Outdoors Explorers Meet Their Match

Forest Service trail crews are slowly slogging through a mountain of work.

So much effort had to be directed to opening campgrounds devastated by ice storms, the crews are just barely getting to the paths that backpackers and horse riders are eager to explore.

This is a bad year to be eager.

“We always have lots of work to do on trails in the spring, but this year is probably six times worse than normal,” said Pat Hart, trail crew boss for the Bonners Ferry Ranger District.

One hiker recently argued with Hart when she tried to describe the grim state of the trail systems. “He told me he’s been up here before at this time of year and it wasn’t that bad,” she said. “But this year is different.”

Trails aren’t the only problem.

Roads up Trout, Myrtle and Ball creeks are blocked by landslides. Smith Creek Road is open, but you’ll hike on snow to get to West Fork Cabin.

The biggest mess appears to be on lowland trails.

“We had five sawyers and five people throwing brush 10 hours a day for a week, and we barely opened 5 miles of the Side Hill trail (on the Moyie River),” Hart said.

Hart has trained workers to slide, roll or drag logs off the trail to make the route look pleasing. This year, the debris is stacking up like log walls along the trails in some areas.

Parker Ridge was the only route to the high county that crews were able to open in the Selkirks. “Then the big windstorm we had a couple of weeks ago blew down another ton of trees,” Hart said.

Even though the Long Canyon trailhead is at a paved lowland road, Hart doesn’t recommend the popular trail to early season hikers. The creeks are so high, ropes and technical expertise are needed to safely cross them. The trail is plagued by blowdowns and landslides.

The scene is similar throughout the region. Call the appropriate Forest Service Ranger District for the latest report before heading to any hiking destination.

Generally, lowland trails are clogged with blowdowns from winter storms. Highland trails are plugged with snow. In between, there’s some opportunity, but it’s spotty.

For instance, the Rock Lake trail in the Cabinet Mountains has been cleared, although the lake was still half-frozen on Tuesday.

The trail along the Clark Fork River north of St. Regis generally is a good early season bet, but portions of the trail are a mess from spring flooding.

Crews have opened some short trails in popular recreation corridors, such as the paths to Centennial Falls and Shadow Falls along the upper Coeur d’Alene River.

All the campgrounds are open along the St. Joe River corridor this week, but crews are just barely getting started on trails.

In the Blue Mountains, no loop trails have been opened through the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness because of snow in the high country. The road is just becoming passable to Godman Guard Station, but the road is still closed to Mount Misery.

The Wenaha River Trail has suffered major landslides, although the trail upstream from Crooked Creek is in relatively good condition.

There’s a bright side to the early season mess in the mountains.

Trampled alpine areas will get a respite from stock hooves and Vibram soles.

And hikers who don’t mind crawling over logs, skirting landslides, fording hip-deep through icy runoff and tenting on a snowfield could enjoy rare solitude at popular hiking destinations.

Seeking status: Years of lawsuits filed by conservation groups succeeded. The federal government has recommend listing the bull trout as threatened in the Columbia River system.

Idaho Gov. Phil Batt doesn’t want the bull trout governed by the Endangered Species Act because it might lead to more restrictions on logging, agriculture and development.

Never mind that bull trout are hurting throughout most of the Columbia drainage. Of the stream populations that were studied up to 1994, 33 percent were declining. But 47 percent of the drainages that hold bull trout had not been studied.

We do know that bull trout populations in the upper Columbia appear to be nearly extinct. Fish in Idaho’s Lake Pend Oreille and Flathead Lake in Montana are on the wane.

Throughout their evolution, all these trout have needed is clean, cool natural streams with no barriers.

If we can’t provide that in the West, where are they going to go?

You can contact Rich Landers by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5508.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review