this area which will reinforce the upper few feet but will not help with the underlying problem.
    20150125MiddleForkSlump1

    Small road slump and erosion approaching the CCC trail junction

    20150125MiddleForkSlump2

    Road slump by CCC trail junction

    20150125MiddleForkSlump3

    Road slump by CCC trail junction

  • A third issue was a minor road slump just beyond the Bessemer road. This would later be addressed with another “deep patch” of the road bed.
    20150125BessemerGateSlump

    Road slump just past the Bessemer road

  • The road just past the Dingford turnoff up Hell Hill is frequently subjected to runoff and this was no exception.
    20150125HellHillErosion

    Newly eroded gully on the road up Hell Hill

  • The wash at the top of Hell Hill is used by the Forest Service as a source of gravel fill and they got a fresh supply delivered by Garfield Mountain. This time it partially covered logs stored there that were cleared from the right of way as part of the paving project.
    20150125HellHillGravelPit

    Garfield Mountain delivered a fresh round of gravel to the wash at the top of Hell Hill, covering the logs placed there from paving project clearing of the Middle Fork road.

These issues resulted in the closure of the road, ultimately until Memorial Day. The Forest Service’s Facebook announcement stated “The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest is closing the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Road (Forest Service road 56) for public safety until further notice. The road has recently experienced major storm damage making the road impassable. The Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Road will be closed at mile 2.2, near Valley Camp and Mailbox Peak Trailhead. At this time, Federal Highways Administration officials are determining how best to repair the road.”

Related News

* Some time after the event, the USGS retroactively removed TANW1 raw data from the record back to midnight on January 5 because it could not be calibrated. Fortunately, we were able to capture that last morning of measurements and based on experience of observing other high water events it was close to reality even if not up to USGS standards.

January Storm Damage

Living Snoqualmie called it a one-two punch from Mother Nature. A warm front brought heavy rains and high winds to western Washington on January 11 and a flood watch was posted. But there has not been enough low elevation snow so far this winter to produce dangerously high volumes on the Middle Fork river and the flow peaked at a safe 7.76 feet/6,560 cfps at 1am on January 13. Fortunately there was no significant damage to the road surface. As expected, trees were downed, but all of them were already passable by mid-morning on January 12.

20140112StormDamage01

Double whammy on the straights before the concrete bridge with a young douglas fir from the right and an alder from the left.

20140112StormDamage02

Trees rarely fall alone, and one medium size alder brought down a smattering of smaller ones with it.

20140112StormDamage03

Puddles of water colored with valley bottom clays fill up near Big Blowout Creek bridge

20140115StormDamage04

Alders are the first trees to grow back after logging and weaken when deprived of light by maturing firs and cedars. This spindly alder was growing behind a large douglas fir stump. Expect the white-barked alders in the center to fall in coming years as well.

20140112StormDamage05

Not all trees fall during the storm. This section of road was clear in the morning after the storm, then a large maple uprooted mid-day and brought down an alder with it. A spontaneous crew of hatchet-wielding visitors blocked by the fallen tree cleared a path wide enough to get vehicles past.


20140112StormDamage06

A jumble of fallen trees triggered by a large uprooted maple, neatly slicing another tree in half on it’s way down.


20140115StormDamage07

Three days later a volunteer chain saw crew has cut back the larger branches. Much of the large debris will probably be salvaged for firewood.

Ice Storm

Trees on Mt Si trail get tipsy

Trees on Mt Si trail get tipsy in wake of storm. Photo by Nancy Higgins

A major ice storm swept through the valley the second week of January leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power for days. Residents report “hearing trees popping” in the forest. Valley Camp posted this ominious comment on the Goldmyer facebook page: “Middle Fork road is impassable. Due to freezing rain the road is blocked by trees. Bring chainsaws and chains.” By the weekend the couplet section of the road was cleared, but so many trees were down it was impossible to drive beyond that. A week later firewood collectors and others had opened the road to the Taylor River. Finally in early February a Northwest Wilderness crew cleared the stretch to the Dingford gate and on up to Goldmyer.

Snow and trees block the road at Valley Camp

Snow and trees block the road at Valley Camp

The cliff at Island Drop bend drops trees onto road

The cliff at Island Drop bend drops trees onto road



Champion Beach

Trees slide down the hillside near Champion Beach


A Northwest Wilderness group clears blow down before the Dingford gate

A Northwest Wilderness group clears blow down before the Dingford gate


Clearing sticks behind the chainsaws to restore Goldmyer access

Clearing sticks behind the chainsaws to restore Goldmyer access



Related coverage

  • 2012/01/17 Valley Camp Facebook storm updates
  • 2012/01/18 Goldmyer Facebook storm updates
  • 2012/01/18 North Bend man dies from falling tree during weekend storm
  • 2012/08/19 Shut down by ice storm, Valley power may not come back for days
  • 2012/01/21 Urban flooding is new danger after storm
  • 2012/01/23 Snoqualmie mayor proclaims emergency in wake of storms
  • 2012/01/23 Positive outlook sees Lower Snoqualmie Valley through power outage
  • 2012/01/24 Surviving the blackout: Valley residents hunker down amid days-long outage
  • 2012/01/30 High water on the Snoqualmie; King County flood center opens