There are many abandoned segments of US 99, detailed in this book.
https://www.powells.com/book/-9780965137768
Abandoned roads
Re: Abandoned roads
When I think of the tens of thousands of miles of logging roads that are no longer maintained, there should be no shortage of roads for you to find. Larch Mountain and Table Mountain area come to mind.
Then again, you may be thinking of less rural settings.
Forest Park has a series of roads that were once residential.
The Old Columbia River Highway sections have been updated as a bicycle trail during the past decade, which has ruined the photographic integrity of the roadways.
The convict highway (former SR-14) on the Washington side has several sections that might be relevant.
Rails to Trails could be another way to go.
Laurel Hill (hwy 26) was mentioned earlier.
Hwy 35 (south of Barlow Pass) is another one that comes to mind.
Sections of Hwy 101 along the rocky headlands might be of interest with the best sections being in Boardman and the Redwoods to the south.
Then again, you may be thinking of less rural settings.
Forest Park has a series of roads that were once residential.
The Old Columbia River Highway sections have been updated as a bicycle trail during the past decade, which has ruined the photographic integrity of the roadways.
The convict highway (former SR-14) on the Washington side has several sections that might be relevant.
Rails to Trails could be another way to go.
Laurel Hill (hwy 26) was mentioned earlier.
Hwy 35 (south of Barlow Pass) is another one that comes to mind.
Sections of Hwy 101 along the rocky headlands might be of interest with the best sections being in Boardman and the Redwoods to the south.
Re: Abandoned roads
This is just to update the post about Lower River Road/501 past Frenchy's, made a bunch of years back, for anybody else who might come across this old thread. In 2017 the road was permanently closed about a mile north of Fazio Brothers and there is a padlocked and chained gate across it with barb wire fences on either side. This was still the case as of August 2021 when I last rode out there. The gate was actually installed in 2014 but the WA Transportation Department, at the time, had decided to leave it open indefinitely but kept flip-flopping on that decision.
Columbian article from 2015:
https://www.columbian.com/news/2015/jun ... ains-open/
This photo, from the 2015 article linked above, is of one half of the large reinforced green split gate, while still open, and the widened sections of road which now serve as a turnaround. There is another gate on the east of the new turnaround that closes a doubletrack access trail running across the plain, past south Round Lake and eventually to the end of NW Rieger Highway across AFAIK county and Department of Wildlife-owned property.
It was ultimately closed in 2017 by Clark County and the Transportation Department after a history of drunks locking the gates themselves then driving to the end and discharging firearms. The residents of a ranch further up ended up buying the road from the department so as to keep the rednecks out and not lose access to their house. The short section of presumably still-driveable road beyond the gate is now officially private property and the owners, understandably, are not friendly to trespassers. Please don't jump the gate and try to hike or ride it.
The rest of the closed road past the ranch to the old parking/turnaround area past milepost 10 is reported to be dangerously unstable and washed out in several parts, making it undriveable (the county's justification for closure, of course, was "salmon recovery" :rolleyes:) and had been closed using concrete blocks by Clark County several times earlier, though people kept jumping over the blocks and venturing on to the end (the abandoned section which is no longer accessible, that kepPNW referred to and photographed in his 2012 post). The long-term plan is to just let the roadbed eventually fail and wash out completely, allowing the plain to the east to flood annually.
There was a updated writeup in the paper just over 2 years later reporting on the closure:
https://www.columbian.com/news/2017/jul ... iver-road/
Gate/new turnaround:
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=45.72 ... 0&z=19&m=h
45.723769 -122.754257 (45d 43'25.6"N 122d 45' 15.3"W)
2017 Columbian photos. I found the area to be more overgrown and heavily graffitoed on my August ride than it was in these earlier photos. The doubletrack is just outside the shot, to the right:
Diagram of closed road, from the 2017 Columbian article linked above:
Beginning of the end of the road for the end of the road. If that makes any sense:
Google Street View, at present, is very outdated and you can still view the section of closed road up to the old end before the gate was even installed. I wish I had thought of getting out there about 5 or 6 years ago, but that part of the county just wasn't on my list of destinations then.
Turnaround; historic photo from Street View. Date unknown. "15701 NW Lower River Road". Some of this is probably now gone. That's not me on the bike:
The section north of the old turnaround/ranch boundary adjacent Post Office Lake (where kepPNW was) in the Ridgefield NWR is AFAIK (meaning: I'm probably talking out my ass) either DFW or county property and I don't believe is actually private. I may be wrong. This is the green-shaded section at the top of the Columbian diagram. If you were feeling daring enough to climb up and look around I guess you could try to get to it by boat (there appears to be something resembling beach at the various collapsed sections) but I really don't recommend it. If somebody asks you to leave, leave; it's not worth getting attacked or killed over. Adventure at your own risk/peril, don't draw attention to yourself and I can't/won't be held responsible!
Photos © 2015/2017 The Columbian. Fair use, for the purpose of illustrating points expressed in this article. Low-resolution versions used in this post; see in-line URLs for official full-size images as published.
Columbian article from 2015:
https://www.columbian.com/news/2015/jun ... ains-open/
- Scott Hewitt/The Columbian,published 2015 June 15, accessed 2021 Nov 11. https://pcdn.columbian.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/348111_lowriverroad_bike_ne.jpg
It was ultimately closed in 2017 by Clark County and the Transportation Department after a history of drunks locking the gates themselves then driving to the end and discharging firearms. The residents of a ranch further up ended up buying the road from the department so as to keep the rednecks out and not lose access to their house. The short section of presumably still-driveable road beyond the gate is now officially private property and the owners, understandably, are not friendly to trespassers. Please don't jump the gate and try to hike or ride it.
