I’ve soaked up the 90-plus degrees of Kennedy Hot Springs after a healthy fall hike up the White Chuck Trail, dropped down into a 5-foot-deep cedar box, spring water easing through the rocky bottom and bubbling toward the surface.
The springs would have been a stop on the next hike toward Red Pass, but now they’re only a memory because they’re a casualty of the late October storm system that beat up Western Washington.
"It’s a good thing you weren’t sitting there during a rain storm. The hot springs are literally buried," said trails expert Gary Paull of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
The bridge to the springs is gone, as is a nearby cabin built in the 1920s.
"All that debris on top of it includes some pretty darn big rocks," Paull said.
"It’s discouraging but it’s also the way nature is," said Elizabeth Lunney, Washington Trails Association executive director.
"We’re lucky to have as much access to those places as we do. It underscores the idea that we are visitors to those places," she said. "(What) made my heart sink is the number of bridges gone. They’re the most expensive part."
The Forest Service and WTA will chip away at the damage.
"Nature is beyond our control, but that’s part of why we want the trails and roads out there, to experience the softer side of nature," she said.
This year WTA volunteers have worked about 67,000 hours, the equivalent of about 33 full-time workers, Lunney said.
"One of the bright spots is that we have really made a dent in the maintenance backlog on the forest (so we’ll be able to) dedicate a portion of our program … to addressing storm damage."
WTA will need more volunteers than ever.
Ironically, WTA held volunteer appreciation night Friday.
Under the circumstances, Paull’s Power Point program stressed the challenges, because with one powerful storm system, dozens of maps and hiking books were swept into the out-of-date category.
"The worse places tend to be anything downstream from Glacier Peak," said Paull, referring to significant chunks of missing trails and expensive bridges, including all the bridges on the Pacific Crest Trail between Red Pass and Miner’s Creek, and crossings of the White Chuck and Suiattle.
Some trails are unsettled because their banks have been undercut.
Much of the work can’t be done by volunteers, Paull said, work that involves huge logs, steel beams, helicopters and blasting; and there’s little funding.
For some years, hikers will have to hike in new areas, Paull said.
"I’m thinking the Alps."
While we’re on the topic of storms, Paull made a suggestion to hikers at higher elevations during the fall.
"Keep an eye on the weather. You don’t want your vehicle to be stuck someplace over the winter.
"A friend of mind was hiking on Green Mountain one nice day in November when it started to snow … his Volkswagen stayed up there all winter."
And it’s not just snow. A wind storm can knock a large tree over the road or debris can flow across the road and trap hikers.
Speaking of snow, Dan Nelson’s second edition of "Snowshoe Routes: Washington" ($16.95, Mountaineers Books) is out.
Snowshoes are for all of those not comfortable on skis, even cross-country ones.
Like all other guide books, even those fresh off the press, these routes will have to be checked with a ranger in light of the October storm.
Trip number 19, for instance, is Kennedy Hot Springs.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
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