The last 2 miles of the Middle Fork road were paved in early October, 2014 from the MP 10.6 bridge to the Taylor River campground. The Middle Fork trailhead parking areas were paved at the same time.
Category Archives: Middle Fork Road
Paving project open house
A paving project open house was held at the North Bend Ranger Station on April 23, 2014. Several engineers from the WFLH and a representative of the contractor were present to answer questions. The event was more lightly attended than previous events, possibly because most of the decisions have already been made. This attendee put in a request to rationalize the milepost marks by starting them at the intersection of the Middle Fork Road and 468th Ave SE instead of I-90 Exit 34.
Rock on road
The recent heavy February rain has done more than make the river rise and get the snow pack closer to normal. All the small side streams have more than their normal flow and as the ground gets saturated, things get loose. This huge rock rolled out of a spot 15′ above the road just a little before the Island Drop river view at MP 4. Always pay close attention while driving the Middle Fork road as rocks, and especially trees come down regularly.
Speed Kills
An unnecessary tragedy occurred on February 8, 2014 when a Toyota Land Cruiser going too fast heading up the Middle Fork road veered out of control, shearing off trees and coming to rest on boulders ten feet below the road bed. Car parts were scattered throughout the area indicating a particularly violent collision. 17-year-old Calvin Hancock was sitting in the rear passenger seat and was killed, pronounced dead at the scene. The three others in the car were brought to the hospital to be treated for injuries. The group were on their way to rescue other friends who had vehicle trouble further up the road.
This road in particular is not safe for fast driving, if any are. Calvin’s mother expressed appropriate grief and anger in response to this accident as a comment to a Snoqualmie Valley Record story – “The boy who died was our son. I hope all of his classmates learn from this tragic event. Too much speed and lack of driving experience are the sole reason for what happened. Your parents aren’t trying to bother you. Your parents have experience. The next time an officer pulls you over and yells at you for being an idiot, remember that he may have just seen one of these horrible, horrible accidents and another dead teen.” Amen to that.
Related coverage
- 2014/02/10 Teen killed in weekend crash near North Bend
- 2014/02/10 Valley teen killed in SUV accident along Middle Fork Road
- 2014/02/12 Memorial service is Friday for teen killed in Middle Fork accident
Painted Sign
Graffiti is not uncommon along the Middle Fork road, but it’s rare that it’s done so elaborately and results in such a cryptic message. Between the USFS and others, defacement of signs, bridges, trees, rocks and other objects doesn’t remain in place for long. That’s a good thing because graffiti contributes to a perception of disorder and permissiveness, and that can be reversed by timely removal.
This particular sign board has been in place since 2011, featuring several different messages all related to fire prevention.
January Storm Damage
Living Snoqualmie called it a one-two punch from Mother Nature. A warm front brought heavy rains and high winds to western Washington on January 11 and a flood watch was posted. But there has not been enough low elevation snow so far this winter to produce dangerously high volumes on the Middle Fork river and the flow peaked at a safe 7.76 feet/6,560 cfps at 1am on January 13. Fortunately there was no significant damage to the road surface. As expected, trees were downed, but all of them were already passable by mid-morning on January 12.
Dingford trailhead upgrade
In October 2013 the Forest Service completed a badly needed upgrade to the Dingford Creek trailhead. When the Middle Fork road was permanently gated here in June 2007 the Dingford trailhead absorbed the users that previously drove farther up the road to Goldmyer Hot Springs or the Dutch Miller Gap trailhead, in addition to those heading up the Dingford Creek trail or down to the bridge over the Middle Fork river to the Middle Fork trail. On sunny summer weekends the parking was often maxed out, and without any restroom facilities the surrounding forest was becoming a smelly mess. Besides a new prefab Cascadian Vault Restroom the parking lot received a thick layer of gravel and concrete parking bumpers. The bumpers increase the capacity encouraging diagonal parking on both sides of the trailhead area.
The Decision: Dingford Creek Trailhead
In conjunction with the conversion of Road 5600 past Dingford Creek to trail/private road, sanitation facilities will be provided at the Dingford Creek Trailhead. Additionally, the current capacity of 10-12 cars, parking will be expanded to up to a maximum of 30 cars. Cutting and grubbing alder and brush that have encroached into the parking area and into the south shoulder of Road 5600 just prior to the trailhead will accomplish this. Once cleaned, the area will be graded to provide the expanded parking.
Rock slide clearing
Sometime in the spring of 2013 a rock slide blocked the Middle Fork road about one mile before the Hardscrabble trailhead. As explained in the linked post, the USFS is committed to keeping a 40″ wide path open. So on September 18, 2013 a Forest Service crew spent a full day blasting the bigger rocks and rolling the smaller ones to clear the rock slide. This movie was made with two cameras mounted near the the blast site with additional audio edited in from the radios used to coordinate the closing of the trail for safety concerns.
Couplet culvert completed
After delays to coordinate with patches on the upper couplet and the discovery of a surprisingly large rock, construction of the new culvert on the lower couplet is complete. Notice how deep the concrete culvert frame is and then how little is exposed above the water in the last picture. The bottom is filled with natural stream bed material so fish can pass through easily.
Related Posts
- 07/25/2013 Lower couplet work delayed
- 06/28/2013 Lower Couplet closure in July
Mailbox parking problems
Nothing changed for a year and a half until the property was nearly sold and “Sale Pending” placards appeared. But something clearly went south because the property was not sold and a year later four large concrete blocks were placed in the pullout parking area with messages making it very clear that parking was forbidden. In the next couple weeks an access road to the parcels on the south side was cleared and more concrete blocks showed up.
This site does not cover private property issues other than transfers to public status, so no attempt will be made to explain this sequence of events. However, as of February, 2014 the DNR seems to be negotiating to purchase these properties to prevent development from creeping farther up the valley.