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APPEAL TRIBUNE
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2017
Life in the
Valley y
sanews@salem.gannett.com
Whitewater fire torches
popular old-growth hike
The Whitewater Trail in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness, a popular route for backpackers, was burned by the wildfire this summer. The 4.2-mile trail is expected to be closed until late
summer of 2018. GRADY MCMAHAN/US FOREST SERVICE
Ranger: Damage
to trail will keep it
closed until 2018
Current closures in
Mount Jefferson area
Roads Closed
· Forest Service Road 2243
(Whitewater Road)
ZACH URNESS
STATESMAN JOURNAL
DETROIT — One of Oregon’s most
popular backpacking routes will look
a lot different in coming years.
Whitewater Trail, the most com-
mon route into the Mount Jefferson
Wilderness, was severely burned and
blackened by the 11,500-acre White-
water Fire this summer, officials
said.
Damage to the 4.2-mile trail will
keep it closed until late summer of
2018 at least, Detroit district ranger
Grady McMahan said.
“I’d say about 60 to 70 percent of
the trail burned in standing fire,
meaning all the trees are going to be
dead and we’ll mostly be starting
over,” said McMahan, who hiked the
trail last week.
“I recognized parts of it, but over-
all it looked pretty different, and
many of those big old-growth trees
are gone,” he said. "There are a lot
more amazing views of Mount Jef-
ferson, though."
The assessment was the first in a
series that will examine the impact
Whitewater and other wildfires had
on the Mount Jefferson area this
summer.
Most of the northern half of the
wilderness area remains closed.
Whitewater Trail is popular pri-
marily because it’s the quickest and
easiest route to Jefferson Park, an
alpine meadow home to mountain
lakes at the base of Oregon’s second-
tallest mountain.
Jefferson Park and segments of
the Pacific Crest Trail nearby did not
burn significantly, McMahan said.
The Whitewater Fire ignited just a
few hundred yards off Whitewater
Trail and scorched the area in mul-
tiple runs that burned extremely hot,
McMahan said.
In other areas, such as up the Pa-
cific Crest Trail, the fire burned at
moderate intensity, blackening un-
dergrowth rather than standing
trees.
The work required before reopen-
ing the trail will be extensive, McMa-
han said.
Dead trees will fall across the trail
during winter and spring, while
heavy rain and snow will likely cause
landslides and erosion on the path-
way.
Forest Service Road 2243, which
leads to Whitewater Trailhead, will
also need work to reopen.
“It’s going to require extensive
clearing of hazard trees and we’re
already seeing some drainage prob-
· All other roads within the closure
area
Trails Closed
· All trails into Jefferson Park
· All trails into Pamelia Lake Trail
Area including Pamelia Lake #3439
· Bear Point #3342
· Bingham Ridge #3421
· Cheat Creek #3441
· Crag Trail #3364
· Crown Lake #3362
· Grizzly Peak #3428
· Hunts Cove #3430
· Hunts Creek #3440
· Independence Rock #3431
· Independence Rock Summit #3431.1
· Lake Of The Woods #3493
· Leone Lake #3367
· McCoy #4168
· Minto Mountain #3448
· Minto Pass Tie #3437
· Old Hunts Cove #3451
· Roaring Creek #3361
· Rockpile Lake #3632
· Shirley Lake #3451
· South Breitenbush #3375
· South Breitenbush Gorge #3366
· Sugar Pine Ridge #4002
· Swallow Lake #3488
· Triangulation #3373
· Triangulation Peak #3374
· Whitewater #3429
· Woodpecker Ridge #3442
· Pacific Crest Trail: See the Pacific
Crest Trail Association website for
PCT trail conditions and closures
Top: Impacts to the Whitewater Trail are seen from the Whitewater Fire in late September.
Bottom: Robyn Orr looks at Mount Jefferson on the Whitewater trail before the wildfire.
TOP: GRADY MCMAHAN/US FOREST SERVICE; BOTTOM: ZACH URNESS/STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE
lems,” McMahan said. “It’s going to
take a little while.”
Other areas likely impacted by the
fire include Cheat Creek, Woodpeck-
er Ridge and Triangulation Peak
trails.
Zach Urness has been an outdoors
writer, photographer and videog-
rapher in Oregon for nine years. He is
the author of the book “Hiking South-
ern Oregon” and can be reached at
zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or
(503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at
@ZachsORoutdoors.
GRADY MCMAHAN/US FOREST SERVICE