Glacier Basin Trail Environmenal Assessment

Yesterday, Mount Rainier National Park announced the upcoming Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Carbon River Road. But that's not the only EA for storm damage the Park has on its plate right now.

Last week, an EA for reconstructing the Glacier Basin Trail, in the White River Valley at Mount Rainier, was prepared and released for public comment. The same severe storms that wiped out a section of the Carbon River Road in 2006 flooded the Inter Fork of the White River, destroying a mile-long section of the Glacier Basin Trail. Prior to the storms, the Glacier Basin Trail provided hikers with easy access to Glacier Basin, Camp Schurman, Camp Curtis, Emmons Flats, the Inter Glacier, and the Emmons Glacier climbing route. 

Now, hiker safety is a big concern, as are impacts to park resources, as people navigate their way along an informal bypass. The Park has outlined three alternatives in the EA: allowing the informal bypass to remain the primary route; repairing the old trail (keeping it along the Inter Fork of the White River); and most ambitiously, a total relocation of the damaged section of trail in order to keep it safely out of the flood zone.

Mount Rainier is seeking your comments through July 18 on the Glacier Basin Trail reconstruction. The EA is available on the park website -- from the drop-down menu choose Mount Rainier National Park.  It is also available in local public libraries. To receive more information or to request a CD copy of the EA, please call (360) 569-2211, ext. 2301. Those wishing to provide comments should submit them in writing to: Superintendent, Mount Rainier National Park, 55210 238th Ave. E., Ashford, Washington 98304; or electronically here (again, choose Mount Rainier National Park from the drop down menu.)

WTA will have volunteer trail crews present in the Park throughout the summer, Fridays-Sundays, and Glacier Basin Trail restoration is one of the biggest projects on our docket.  Once the trail's plan is finalized, WTA will focus efforts on providing volunteers for the reconstruction.  Until then, crews will continue with annual maintenance efforts on trails within the White River and Carbon River Areas.  To sign up to volunteer for a work party in the Park, go to www.wta.org.