VERLOT — The largest campground in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest remains closed for the second summer in a row, and officials have yet to decide whether it will open again.
The U.S. Forest Service closed Gold Basin Campground, on the Mountain Loop Highway near Verlot, shortly after the Oso mudslide in March 2014. The hill on the other side of the South Fork Stillaguamish River from the campground is similar to the one that gave way last year along Highway 530, burying a community and killing 43 people. The forest service decided to hire geotechnical experts to study the Gold Basin hill.
So far, though, officials haven’t been able to nail down a contract for the work. They put the project out for bid last fall and received no responses. A second attempt this spring was cut short to update the contract. The plan is to put a new contract out this fall and hopefully hire someone before summer 2016, Darrington District Ranger Peter Forbes said.
“We’re back at essentially the beginning,” he said. “We hear from people on a regular basis. Gold Basin was really popular, and we get questions about why it’s closed and when is it going to open.”
Depending on the results of the study, the forest service could reopen the campground for the usual May-to-September season, close it entirely or open it for a shortened camping season.
“If it’s safe to reopen, our goal is to reopen it,” Forbes said. “We have a significant investment in the campground. It’s our largest campground, but we’re not going to risk public safety to reopen it.”
Gold Basin has more than 90 campsites. Along with its size, the campground’s shower houses and large outdoor amphitheater set it aside from others on the Loop.
Outdoor recreation is key for businesses along the scenic byway and in the town of Granite Falls, where the south end of the Loop starts. The 55-mile route to Darrington is dotted with trails, campgrounds and picnic spots.
“Closing the campground didn’t change the attractiveness of the Mountain Loop,” said Fred Cruger, chair of the Granite Falls Planning Commission. “You still have thousands of people up there in the summer, so what’s happening is campers are getting displaced.”
Smaller campgrounds and dispersed campsites have picked up some of the slack but can’t make up for Gold Basin. People have settled for camping off the road wherever there’s space to pitch a tent, Cruger said. Makeshift campsites don’t have fire pits or toilets, increasing the risk of wildfires and the pollution of human waste in the soil and water, he said.
Other people won’t camp up the Loop without a spot in a full-service campground like Gold Basin, he said. That means fewer summer visitors buying firewood, hot dogs, marshmallows and drinks from local stores.
“The loss of campsites is bad,” Cruger said. “But it’s not just that. The economic impact is really being felt on the south side of the Loop, and the environmental problems are frankly just sad.”
If the campground closes permanently, there aren’t many options to add more sites on the Loop. A project to revitalize Camp Silverton-Waldheim could add tent spaces, RV hookups or rental cabins. The old school camp has electricity and water, but it’s much smaller than Gold Basin.
Another area of the national forest, the Suiattle River Road, recently reopened, Forbes said. The Buck Creek Campground, closed for more than a decade, reopened in June. The Sulphur Creek Campground is being restored, as well.
So far, no other areas along the Mountain Loop have been closed to study mudslide risks, Forbes said.
“Our landscapes are fraught with areas of unstable ground, but Gold Basin is the only area I’m aware of that has this particular problem where it’s so obvious and in your face,” he said. “We know (that hill) has been active in the past, and the question is whether there are conditions where it could slide again.”
It’s a tall order to ask a geologist to conclude that a hill will or won’t fall, Cruger said. There’s never a guarantee. “I absolutely understand the knee-jerk reaction of closing (Gold Basin) down after such a catastrophic event,” Cruger said. “But long-term it’s a different story.”
Gold Basin isn’t the only Mountain Loop attraction closed because of natural hazards. The Big Four Ice Caves have been blocked off since a collapse July 6 killed one person and injured five others. Like Gold Basin, the future of the Ice Caves remains in limbo while the forest service gathers information and weighs public access and public safety.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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