Oregon Hikers

there are cracks all over, hard to predict a slide

nice that people here provide timely reports and the information gets passed on to USFS so they can address it

trailhead fees are meager, not enough to replace bridges

BigBear wrote:The USFS really missed the ball on this situation, not only leaving the slide area open, but not even recognizing an issue when the crack appeared.

Yeah, I posted photos of the cracked earth on Black Friday (11/25). At the time, it was 10-20' deep, up to 30' wide, and over 100' long.

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    Start of crack, just above viewpoint. Trail to viewpoint visible in upper-left.
    
    
    
    My own "last shot" from the viewpoint, 25-Nov-2016
    
    
    
    At least a good 100' north of first shot, the crack continues.

retired jerry wrote:there are cracks all over, hard to predict a slide

Seemed pretty damn clear to me (as I said a month ago ) it was "gonna go!", "next big storm!", "any time now!".

BigBear wrote:Thank you for braving the elements and supplying us with the pictures.

The USFS really missed the ball on this situation, not only leaving the slide area open, but not even recognizing an issue when the crack appeared. Fortunately, the slide occurred when no one was on the VP. I wonder if they have any plans for the Tish Creek bridge. All those trailhead fees, wonder what they are doing with them?

Doubt they have any plans for it, been down for a year already and still noting, Not even removed in any way. With how popular the trail is they should have the fund's to replace it very easily, all they need are supplies and volunteers will put it together.

You were right on the money! Collapsed just a month after the crack.
I'm gonna miss seeing Metlako, might be a while before a new perminant viewpoint is built, if ever.

Easy on hindsight to predict that would slide. Should they have closed the trail? They'd be criticized for that too.

I just hate overly demonizing the Forest Service whenever something goes wrong on Forest Service land. One possible next step is to get rid of them and privatize.

retired jerry wrote:Easy on hindsight to predict that would slide.

I saw the crack up-close and personal. It was pretty easy in foresight, as well.

retired jerry wrote:Should they have closed the trail? They'd be criticized for that too.

I just hate overly demonizing the Forest Service whenever something goes wrong on Forest Service land.

Totally agree. No reason to have closed that off, and all that would've done is call more attention to it. As it was, most folks just marched right past. Put up bigass warnings and everyone would've veered on down there.

There's a big crack on the Big Island of Hawaii. There are remnants of past slides on the ocean floor. When that goes, a big portion of the North side of the island will slide off. And mega tsunamis to Alaska and West coast of North America.

Or on the island of La Palma. Not too many people live there, but the tsunami will hit the East coast of North America.

I think those tsunamis will be way bigger than any humans have experience with.

retired jerry wrote: I just hate overly demonizing the Forest Service whenever something goes wrong on Forest Service land. One possible next step is to get rid of them and privatize.

SHHHHHHH!!!!! Easy there, Jerry. There's a lot of room between those two options.

I'm not saying you guys want to privatize the FS. And maybe I'm extrapolating.

But there's a general hysteria out there and this maybe feeds into it.

I think we should tell our Senators and Representative changes we want made. Like spend more on trails, have the FS prioritize this. Keep pushing them in the direction we want them to go.

Lots of good FS people, and some not so much like any other group of people.

retired jerry wrote:I'm not saying you guys want to privatize the FS. And maybe I'm extrapolating.

But there's a general hysteria out there and this maybe feeds into it.

I think we should tell our Senators and Representative changes we want made. Like spend more on trails, have the FS prioritize this. Keep pushing them in the direction we want them to go.

Lots of good FS people, and some not so much like any other group of people.

FS can't handle trial networks very well, They are already struggling to maintain the current system, Never mind expanding it, They can't even repair 1 little bridge... I seriously do wonder where the heck all those day use fees are going... Obviously a pretty good chunk of it never makes it to the maintenance of the trail.

I think they eventually spend the NWFP money. The problem is there's not enough.

The congress wrote the bill that says the FS can't require a NWFP unless there's a toilet, picnic table, and garbage can at the trailhead. Some of the NWFP goes for that, and some for enforcement, not much left for maintenance. The congress should modify the bill to say for trailheads, the fee can go for trail maintenance instead of toilet, table, garbage can. That's a congress problem, not FS.

I agree it's frustrating they can't fix that bridge. You don't need much of a bridge because that stream never gets very big. I think...