PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Crews with the U.S. Forest Service showed KOIN 6 News the damage done to the Eagle Creek Trail — where the destructive fire started in September 2017.
Crews recently finished a nearly 3-mile assessment of the trail, which leads to Punchbowl Falls, for the first time since the Eagle Creek Fire erupted. The fire was one of the worst blazes the Columbia River Gorge has seen in generations — burning nearly 50,000 acres.
While the USFS crews have been working tirelessly, it could be years before the Eagle Creek Trail reopens.
“There were more than 50 logs down the first 2.6 miles of this trail and I was told that that was the most amount of trees fallen across this trail in any assessment we’ve completed today,” Lily Palmer, the public affairs specialist with USFS, said.
Crews found several rock slides burying the trail. The fire also destroyed the first bridge on the trail and the Fern Creek Bridge, however, the Tish Creek Bridge remained untouched.
“One of the more dramatic things that were noted in the trail report was that there was a large section of cliff basalt cliff, just downstream from Punchbowl Falls that collapsed into the creek,” Palmer said.
The Forest Service hoped to open up a nearby campground sometime in May, but the rock and tree hazards continue to be a problem — especially on the Eagle Creek exit people need to take to get there.
Kent Kalsch, the transportation maintenance manager with ODOT, said they’ve identified 70 and 80 hazards in the area and are working to remove them.
A big concern for crews is that more trees will continue to fall on the trail, which is why the Forest Service says they have no timeline on when they can reopen the Eagle Creek Trail.