A8
REGION
East Oregonian
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Some Columbia Gorge trailheads remain inaccessible
public, their options get
limited quick,” Littrell said.
“Then you throw an extra 40
or 50 people on a hike” like
Angels Rest, which is notori-
ously crowded as it is.
The problem is
compounded by other long-
term closures in the area,
including the enormously
popular Eagle Creek Trail,
which is now closed indef-
initely, forest officials said,
after landslides shut down
the hiking trail only two
weeks after it reopened for
the first time in more than
three years.
Columbia River
Highway closure
restricts access to
popular hikes
By JAMIE HALE
The Oregonian
PORTLAND — Hikers
looking forward to explor-
ing the Columbia River
Gorge this spring may notice
a few roadblocks in the way
of some of the area’s most
popular spots.
The Oregon Department
of Transportation said that a
closure of part of the Historic
Columbia River Highway
will remain in place indefi-
nitely, as landslides continue
to flood the scenic highway,
blocking off access to recre-
ation areas that otherwise
remain open.
Why are the landslides
so bad this year?
What’s going on with
the historic Columbia
River Highway?
A road closure will
remain in place between
Bridal Veil and Ainsworth
State Park this spring,
ODOT said, blocking access
to all vehicles, cyclists and
pedestrians.
Don Hamilton, spokes-
man for ODOT, said there
are a dozen active landslides
along the historic highway,
including 30 debris flows at
one location west of Mult-
nomah Falls. The slides
have been bringing mud,
water, rocks and debris onto
the road, and have flowed
continually all season, he
said.
“It’s not so much that
these are huge amounts of
debris, but just that they
are happening on a regu-
lar basis,” Hamilton said.
“It’s not the volume, it’s the
frequency.”
He said the highway will
reopen as soon as it’s safe to
do so, but noted there’s no
current timeline. State park
and ODOT officials indi-
cated that closures could last
through much of the spring.
Jamie Hale/The Oregonian
The Oregon Department of Transportation said that a closure of part of the Historic Columbia River Highway will remain in
place indefinitely, as landslides continue to flood the scenic highway, blocking off access to recreation areas that otherwise
remain open.
Which areas are
inaccessible?
The highway closure
block s access to t he
Wahkeena and Horsetail
Falls trailheads on either
side of Multnomah Falls, as
well as the Oneonta Trail-
head, which has been closed
since December 2020 due to
a landslide. Multnomah Falls
itself is still accessible from
the parking lot on Interstate
84.
The Ainsworth State Park
campground, scheduled to
open for the season on March
12, also remains inaccessi-
ble, the Oregon Parks and
Recreation Depar tment
said, along with nearby John
B. Yeon State Park, which
in January reopened to the
public for the first time since
the 2017 Eagle Creek fire.
Additional slides have
also blocked off portions
of the Historic Columbia
River Highway State Trail,
a cycling and walking path
that traces the original route
of the scenic highway. The
trail is closed between the
Toothrock and Bridge of the
Gods trailheads, state park
officials said.
Which trails are still
open, but harder to get
to?
Many hiking trails that
wind through the forested
hills of the Columbia Gorge
remain open, even those with
trailheads that are inaccessi-
ble by car.
The Wahkeena Trail can
be accessed from either
direction by trails coming
from Multnomah Falls and
Angels Rest. John B. Yeon
is accessible from the east
by biking or walking along
the Historic Columbia River
Highway State Trail from
the Toothrock Trailhead to
the west.
However, those routes
may add many more miles
to your day. Hiking to
Wahkeena Falls from the
Angel’s Rest Trailhead,
for example, is an 11-mile
round-trip hike, rather than
a quick 0.4-mile walk from
the Wahkeena Trailhead and
back. Check trail maps and
hiking guides before setting
off on a detour.
Horsetail Falls and
Ainsworth are not currently
accessible by other trail-
heads.
Will this mean more
crowds on other trails?
Nearby trailheads that
remain open could see an
influx of traffic as hikers
descend upon the Colum-
bia Gorge this spring, their
options now limited by the
highway closure.
Glenn Littrell, state park
manager for the Columbia
Gorge, said he’s concerned
about crowding if places like
John B. Yeon and Ainsworth
state parks remain inacces-
sible.
“When you take those
access points out to the
La nd slides a re not
unusual in the Colum-
bia Gorge, but this winter
they’ve seemed to be a bigger
problem than normal. ODOT
officials said the particu-
larly wet winter and damage
from the Eagle Creek fire
are to blame, as water has
run down the barren slopes
unabated.
On Jan. 13, a particularly
large landslide killed one
driver and temporarily shut
down eastbound Interstate
84, but slides had already
been plaguing the historic
highway by then.
On Dec. 20, 2020, a land-
slide shut down the high-
way between Angel’s Rest
and Multnomah Falls. More
landslides arrived two weeks
later, shutting that section
down once again. The snow,
ice, rain and wind that
pummeled the region over
the winter only compounded
the problem, officials said.
Now, crews are just wait-
ing on the earth to finally
settle before they can clean
up the debris, stabilize the
area and reopen it to the
public. In the meantime,
ODOT is telling drivers,
cyclists and pedestrians to
stay out of any closed areas.
“We’re going to open it
when it’s safe to reopen it,”
Hamilton said. “And we
don’t know when that’s going
to be.”