WA mountain access faces long road to recovery as summer hiking season begins

Last year packed a wallop for Washington's mountains.

Six months after historic flooding from a series of atmospheric rivers and windstorms - and on the heels of major fires in both the Olympics and Cascades - land managers and recreation organizations are still tallying up the damage. Many washed-out forest roads still have not been repaired, hampering the ability of crews to assess the state of trails. On trails that have been scoped out, thenumberof downed trees is staggering.

The repair bill will easily stretch into the tens of millions of dollars, according to Forest Service officials, and the money is not readily available. With peak summer hiking season about to get underway, the state's forest roads and mountain trails still face a long path to recovery.

As Washington Trails Association Advocacy Director Andrea Imler put it in a June 9 webinar, "Winter storms are a fact of life for Washington's trails, but this winter's heavy storms and record flooding left countless trails and roads across the state unsafe or inaccessible.

Here's an update on some of the highest-profile roads that are still out of commission - plus a few summer maintenance projects that will affect those heading out on the trail.

Ups and downs getting to Enchanted Valley

Let's start with some good news: a land of enchantment is once again just a 14-mile hike away. A road crew finished repairs to Graves Creek Road in Olympic National Park on May 28, reestablishing access to the East Fork Quinault River Trail. The trail is the most direct route to reach the Enchanted Valley, a top backpacking spotand home to a famed chalet, which was listed among the state's most endangered places by the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation in 2014.

Running upstream of Lake Quinault in the southeastern corner of the park, the gravel road washed out at mile 4.1 over the winter, cutting off vehicular access to the Graves Creek Trailhead.

The drive in was already complicated - erosion claimed a chunk of Quinault South Shore Road in December 2024, necessitating a detour onto the north side of the river and across a temporary bridge in order to reach the national park.

Jefferson County is responsible for that damaged road. In November 2025, the Department of Public Works reported it had received federal and state funding to repair the road, but was "navigating permitting requirements as a prerequisite to bidding construction" at the time.

But permits have not been forthcoming. On April 6, the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners and the Quinault Indian Nation sent a joint letter to federal and state officials with an urgent request for emergency repair authorization. "We are deeply concerned by what appears to be a significant departure from established emergency repair procedure," the letter reads, noting that expedited approvals were issued last year to repair the Hoh River Road - another Olympic National Park access point - under the same emergency program.

Now that the park road has reopened, the seasonal bridge over the Quinault River is in place for vehicles to continue navigating the detour while the south shore remains closed. RVs and trailers are prohibited on Graves Creek Road.

The fix also means the return of the new permit quota for the East Fork Quinault River. During the Graves Creek Road closure this spring, the Park Service only issued overnight permits within three days of any trip, which hampered hikers attempting to make advance summer plans. As of June 3, backpackers can once again book overnight permits through Oct. 15, the end of the permit season, at recreation.gov.

Other Olympic National Park closures

Elsewhere in Olympic National Park, this summer entails both long-term recovery and dodging temporary closures for maintenance. In the former category, the Staircase entrance near Lake Cushman remains closed following the human-caused Bear Gulch Fire, which grew into the largest wildfire on the Olympic Peninsula since 1951. It wreaked havoc on trails in both the national park and surrounding Olympic National Forest. Although the National Park Service began advertising for a seasonal campground host in May, a full reopening in 2026 looks unlikely.

"Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest are working together to reopen Staircase as soon as safety, infrastructure, and visitor service needs are met," a National Park spokesperson wrote via email. "This spring, park crews have been repairing roads, removing hazards, and restoring facilities in the developed area. Surrounding wilderness areas will remain closed until crews can assess and repair trails, footbridges, and backcountry privies."

On the park's north side, Hurricane Hill Road is closed Monday-Thursday through July 2 while crews rehabilitate water systems. This closure does not affect Hurricane Ridge, where a new day lodge is now in the planning stages, with construction beginning in 2028 at the earliest.

