1977 Trails Closed!

This is a forum for trip reports that pre-date the Portland Hikers forum, trail photos from pre-digital era, or any other discussions that focus on trail history.
Post Reply
User avatar
Chase
Posts: 1265
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

1977 Trails Closed!

Post by Chase » July 27th, 2012, 5:45 pm

Found this gem while looking at old hiking articles. I love how they call Trail 448 the "so called 'Billy Goat' trail"!
Attachments
trails closed 1977 gif.gif
From Northwest Magazine May 22 1977

User avatar
kepPNW
Posts: 6411
Joined: June 21st, 2012, 9:55 am
Location: Salmon Creek

Re: 1977 Trails Closed!

Post by kepPNW » July 27th, 2012, 6:44 pm

Wow, where are you digging these things out of? Strange to think back to then! Can you imagine a newspaper publishing reports that detailed today? Don and Roberta Lowe were one of the few primary sources for really detailed information like this.

My favorite line... "However, for those who don't like to simplify life, here are the closed sections:" Right on, Roberta!
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

User avatar
Crusak
Posts: 3617
Joined: August 6th, 2009, 7:33 pm
Location: Oregon

Re: 1977 Trails Closed!

Post by Crusak » July 27th, 2012, 7:49 pm

Nice find! I'm also curious about where you found that.

(side note: check out the hair on that guy in the photography studio ad, LOL very 70's)
Jim's Hikes

Solvitur Ambulando

User avatar
Chase
Posts: 1265
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: 1977 Trails Closed!

Post by Chase » July 27th, 2012, 8:27 pm

Oregonian archives.

My wife solved the Jumble! (I don't know if I want to reveal the answer here in case others feel like solving it)

Here's one to make my blood boil from 1976:
Attachments
Bull run closed.gif
Bull Run Closed to Hikers

User avatar
Splintercat
Posts: 8328
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: Portland
Contact:

Re: 1977 Trails Closed!

Post by Splintercat » August 27th, 2012, 7:06 am

Thanks for posting, Chase! That was the saga that made me a conservationist! I was a freshman in high school at the time, and like many Portlanders, was shocked to learn just how much clearcutting had occurred in the Bull Run watershed over the past 25 years (began in the early 50s). Some very heroic activists took on the Forest Service and Portland Water Bureau, and that led to the lawsuit that triggered the closure order.

It was ironic that it took the trail and campground closures outside the watershed to wake up the broader public to what was happening inside the watershed, but it certainly worked. We still lost at least one trail, even after the recreation an was listed: the hike to Hiyu Mounain from Lolo Pass. It can still be followed, but is rapidly disappearing from 30 years of neglect.

How bad was the effect of clearcutting in Bull Run in the 1970s? Periodically, the city would issue an "alert" of high turbidity during winter runoff, and the water coming out of your faucet took on an amber color for a few days. We were assured that it was harmless to drink, but not told that we were drinking the topsoil washing down into the reservoirs from hundreds of clearcuts and miles of fresh logging roads cut into the watershed.

This is why I believe public access to the watershed is a safety strategy, not a risk. The greatest risk to the watershed has been from managers operating in secrecy, not the public at large.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox, now... :lol:

Tom :)

Post Reply