Larch Mountain west side - reopen date known?

[romann]

Checked out the status today and old update from May/June still says the area will reopen by the end of the year. I have a gut feeling it'll happen as soon as they can repair the trail to Angel's Rest - and maybe Devil's rest.. Which is funny as I don't like Angel's Rest hike all that much, but really wait for the news for it to open . Does anyone have any info on repair progress on this trail? Or any other update on the area (most of which didn't even burn)?

[squidvicious]

The Larch Mtn "upper trail" is actually slated for spring 2019 reopening. I suspect they only mean to open up to the Wahkeena trail junction by the end of the year, but it's not clear. There should be a new newsletter coming soonish--fingers crossed for more info, though in truth they never say much.

I'm wondering if the fact that they had to delay reopening the highway indefinitely affects the trail reopening schedule, as those seemed to be somewhat tied together.

[Bosterson]

The Larch Mtn "upper trail" is actually slated for spring 2019 reopening. I suspect they only mean to open up to the Wahkeena trail junction by the end of the year, but it's not clear. There should be a new newsletter coming soonish--fingers crossed for more info, though in truth they never say much.

I'm wondering if the fact that they had to delay reopening the highway indefinitely affects the trail reopening schedule, as those seemed to be somewhat tied together.

I'm guessing the continued Old Hwy closure will affect reopening Multnomah-Wahkeena and Angel's Rest, which I believe they'd wanted to have repaired by the end of this year. It's silly to leave the upper Larch Mtn crater closed until "spring," since it didn't burn, you can hypothetically access it from the gate year round, and the gate itself won't be open until whenever they normally do it in May or so (I actually cannot remember when this normally happens). If you can safely snowshoe into it from the gate in "spring," you should be able to do it this whole winter, just like in other years. There are no trails in winter snow conditions anyway!

[romann]

I'm wondering if the fact that they had to delay reopening the highway indefinitely affects the trail reopening schedule, as those seemed to be somewhat tied together.

Yes, it can be connected to road closure - we'll see if they will reopen upper Larch at least in the spring. Thanks for the update.

I took a longer break from work this afternoon, and drove by Angel's Rest trailhead. There's a nice pullout just past overflow (west) parking and the person watching in the car east of trailhead cannot see the spot (Palmer Mill Rd is just uphill from the pullout). I am not encouraging anyone, just an observation.

[squidvicious]

The Larch Mtn "upper trail" is actually slated for spring 2019 reopening. I suspect they only mean to open up to the Wahkeena trail junction by the end of the year, but it's not clear.

Well, color me surprised! With the reopening of the highway today, the new trail map is showing Larch open all the way to the top.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 574101.pdf

I see now on the list the upper Larch Mtn, Sherrard Point, Multnomah Creek Way are listed as "Legally open but inaccessible due to snow gate." So it seems they meant the "spring 2019 reopening" for access from the top, but you're welcome now to hike up from the bottom.

[Lurch]

There are some limited trail openings... Please be safe out there, this look different, they're overgrown, there's still hazard trees and active rock fall, and some signage is now gone... It's not a place to be at night

https://twitter.com/CRGNSA/status/10661 ... 05760?s=09

[Webfoot]

Thanks for the update!

[romann]

That's cool news! Will spend some time there this weekend.