Killen Creek to High Camp — Monday, Aug. 29, 2016

You might already be aware of this but the northern approach to the trailhead on FS-2329 has been washed out and not yet repaired. Several other roads in the area have also been damaged. This means you can only access the trailhead from the south on FS-2329, which requires you to take FS-23 and, for most of us, FS-90 to get there. On my way back home from the hike at about 11:15 pm I encountered several trees laying across FS-90 that were not there earlier in the day. I got out of my car to inspect the situation and found that someone had cut down about 6 trees to deliberately block the road! It looked like there might have been the possibility of driving around the trees on a very rough shoulder on the south side of the road, but one more tree had been cut down there to prevent that. This person, or persons, had effectively trapped me and several other vehicles inside the national forest, or so they thought. It turns out there are a few other long, winding, narrow, and rarely-used forest roads out of there if you have a very detailed map, AWD, and patience. I won't go into details because I don't want to spell out how to actually trap people in there. I don't understand why someone blocked the road. Did they think it was funny? Were they angry at someone? Was it something more sinister? They clearly did it with an axe also, not a chainsaw. It must have taken quite a lot of time and effort. In either case it was extremely stupid and dangerous. What if a hiker was injured? That road is how rescue would get to the trailhead. After this experience I am considering bringing a chainsaw on all future hikes. For about 90 minutes I had no idea if or how I was going to get home. I felt pretty helpless being completely out of phone range and having no way to clear the road on my own.