Landers: Most forest recreation areas open for holiday with some restrictions

Most of the region’s public lands campgrounds are opening just in time for the Memorial Day weekend – the unofficial opening of the camping season. However, some roads and trails beyond the main recreation areas aren’t quite ready for visitors.

Don’t set your sights too high without a pair of snowshoes on your pack.

Recent cool weather, wind and rain has only further delayed work in the mountains.

Record-high temperatures in April reduced high-elevation snow significantly, but lingering snow blocking high-elevation roads and trails are a main consideration for recreationists heading out over the three-day weekend.

One North Idaho recreation crew chief said national forest road access is a month ahead of “normal,” whatever that is nowadays.

Adding to the obstacles this year are closures of roads leading into some areas burned by 2015 wildfires.

The good news is that most places people typically go to recreate in late May are accessible.

The Idaho Panhandle National Forest says main campgrounds in the upper Coeur d’Alene River area – Big Hank, Devil’s Elbow, Kit Price, Berlin Flats, Honeysuckle and Bumblebee – will be opened on Friday.

On-the-ball campers already have reserved most of the sites online at recreation.gov.

The Settler’s Ancient Cedar Grove up the North Fork will remain closed this season because of dangerous snags remaining from last year’s fire activity, officials say.

The Colville National Forest already has opened most of its main campgrounds. Even Swan and Long lakes campgrounds on the Republic District have reopened after being surrounded by wildfires last summer. However, the short but popular trails associated with the lakes are closed for safety.

Sherman Overlook and 10 Mile campgrounds remain closed because of beetle-killed trees and blowdowns. Several trails in burned areas are also closed.

“Folks need to check with local ranger stations before heading out into or near burned areas, especially with all the rain we have been getting,” said Franklin Pemberton, Colville Forest spokesman. “Conditions are changing rapidly and roads are muddy and slick.”

Updates can be found on the Colville’s recreation web page, fs.usda.gov/recmain/colville/recreation.

Pend Oreille County’s portion of the Colville National Forest has some road closures that could catch recreationists off guard, especially if they’re heading out mushrooming in burned areas.

Meanwhile, most campgrounds in the area are open, including Mill Pond, Sullivan, Noisy Creek, Pierre and South Skookum as well as the campground at Browns, a fly-fishing-only lake that had flames leap-frogging around it last summer.

“Currently, there are closures in place for all roads and trails within the Tower Fire area on both the Panhandle and the Colville National Forests, including Mill Creek Road from its junction with Leclerc Road,” said Gayne Sears, Newport District Ranger.

The Forest Service and contractors are felling hazard trees and salvage logging. “Both of these activities become exponentially more hazardous to the public, contractors and our employees when the closures are not effective,” she said.

Closure violations have been occurring, she said, noting that some road openings could be delayed if crews have to be pulled out because of people violating the closures, she said.

Incidentally, the Colville and Idaho Panhandle national forests require private-use gatherers to cut their mushrooms lengthwise before transporting them as a deterrent to commercial mushroom harvesting.

Anyone who has witnessed the abuses and intimidation of some commercial mushroomers will appreciate and abide by this simple requirement to help exclude the trouble-makers from local foraging areas.

Trail users can expect blowdowns on routes beyond the lowlands. Forest Service seasonal trail crews – what’s left of them – won’t come on board until after the holiday.

No trail clearing of significance has occurred yet on the Colville except what’s been done by volunteers, Pemberton said. The forest’s two-person trail crew – two workers for 1.1 million acres – is just coming on.

But hikers and cyclists will find many lowland trails have been cleared, such as Gold Hill and Mickinnick in the Sandpoint area. A cycling club this week cleared the trail to Bernard Peak out of Farragut State Park.

St. Joe District trails have had no significant clearing so far, with two exceptions, said Tracy Gravelle, Forest Service recreation staffer in Avery.

“The trail from the CCC Campground up to Big Creek Cabin is clear; so is the St. Joe River Trail 48 from Spruce Tree Campground up about four miles,” she said.

The Selkirk Mountains scene is similar. The Pack River Road north of Sandpoint is open to within about two miles of the Harrison Lake Trailhead. However, the trails to mostly ice-covered Harrison and Beehive Lakes are still clogged with snow.

MaryAnn Hamilton, head of trail crews for the Sandpoint District, said it’s a mixed bag out there for access this month, although the snow’s disappearing fast.

“The access to Scotchman Peak Trail has been open for weeks, but hikers will hit snow near the top this weekend,” she said.

The Green Bay Campground on Lake Pend Oreille has been open since Feb. 28, she said as if still in disbelief. “A camper wouldn’t normally be able to drive even close to that campground that early in a normal year,” she said.

“I’m telling people that road access is iffy in the high country. And if you can get to a trailhead, don’t count on the trails being snow-free or logged out. We haven’t got there yet.”