Out on the coast, Rialto Beach is also facing a squeeze. Parking is limited as contractors begin staging equipment in the Quileute Tribe's parking lot ahead of a July 8 full closure of Mora Road to the beach, starting at the Mora Campground, which will remain open. Construction is expected to last until Oct. 15, and no bikes, pedestrians or vehicles will be able to access Rialto Beach from the road.

Cascades closures

Over in the Cascades, seven trails in the Cle Elum Ranger District of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest remain closed as crews continue to clean up from last summer's Labor Mountain Fire near Blewett Pass.

Most of the lingering road damage is a result of flooding rather than fire.

North Cascades Highway had its latest-ever opening on record when the cross-mountain route finally reopened on June 14. But if you do venture east over Highway 20, you won't be able to drive up to Harts Pass. This key access point for ferrying and resupplying Pacific Crest Trail hikers near Mazama is out of commission from the Monument Creek Trailhead until mid-July at the earliest.

Cascade River Road, one of the few roads into the heart of North Cascades National Park, has faced off-and-on partial closures for years. Following a winter landslide, crews finished clearing downed trees and repairing a section of road at milepost 18 on June 10. For now, the road is gated at milepost 20, the Eldorado Trailhead. Bikes and pedestrians are permitted past the gate - it's another 3 miles and 1,500 vertical feet to the road's end at Cascade Pass Trailhead.

Glacier Creek Road, which winds through the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, is washed out 4.5 miles from the Heliotrope Ridge Trailhead. That closure adds additional distance and vertical gain to reach the popular starting point for climbing Mount Baker.

Index-Galena Road, which reopened in 2023 after a 17-year closure, is back to square one. The North Fork of the Skykomish River swallowed a section of this route into the Wild Sky Wilderness, which Snohomish County Public Works officials estimate will cost $900,000 to repair. The new washouts are between mileposts 10 and 14, roughly four miles east of the section repaired three years ago. Beckler River Road is also down for the count, cutting off the only two routes to the trailhead for Blanca Lake, a standout alpine lake in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness.

Another instance of a relatively recent repair now for naught is Suiattle River Road. In 2015, the road that plunges through the woods east of Darrington reopened after a decadelong closure from flooding. The fix made it easier to access 120 miles of trails in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie Forest, including rarely visited corners of the Glacier Peak Wilderness. The road is also the gateway to the historic Suiattle Guard Station, which the U.S. Forest Service and Darrington Historical Society restored and opened for overnight stays in July.

But all of that - plus Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe access to their own cemeteries - is cut off now that a 70-foot-deep ravine bisects the Suiattle River Road, plus four other known damage points.

The loss of the road hit hard for Darrington Mayor Dan Rankin. Since the road reopened in 2015, the Snohomish County town has seen an influx of hikers and campers that have fueled new businesses, including a brewery and two restaurants.

"It changed the whole atmosphere of this place," he said during the WTA webinar.

Roads to trails

All told, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Supervisor Erin Uloth said during the webinar that her team has documented 100 damage points across the forest's road network, with 40% of arterial roads suffering "extensive damage." She estimates the repair cost at $30 million.

The Forest Service plans reconnaissance flights in June to further survey roads and trails they have not been able to reach yet, but already calculates there will be at least 100 miles of trails to log out and 250 miles of trails in need of maintenance. The number of trail bridges destroyed is still unknown.

Those frequent water crossings add up in cost. Uloth said that Mount Baker-Snoqualmie has the highest per-mile trail construction cost across the U.S. Forest Service - $830 per mile compared to a national average of $120 per mile.

Whatever the cost, the clock is ticking for Mount Baker-Snoqualmie to shore up its share of the West Coast's most fabled hike: the Pacific Crest Trail. Uloth said her goal is for crews to cut out logs and repair bridges in time for thru-hikers making their way north from the U.S.-Mexico border.

"We are prioritizing access to the PCT this summer," she said, but cautioned, "The PCT isn't looking good.

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This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 6:45 AM.