COUGAR — The Gifford Pinchot National Forest has removed the slide on Road No. 83 on the south side of Mount St. Helens, fixing a wet crossing that was the bane of cross-country skiers and snowmobile riders last winter.
A slide last year deposited sand on the road between Marble Mountain Sno-Park and the turn-off to June Lake trailhead. Water crossing the road last winter and spring was enough to make conditions challenging for snowmobilers and too much for most skiers and snowshoe users.
Melissa Jolley, a civil engineer for the U.S. Forest Service, said the sand was removed over several days ending in early October.
“The road is back to its asphalted surface,” she said. “Additionally, the ditches were reestablished to funnel the water into the existing culverts. … We hope (it) will hold, but it will depend on if we get another atmospheric event this winter.”
Jolley said the Forest Service also is asking the Federal Highway Administration for money from the Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads program to replace existing culverts with a new, larger culvert that can handle the increased water flow at the site post-slide.
An additional option is to improve Road No. 83, at this site, by raising it to keep the road open and unrestricted.
“Fingers crossed we also get the approval to move forward for the betterment option and not just the replacement of the culverts as is,” she said.
Road No. 83 leads from Road No. 90 above Swift Reservoir for almost 12 miles to its end at Lava Canyon trailhead. During the summer, the streamflow across Road No. 83 was low enough that cars with even conventional clearance could pass.
Snowmobilers park at the large Marble Mountain Sno-Park and use Road No. 83 heavily in the winter to access the open, southeast side of Mount St. Helens. Road No. 83 also provides access to the Sasquatch ski-snowshoe trail loops.
