


“Thanks to all who have recreated responsibly, and for your patience and grace over the past year. The National Forest Foundation and Oregon Kitchen Table provided financial support from public donations, and funds donated at Multnomah Falls Lodge also helped sponsor the effort. Forest Service, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, the Pacific Crest Trail Association, Trailkeepers of Oregon and Friends of the Columbia Gorge all contributed to the restoration effort. Elevation: 1584 feet Description Angels Rest is an exposed bluff on the western end of the Columbia River Gorge. 4 of 2017.ĭue to slow but steady restoration efforts, the region is beginning to heal, though visitors and businesses in the Gorge are still feeling the lasting damage of the catastrophe. The damaged stretch of the Historic Columbia River Highway has been closed since Sept. It burned for three months, decimating 50,000 acres of the Gorge and reducing well-loved hiking areas to ashes. 2, 2017, by a Vancouver teen setting off illegal fireworks. The Eagle Creek Fire was ignited on Sept. It’s a designated National Historic Landmark. Volunteer trail crews also helped with invasive species removal and providing visitors with information.Ĭonstruction on the highway, which stretches for 75 miles on the south bank of the Columbia River, started over a century ago. The recovery included the removal of about 9,000 trees in danger of falling on the road and installation of more than 3,000 feet of protective fencing, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation. “Many dedicated people from throughout the region provided sweat equity or donations to our partners, who helped us bring about this day.” Falling trees, landslides, and debris flows are more likely in the burned areas because of unstable soil due to less vegetation to hold it in place. We encourage hikers to be extra alert when hiking in burned areas in the Gorge. Forest Service Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, in a media release Friday. This trail was impacted by the 2017 Eagle Creek fire. “It’s thrilling to be able to reconnect visitors with these much loved waterfalls and trails, which were hard hit by the fire,” said Lynn Burditt, area manager for the U.S. Several popular trails also reopened - hikers can again enjoy routes near Multnomah Falls including Angels Rest, Wahkeena and Larch Mountain Trail.
#Angels rest fire drivers
Six miles of the highway damaged in the fire, from Bridal Veil to Ainsworth, opened to drivers around 11 a.m.
#Angels rest fire full
(Run your mouse over the pictures to see “captions” (file names).The full length of the Historic Columbia River Highway is now open for the first time since the Eagle Creek Fire decimated the Columbia River Gorge last year. Visibility was almost perfect (I could see the tall buildings in downtown Portland), but low clouds over the Cascades obscured the high mountain peaks. Once at the top, my stay on the promontory was brief as I leaned against the wind and observed the whitecaps on the river below. Since it had been dry and cold for a few days, the tread up to Angels Rest was reasonably solid but less so once things had thawed out on the way back. I was already the 10th car there, but met most of the earlier arrivals coming down and assume they were sunrise bathers although, on this morning, the romantic tinges of orange creeping over the landscape were ardently enhanced by a steady sub-zero gale. to do the loop return from Devils Rest and post about it, I set out at 8:15 on a freezing Thursday morning from the Angels Rest parking lot. Having ascertained via interpretation of the Forest Service wording and my conscience, such as it is, that it would be O.K.
