Expect on-again, off-again westside access to the popular and spectacular hiking country of Cascade Pass and Sahale Arm for the rest of the hiking season.
Cascade River Road out of Marblemount had been closed at the Hard Creek Bridge at milepost 12.7 because of a December bridge washout. The road is temporarily open in single-lane fashion, said Jon Vanderheyden, district ranger of the Mount Baker Ranger District.
Even with the temporary fix, the road is still closed at milepost 19, where it’s shut down every year because of snow. Since the spring snowfall has not been kind to hikers this year, there’s considerable snow on all the trails above that marker.
For awhile, Skagit County and the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest had been doing the two-step on the responsibility for repair (it’s a county road) and ways to come up with federal funds.
Vanderheyden anticipates approval of some federal emergency money to replace the bridge, although that means temporary closures for drill testing and, if the green light is on, bridge work.
“We’re hoping it can get done later this summer or early fall,” he said.
To reach the Cascade Pass Trail, cross the bridge over the Skagit River at the east end of Marblemount. A rough gravel road leads to the trailhead in the North Cascades National Park.
Trail news: Work on a 15-mile section of the Columbia Plateau Trail near Pasco has been completed. The 10-foot-wide section from Ice Harbor Dam (near Pasco) to the Snake River junction is open to hikers, bikers and horseback riders only. It is part of the 130-mile trail between Cheney and the Tri-Cities that follows an old railroad bed.
Polar focus: The Burke Museum in Seattle launches a nationally touring environmental photography exhibit (“The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World”) starting on the home court.
Photographer Steven Kazlowski’s 40 photographs bring an urgency to global warming’s effect on the Arctic, a collection from eight years tracking and photographing polar bears.
The Burke is at NE 45th Street and 17th Street NE (206-543-5590). Admission is $5-8.
Wildflowers: Washington Trails Association’s publication, “Washington Trails,” has an excellent eight-page color insert on mountain wildflowers this month showcasing 50 common species in the Olympics and the Cascades. It includes a list of wildflower hikes, books and Web sites.
High time at dinner: This weekend Crystal Mountain Ski Area reopens the Summit House. The restaurant at 6,872 feet elevation is the state’s highest retail dining spot. Weather willing, diners can enjoy a spectacular view of Mount Rainier.
There will be two nightly sunset dinner seatings on Friday and Saturday nights, and a Sunday brunch buffet. For information on times, prices and reservations, call 360-663-3003.
On the bookshelf: National Wildlife Federation has packed an amazing amount of information in 530 pages of its “Field Guide to Trees of North America” ($20, Sterling). A mix of photographs, maps and text describe, for identification purposes, a tree a page, plus an invaluable and fairly long opening section that includes keys to identification.
The book’s nonidentification information can be interesting. For instance, boxelder, a maple, has the greatest range of all North American maples. Not native to Washington state, it has naturalized here and attracts the boxelder bug, which can become a house pest.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
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