The rest of the closed road past the ranch to the old parking/turnaround area past milepost 10 is reported to be dangerously unstable and washed out in several parts, making it undriveable (the county's justification for closure, of course, was "salmon recovery" :rolleyes:) and had been closed using concrete blocks by Clark County several times earlier, though people kept jumping over the blocks and venturing on to the end (the abandoned section which is no longer accessible, that kepPNW referred to and photographed in his 2012 post). The long-term plan is to just let the roadbed eventually fail and wash out completely, allowing the plain to the east to flood annually.
There was a updated writeup in the paper just over 2 years later reporting on the closure:
https://www.columbian.com/news/2017/jul ... iver-road/
Gate/new turnaround:
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=45.72 ... 0&z=19&m=h
45.723769 -122.754257 (45d 43'25.6"N 122d 45' 15.3"W)
2017 Columbian photos. I found the area to be more overgrown and heavily graffitoed on my August ride than it was in these earlier photos. The doubletrack is just outside the shot, to the right:
- Scott Hewitt/The Columbian, published 2015 June 15, accessed 2021 Nov 11. https://pcdn.columbian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/422079-lower-river-road-1.jpg
- Scott Hewitt/The Columbian, published 2015 June 15, accessed 2021 Nov 11. https://pcdn.columbian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/422079-lower-river-road-2.jpg
Diagram of closed road, from the 2017 Columbian article linked above:
- The Columbian, published 2017 July 12, accessed 2021 Nov 11. https://pcdn.columbian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/07-19-lower-river-road-pdf.jpg
Beginning of the end of the road for the end of the road. If that makes any sense:
- The Columbian, file photo, published 2017 July 12, accessed 2021 Nov 11. https://pcdn.columbian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/550802_01-28_WSDOT_Gives_09.jpg
- The Columbian, file photo, published 2017 July 12, accessed 2021 Nov 11. https://pcdn.columbian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/550802_01-28_WSDOT_Gives_10.jpg
- The Columbian, file photo, published 2017 July 12, accessed 2021 Nov 11. https://pcdn.columbian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/550802_01-28_WSDOT_Gives_11.jpg
Google Street View, at present, is very outdated and you can still view the section of closed road up to the old end before the gate was even installed. I wish I had thought of getting out there about 5 or 6 years ago, but that part of the county just wasn't on my list of destinations then.
Turnaround; historic photo from Street View. Date unknown. "15701 NW Lower River Road". Some of this is probably now gone. That's not me on the bike:
- Google Street View; date unknown (before 2017), accessed 2021 Nov 11
The section north of the old turnaround/ranch boundary adjacent Post Office Lake (where kepPNW was) in the Ridgefield NWR is AFAIK (meaning: I'm probably talking out my ass) either DFW or county property and I don't believe is actually private. I may be wrong. This is the green-shaded section at the top of the Columbian diagram. If you were feeling daring enough to climb up and look around I guess you could try to get to it by boat (there appears to be something resembling beach at the various collapsed sections) but I really don't recommend it. If somebody asks you to leave, leave; it's not worth getting attacked or killed over. Adventure at your own risk/peril, don't draw attention to yourself and I can't/won't be held responsible!
Photos © 2015/2017 The Columbian. Fair use, for the purpose of illustrating points expressed in this article. Low-resolution versions used in this post; see in-line URLs for official full-size images as published.
Last edited by wildcat on November 11th, 2021, 4:37 pm, edited 8 times in total.
Chatty athletic 6'9", 39YO DDF/NS/non-420 SWBiM CD atheist Taurus, novice backpacker and broke eccentric weirdo in Vancouver; ISO someone with similar qualities as a nobo thru-hiking buddy to conquer the PCT in '25! For real. PM me if interested.
Re: Abandoned roads
Great (if disappointing) history and update! I will confirm the owners, and their very aggressive dog, have less-than-zero appreciation for folks walking in as they did in the past.wildcat wrote: ↑October 23rd, 2021, 4:04 pmThe residents of a ranch further up ended up buying the road from the department so as to keep the rednecks out and not lose access to their house. The short section of presumably still-driveable road beyond the gate is now officially private property and the owners, understandably, are not friendly to trespassers. Please don't try to get in and drive it.
The rest of the closed road past the ranch to the old parking/turnaround area past milepost 10 is reported to be dangerously unstable and washed out in several parts, making it undriveable (the county's justification for closure, of course, was "salmon recovery" :rolleyes:) and had been closed using concrete blocks by Clark County several times earlier, though people kept jumping over the blocks and venturing on to the end (the abandoned section kepPNW referred to and photographed in his 2012 post, which is no longer accessible).
Karl
Back on the trail, again...
Back on the trail, again...
Re: Abandoned roads
I wonder if they put the gate in new or relocated it from the section of Rieger's Highway just past the Vancouver Lake Park entrance? The "GATE CLOSED AT DUSK" signs are still there (the one on the southbound/eastbound side blown to hell at some point by someone with a shotgun) but the gate is clearly nonexistant.
I've been out at the end of Rieger's at dusk a few times the last several years. Some pretty sketchy people tend to crawl out of the woodwork and migrate there; probably not the kind of place you'd want to hang out at for long if unarmed, IMHO. Middle of the afternoon you'd be probably the only one out there.
I've been out at the end of Rieger's at dusk a few times the last several years. Some pretty sketchy people tend to crawl out of the woodwork and migrate there; probably not the kind of place you'd want to hang out at for long if unarmed, IMHO. Middle of the afternoon you'd be probably the only one out there.
Chatty athletic 6'9", 39YO DDF/NS/non-420 SWBiM CD atheist Taurus, novice backpacker and broke eccentric weirdo in Vancouver; ISO someone with similar qualities as a nobo thru-hiking buddy to conquer the PCT in '25! For real. PM me if interested.