Scooter Chapman
Free advice on Hurricane Ridge
Published on Wed, Jun 30, 2010 by Scooter ChapmanRead More Chapman
Nobody at Olympic National Park asked me for my two-bits worth, and the group that is trying to get the park to keep Hurricane Ridge Road open every day from November to March hasn't asked for my advice, either.
In case you've been in California all winter and are summering in Sequim or Port Angeles, the park keeps the road open from late December to March on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, weather permitting.
The regional Chamber of Commerce says winter visits to the Olympic Peninsula would improve if the most popular spot in the vast park were open every day of the winter in November through March.
The park says it costs $325,000 for them to keep the road open and they can afford only $250,000, so if the chamber group and others want to keep the road open, they have to come up with $150,000 or $75,000 a year to make it happen.
Then I read that the park is going to spend more than $500,000 to replace a culvert on Olympic Hot Springs Road near the Elwha Ranger Station so salmon can have easier access up Griff Creek when the Glines Canyon Dam is taken down.
Granted, taking down some trees, taking out the existing road to remove the small culvert and putting in a giant one and then putting the road back into shape is costly, but over $500,000 to help salmon, which may or may not return to the river when the dams are removed, seems a bit too much.
Surely they could cut that by $75,000 or so and put that money toward getting real people who spend money while they are visiting our area instead of asking the public for funds.
Check it ... I forgot. The Elwha River money already has been allocated for that project, so none of those funds can be used elsewhere in the park. I guess that shoots down that idea.
Would having the road open every day in winter help attract more skiers and snowboarders to the Olympic Peninsula? Yes. But I doubt if the Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Club could afford to keep the two rope tows and Poma Lift going seven days a week.
If the park would authorize a double chair lift on top of the mountain, that would be a different story.
What do you think?
Wednesday Whirl
Oops - Yes, Martha, I did forget beautiful Sequim Bay State Park when I did my camping review after Memorial Day. How could I forget this state park that is so close to us and has everything from a ball field to great camping and RV spots, as well as a beach right on Sequim Bay?
Seems a lot of us, yours truly included, take this great spot for granted as we pass by at 55 mph on the highway. If you are up for a weekend, it's a great place.
Ski stuff - Big change under way at Crystal Mountain Resort. Work has begun on construction of a new high-speed Mount Rainier gondola. It will be the first for the Washington/Oregon ski areas.
The 18-cabin gondola will take skiers from the base to the summit of the Rainier Express chair. It will have 13 towers with a rise of 2,456 feet. Each cabin will carry skiers in comfort right to the top in 10 minutes and there will be an option to add 18 more with uphill capacity of 450 an hour to start.
It's a $5 million project, not including construction and labor costs. The new attraction will make the area a year-round resort as many will spend bucks to ride to the top for the view of Mount Rainier in the summer.
Can't wait to get on.
Scooter Chapman can be reached via e-mail at scooter@olypen.com.
In case you've been in California all winter and are summering in Sequim or Port Angeles, the park keeps the road open from late December to March on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, weather permitting.
The regional Chamber of Commerce says winter visits to the Olympic Peninsula would improve if the most popular spot in the vast park were open every day of the winter in November through March.
The park says it costs $325,000 for them to keep the road open and they can afford only $250,000, so if the chamber group and others want to keep the road open, they have to come up with $150,000 or $75,000 a year to make it happen.
Then I read that the park is going to spend more than $500,000 to replace a culvert on Olympic Hot Springs Road near the Elwha Ranger Station so salmon can have easier access up Griff Creek when the Glines Canyon Dam is taken down.
Granted, taking down some trees, taking out the existing road to remove the small culvert and putting in a giant one and then putting the road back into shape is costly, but over $500,000 to help salmon, which may or may not return to the river when the dams are removed, seems a bit too much.
Surely they could cut that by $75,000 or so and put that money toward getting real people who spend money while they are visiting our area instead of asking the public for funds.
Check it ... I forgot. The Elwha River money already has been allocated for that project, so none of those funds can be used elsewhere in the park. I guess that shoots down that idea.
Would having the road open every day in winter help attract more skiers and snowboarders to the Olympic Peninsula? Yes. But I doubt if the Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Club could afford to keep the two rope tows and Poma Lift going seven days a week.
If the park would authorize a double chair lift on top of the mountain, that would be a different story.
What do you think?
Wednesday Whirl
Oops - Yes, Martha, I did forget beautiful Sequim Bay State Park when I did my camping review after Memorial Day. How could I forget this state park that is so close to us and has everything from a ball field to great camping and RV spots, as well as a beach right on Sequim Bay?
Seems a lot of us, yours truly included, take this great spot for granted as we pass by at 55 mph on the highway. If you are up for a weekend, it's a great place.
Ski stuff - Big change under way at Crystal Mountain Resort. Work has begun on construction of a new high-speed Mount Rainier gondola. It will be the first for the Washington/Oregon ski areas.
The 18-cabin gondola will take skiers from the base to the summit of the Rainier Express chair. It will have 13 towers with a rise of 2,456 feet. Each cabin will carry skiers in comfort right to the top in 10 minutes and there will be an option to add 18 more with uphill capacity of 450 an hour to start.
It's a $5 million project, not including construction and labor costs. The new attraction will make the area a year-round resort as many will spend bucks to ride to the top for the view of Mount Rainier in the summer.
Can't wait to get on.
Scooter Chapman can be reached via e-mail at scooter@olypen.com.
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