Group names Washington state's most threatened hiking trails

Three trails in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and the North Cascades National Park landed on an annual list of the 10 most threatened hiking trails in Washington state.

The three are Milk Creek, Mount Higgins and Park Creek Pass. Milk Creek topped the list released Friday, Aug. 6, by advocacy group Washington Trails Association.

Drops in state and federal funding and damage from motorized recreation are the main reasons that trails have fallen into disrepair, according to the report.

"We're in danger of losing a lot of trails in Washington state," said Jonathan Guzzo, advocacy director for Washington Trails Association.

For each trail listed, the group provided specific steps people can take to help, including contacting legislators to ask for money for trail and road maintenance as well as a law enforcement presence in one case.

"Public lands in Washington state are at a crossroads," Guzzo said.

Also on the list of endangered trails were popular routes Mount Si and Mailbox Peak, to which hundreds of thousands of hikers venture a year.

Both are on state Department of Natural Resources land, and sharp cuts in state funding put the trails on the endangered list.

Mount Si was among 22 DNR recreation sites slated for closure this year because of the state's budget shortfall. It was saved by hikers who fought for funding, the trails association said, but that battle will come around again because state legislators could be facing multi-billion-dollar deficits in the 2011-13 budget cycle.

As for the three trails in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and North Cascades National Park, the association said these are the problems they face:

? Milk Creek, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. It's in the park's Glacier Peak Wilderness.

Access to the trailhead has been cut off for seven years because storms in 2003 and 2006 washed out Suiattle River Road in four places, with the first washout located more than 10 miles from the trailhead.

The trail hasn't been maintained for seven years and is overgrown. A large bridge over the Suiattle River a mile in also remains washed out.

As a result, what was once a popular entry point into the Glacier Peak Wilderness for day hikes and longer backpacking trips is a mess.

• Mount Higgins, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The issue here is hiker safety because of squatters, target shooters and other illegal activity.
• Park Creek Pass, North Cascades National Park. The bridge over Thunder Creek, downstream of Skagit Queen Camp, broke this year, and there's no money to replace it.

Trail crews started working this month on a temporary bridge. Meanwhile, the creek is too deep, its sides too steep and its water too fast for hikers to cross safely.

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Source: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/08/10/1563556/group-names-washington-states.html