Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 Repair July 19th & 20th 2019

Use this forum to report and discuss trails in need of maintenance. This will help organizations like TKO and agencies like the Forest Service get the most recent on-the-ground trail conditions.
jvangeld
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 to Silver Star Trailhead

Post by jvangeld » June 9th, 2019, 7:43 pm

Charley is picking up what I am putting down. There are a number of places where you can have a 20 mile backpacking trip without hardly seeing anyone. But it is worthwhile to keep places accessible that were meant to be accessible when the trails were built.

If it is true that the Forest Service isn't going to fix 4109, then I think we could do some good there. Rebuilding the waterbars would keep it from getting worse next winter. And we might be able to repair some of the worst ruts. I should send another email to Ranger Emily.
Jeremy VanGelder - Friends of Road 4109

Webfoot
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 to Silver Star Trailhead

Post by Webfoot » June 14th, 2019, 11:25 pm

Another hike plan I had for this evening fell through, but it put me in this area so I scouted 4109 to see its condition for a later date. I have to disagree with Don in that I think the road has continued to deteriorate since I was last up it in 2017. In particular there is a spot about half a mile up 4109 from the junction with L-1100 that doesn't seem to have any easy line. There is another erosion ditch 300 yards further that I recall as previously being the hardest spot, but a relatively easy line can be found through it. After that the road seems about as I remember it.

Here are photos of the part I thought was hardest. Don, do you recall the line you took here? I don't think your Mercedes is narrow enough to hug the bushes to avoid this.

4109 100.jpg
4109 103.jpg
4109 110.jpg

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 to Silver Star Trailhead

Post by Don Nelsen » June 15th, 2019, 8:20 am

Webfoot wrote:
June 14th, 2019, 11:25 pm

...Here are photos of the part I thought was hardest. Don, do you recall the line you took here? I don't think your Mercedes is narrow enough to hug the bushes to avoid this.


4109 100.jpg
4109 103.jpg
4109 110.jpg
You are correct about my car not being narrow enough - and it has the scratches to prove it - but that's from other times or other roads. I straddled that part last time, steering hard left and right as needed to where the channel was shallower and I could drop one side of that car in and then drive out. Never hit the underside of the car.

(I have to admit that I put a pickaxe and a shovel in the car when I plan to drive that road - just in case! Triple A won't come and get you on a forest road.)

dn
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

justpeachy
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 to Silver Star Trailhead

Post by justpeachy » June 15th, 2019, 8:11 pm

I talked to a hiker on the summit of Silver Star today who called the ranger station last week to ask about Road 4109. They told her that the road is so far gone that they want to just close it and move the trailhead 2.7 miles back to the junction.

If that's true, I imagine there is some kind of bureaucratic process involved in deliberately closing a road to an official trailhead, so maybe this is a year or two away.

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adamschneider
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 to Silver Star Trailhead

Post by adamschneider » June 15th, 2019, 8:31 pm

justpeachy wrote:
June 15th, 2019, 8:11 pm
I talked to a hiker on the summit of Silver Star today who called the ranger station last week to ask about Road 4109. They told her that the road is so far gone that they want to just close it and move the trailhead 2.7 miles back to the junction.
That's insane. The entire road doesn't need to be rebuilt, just a couple of sections!

Why don't they haul a port-a-potty up there and start charging $5?

Webfoot
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 to Silver Star Trailhead

Post by Webfoot » June 15th, 2019, 9:19 pm

justpeachy wrote:
June 15th, 2019, 8:11 pm
I talked to a hiker on the summit of Silver Star today who called the ranger station last week to ask about Road 4109. They told her that the road is so far gone that they want to just close it and move the trailhead 2.7 miles back to the junction.
:x :x :x :x

If they do that I will never be able to hike Silver Star again. If they had just maintained the road a bit it would never have gotten to this point. ("A stitch in time ...") It is still at worst a 3/10 Jeep trail, and they could just leave it open and posted "4x4 high clearance only" ad infinitum if they refuse to do any repair work on it.

It seems the only way roads get repair is if logging is involved. Perhaps I should advocate a timber sale on the north slope of Silver Star. :twisted:

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retired jerry
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 to Silver Star Trailhead

Post by retired jerry » June 16th, 2019, 5:27 am

perhaps we should require that people buy a permit on line, restrict the number of people up there, too many people, not enough solitude....:)

pcg
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 to Silver Star Trailhead

Post by pcg » June 16th, 2019, 11:32 am

retired jerry wrote:
June 16th, 2019, 5:27 am
too many people, not enough solitude....:)
I'm with you. I abandoned SS some time ago, except for winter trips. Too bad because it's such a nice place and relatively easy to get too.

jvangeld
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 to Silver Star Trailhead

Post by jvangeld » June 17th, 2019, 8:07 pm

Tolls, permits and brigandage are all time-honored ways to maintain safety and access to roads. I suppose that they should be considered. I still prefer more voluntary methods.

I've read two of Gifford Pinchot's books. He was certainly in favor of sustainable tree harvests. If there were a tree harvest on the North slope of the North ridge, it would barely be visible from the trail itself. But I understand why that option is unpopular.

I'm thinking it might be time to turn the talk of crowd-funding a solution into reality. We could create a "Friends of Road 4109" non-profit to fundraise for gravel. Setting up a board is effort that I don't want to make. But if it is the only way I will do it. The goal could be to buy and lay some gravel this October, with more comprehensive gravel laying in the Summer of 2020.

To support that, my tasks for the July 19th-20th event now looks like:
  • Brushout
  • Waterbar repair
  • Gravel Estimation
  • Post signs that link to crowd-funding campaign
Who is with me?
Jeremy VanGelder - Friends of Road 4109

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 to Silver Star Trailhead

Post by Don Nelsen » June 18th, 2019, 7:29 pm

I drove the 4109 road today in order to do an estimate of what it would take to fix it. I drove up through the bad part and then walked back down. For a car with at least 8 inches of clearance, no problem. Anything less - good luck! There were five cars parked before the worst spots when I got there (all much newer and I think more clearance than what I was driving).

I loosened with a pick axe but did not remove a couple of huge rocks (too heavy for me to move further) and cut a couple of trees that were alongside the road and slightly obstructing travel. Also I trimmed some of the brush but only a little bit. This really needs some heavy equipment to do properly. There is a lot more work involved than a casual observation will reveal.

The real problem is the folks in the big-tire-off-road rigs that go up there in the winter and tear up the road. If folks with normal vehicles were the only ones on this road, I think it would be fine.

Just my humble opinion,

dn
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

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