If there’s a party celebrating the new Wild Sky Wilderness this summer, getting there may be a problem.
The main road to the proposed wilderness, the Index-Galena Road, remains washed out.
Winter flooding rerouted the North Fork Skykomish River through two sections of the road about five miles above Index.
Snohomish County officials estimate that it will cost $12 million to $14 million to move the road away from the river. They also figure it will take five years to fix.
Thankfully, the road loops through the proposed wilderness, so Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., and other dignitaries who are expected to attend a signing ceremony this summer will have a way in.
That way involves a drive to Skykomish to the Beckler River Road. The 40-mile detour is what vacationers use to get to 142 cabins just past the washed-out road.
At Jack Pass, the halfway point between Index and Skykomish, a gate keeps the general public out.
“We can’t open it to the public until we get the road repaired and brought up to standards,” said Steve Thomsen, county public works director.
Cabin owners have keys to get past the gate.
Typically the U.S. Forest Service closes the road in the winter. This past winter, the county kept the road open, plowing it and fixing minor flood damage.
Thomsen said county crews may not be able to keep the road open all winter over the next five years, but he said they’ll try.
“We understand these cabin owners would like to have access,” he said. “It’ll be a judgment call from winter to winter.”
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
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