Mount Rainier's Carbon River road is a huge mess

On a sunny day this past weekend, I took my first visit to Mount Rainier National Park since the November floods hammered the park.

You can read a report of my hike along the closed Carbon River Road, in the park's Northwest corner, here. For more info, read Karen Sykes' report in the Seattle P-I here.

The quick summary: the Carbon River Road is a mess.

The 4.8-mile road, from the park boundary to Ipsut trailhead and campground, is closed to vehicles, but open to hikers. There are numerous and massive washouts all along the road. The first washout can be seen at 1.5 miles, where the park service has created a very nice trail around the damage. All of the blowdown has either been cut or steps have been provided for hikers. It's really a very pleasant day hike to Ipsut Creek.

Mother nature was hard at work on the Carbon River Road, which has perennially washed out. There were several sections where the road has been scoured out 4-5 feet deep for a hundred yards or so. It's just awe-inspiring to see the huge impact this massive flood had on the landscape here. Piles of boulders, bare tree roots five feet deep, and huge sections of culverts tossed around like cigarette butts are all testament to the power of this storm.

Will the road be rebuilt? That's the big question. There's a lot of pressure to get the road open, since it leads to one of the park's highlights: a 7-mile round trip hike to the toe of the Carbon Glacier. It's no longer a day hike now that it's a total of nearly 17 miles to the glacier and back. It's one of the few opportunities to day hike to a glacier in the lower 48 states (and with glaciers retreating and our climate warming, it's increasingly important for people--especially kids--to see these glaciers before they're all gone).

Still, it's clear there will be a lot of work to be done to get that road rerouted and rebuilt--if the park decides that's a priority.

In other news, Mount Rainier's lead climbing ranger, Mike Gauthier, gave an excellent talk and slideshow at the Seattle Mountaineers club on Friday evening. Mike talked about his firsthand observations of flood damage at the park, and there were plenty of gasp-inducing photos of raging rivers and blown-out roads. Gauthier reported the park plans to have the road to Paradise open by April, and was confident that climbers and hikers would have access to Paradise some time this summer.

The tenor of the talk was upbeat... there's clearly a lot of work ahead, but all this flooding is part of the mountain's landscape. It's impressive to see the dynamics of a huge mountain eroding and sending all sorts of rocks, trees, and water downhill. This wasn't the first storm to hit Rainier, and it won't be the last.

Unfortunately, we humans and our roads and trails just happen to be in the way sometimes.

Photos: Top: Washout of Carbon River Road, not far from Ipsut Creek; Middle: blown culvert, Carbon River Road; Bottom: Historic Ipsut Creek ranger cabin, now with a "wet basement." Photos by Andrew Engelson.