A hike on the wilder side

For the last six months, the road to Paradise has been eerily quiet. The most popular destination in Mt. Rainier National Park has been closed since epic rains in November devastated the area.

Today, after a $5-million effort to repair the damage, the park reopens. But rangers say visitors will find a markedly different place, one with new landscapes and vistas -- and new dangers.

“This is the day we have been working towards since November,” says park Supt. Dave Uberuaga. But everyone here knows that months, possibly years, of work lie ahead.

Last fall’s torrential rain -- 18 inches in 36 hours -- washed away bridges and roads, obliterated hiking trails and destroyed campgrounds. The damage is estimated at $36 million. Never before had weather closed the 365-square-mile park.

“We really didn’t realize the magnitude of the problems we were facing. I remember telling people we’d be open by Christmas,” says Kevin Bacher, the park’s volunteer coordinator, who has been at Mt. Rainier for seven years.

Much of the completed work has focused on road repair. The park’s busiest road, the 19-mile Nisqually Road to Paradise, was heavily damaged by washouts and debris. Getting it reopened was a high priority.

New visitors to the park initially may not notice more than the fresh pavement, says Jim Ross, who has been a seasonal ranger at Mt. Rainier for 41 years.

Ross, who also teaches high school chemistry in nearby Tacoma, will be stationed at the Longmire Museum six miles up the road today, talking to the public about the flooding and its effects on the park.

“Our regular visitors, they’ll notice it as soon as they come through the gate,” he says. “You go through that gate and it was all green -- a wall of trees on either side.” Those trees were uprooted in the storms.

“Now, you come around the curve, and there’s light -- you can practically see the river. It’s a huge change,” Ross says.

Several major roads, including the Carbon River Road and State Highway 123, are expected to remain closed all summer. Officials hope to be able to open some roads on the eastern side of the park in the Ohanapecosh region by late this month.

The Grove of the Patriarchs is one of the park’s most popular trails. This area is a towering collection of ancient trees, some as old as 1,000 years, on an island in the Ohanapecosh River.

The grove is made up of red cedars, Western hemlocks and Douglas firs, some of which reach 300 feet tall and 25 feet in circumference. It’s an easy hike for casual visitors, less than two miles round-trip.

A steel-frame suspension bridge to the island was severely damaged in the flooding. The boardwalk between the trees twisted away in places. One of the signs detailing the natural history of the area used to stand 3 feet above the forest floor. Now it is buried in silt. Watermarks on the trees show that the floodwater rose as high as 4 feet.

Ranger Steve Scott, the Ohanapecosh trail leader, has been working here with a four-member trail crew for nearly two weeks. He estimates that they have about another week’s worth of work, but that the area will be ready for the public by the end of the month.

Scott says it’s one of the easier jobs they are facing. “The access here isn’t bad. We can get here -- that’s half the battle.”

All materials and tools have to be carried in by the workers. “Most of our work has to be done with shovels, brooms, and hand tools, elbows and backs,” says Luke Osterhaus, the Longmire trail leader, who is helping out in the grove. “If we need to use big machinery, or even ATVs just for access, we have to get special clearance,” he says.

Preserving wilderness is an important part of the mission at Mt. Rainier -- 97% of the park is designated wilderness. This restricts what can be done to repair trails and to reach many areas of the park.

Most park officials expect to find damage on nearly every one of the park’s 300 miles of trails. Large sections of the Wonderland Trail -- the popular 93-mile route that circumnavigates the mountain -- are simply missing.

Much of the trail repair will be done by volunteers. Bacher, the park’s volunteer coordinator, says people have been calling to offer help since the day after the flood. In a typical year, the park sees about 1,000 volunteers; officials expect that number to more than double this year.

Rangers are working on rerouting trails, but in some places hikers will have to walk along roads for a few miles at a time. And as the snow melts, more damage is revealed.

“Just last week, we found a quarter-mile section of the Wonderland Trial on the west side -- it’s completely gone,” Osterhaus says.

Weather wear and tear is typical in the park. “You never finish trail repair work,” Osterhaus says. “We have had this kind of damage before, but never all over the park at once.”

Bacher agrees. “People are going to find the backcountry areas to be a lot more primitive -- like the experience you would have had a century ago,” he says.

And that too is a big concern.

In late March, two hikers, Robert and Frances Blakely, 44 and 46, died in the park while trying to cross Ipsut Creek on a log that formed a temporary bridge. Both were experienced hikers, and officials say the tragedy illustrates the point that hikers will need to be on alert.

Ranger Mike Gauthier heads Mt. Rainier’s search and rescue team. He has been at Rainier for 18 years and has lived in the park full time for the last 12. His biggest concern this year is for more-casual hikers.

“People will come out -- and a trail that used to take a couple of hours might take six now, due to debris, blow-down on the trail, stream crossings -- you name it,” he says. “And then, if we have someone sprain an ankle who can’t walk out, suddenly it’s a huge deal. We won’t be able to get in and give them aid in a reasonable amount of time. I think we’ll be doing a lot more helicopter rescues this year,” he says.

Public outreach about the park conditions is a top priority, Bacher says. “At the gates, the visitors centers -- everywhere we engage the public -- we’ll be working to get that message out. The park is a wild place. Now more than ever.”

Pictures of the flooding can be seen at www.nps.gov/mora/parknews/images-of-the-flood-of-2006.htm.

Information about trail conditions is at www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/trails-and-backcountry-camp-conditions .htm.

lynn.marshall@latimes.com