Mount Rainier suffered devastating flooding last week when nearly 18 inches of rain fell in 36 hours. It will be closed indefinitely. Here’s a summary of the current situation:
Trails – There’s been extensive damage to backcountry bridges and trails. Sections of the Wonderland Trail will be unusable next summer. The suspension bridge and boardwalk have been damaged at the Grove of the Patriarchs. The grove is covered in a thick layer of silt.
Nisqually Road – About 200 yards of the road is washed out and impassable at the former entrance to Sunshine Point campground. Water is crossing the road at the junction with Westside Road. The road is down to one lane at milepost 5 due to slumping. The Kautz Creek diversion is forcing the river to flow over the road and is undermining the road from the helibase turnoff to Kautz Bridge. There's now a sheer road edge off at milepost 9, creating a precipitous drop off.
Sunshine Point Campground -- The campground, located directly on the bank of the Nisqually River, and the dike that protected it, is gone with the exception of a few campsites
Longmire – The main channel of the Nisqually River is pushing closer to the park’s emergency operations center (EOC) building. Parking behind the building is gone.
Utilities – The main power line was severed and lost at Sunshine Point. All locations uphill to Paradise are affected by this loss. The Longmire sewage line was damaged. Power lines that crossed the Nisqually River at Longmire were knocked down. There’s a great deal of sediment in all system filters.
Longmire Back Road – The road between the suspension bridge and the community building is no longer safe for driving. It's eroded down to one lane in two sections. The main campground road is completely removed at the road fork immediately behind the community building.
Kautz Helibase – The road is impassable and part of the helipad is sloughing off.
Westside Road – A lane has partially collapsed near the Dry Creek gate, and there’s significant damage upstream at Texas Culvert.
SR 123 – Both lanes are washed out at milepost 11.5 to a depth of 60 to 80 feet. Debris has flowed across the road from milepost 10.5 to 11.2. A portion of the road is washed out just below Cayuse Pass.
SR 410 – The state department of transportation has repaired and reopened the road. It was closed at Greenwater due to a logjam diverting two feet of river water onto the road.
White River – A small section of the downhill lane sloughed off. Loop A is destroyed and is now a streambed.
Stevens Canyon Road – There are slides at mileposts 5.5 and 7. A large slide also fell from just below the road, damaging the road edge in two locations and several sites in the Ohanapecosh campground.
Carbon – More than two miles of the road is lost. There are multiple washouts and a half mile of the road is now a river channel. Ipsut Creek campground is underwater; the extent of the damage is unknown. A deep gully eroded under the historic Ipsut Patrol Cabin.
Ohanapecosh – There’s been some water damage to the Ohanapecosh Visitor Center. Part of campground Loop C damaged by a landslide.
In order to truly appreciate the scope of the damage to the park, readers should go to the park’s flood web site (click on “More Information” below), then view the album and/or slideshow, play the two videos, and, above all, click on “Slide Tour.” The latter provides images, maps, narrative and other details
