The road to Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park will reopen for the upcoming three-day holiday weekend. But the road to the park’s most popular winter play area will be open just weekends and holidays likely until spring.

A park official late Wednesday announced plans for getting vehicles and park visitors around the 100-foot slide on Glacier Hill, above the bridge over the Nisqually River. The slide was discovered a week ago as park staff tried to reopen the road following a week of heavy snow then rain. Half of the uphill lane slid 30 to 40 down the steep hillside.

Because the damage was done in an area prone to avalanches, repairs won’t occur until winter snows subside, probably in May, said park spokeswoman Lee Taylor.

To get vehicles through the area, flaggers will be stationed near the bridge and at a spot at the top of the hill where it is safe for cars to line up. The flaggers will allow traffic to move through the area, one direction at a time.

“The traffic through the damaged area will have to be pretty tightly managed,” Taylor said. “We don’t people stopping in that area.”

Drivers shouldn’t expect lengthy delays, though, because the majority of the traffic is going uphill in the morning and down in the afternoon.

The decision to open the road only for weekends and holidays, Taylor said, was based on several factors: the cost of stationing people on the road seven days a week, to allow plows to work unhindered by traffic on Fridays to have it ready for the weekend and traffic volumes.

On weekends, 300 to 600 cars use the road on weekends, compared to 100 to 200 on weekdays, she said.

“It’s a weighing of the cost versus the benefit,” Taylor said.

The road will be open at Longmire as soon as crews have cleared any new snow. Park visitors should call 360-569-2211 for the latest road report.

You can be assured of two things if you teach your kids how to ski and snowboard at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.

First, you are going to save a small fortune.

Second, your kids are going to be a little tougher than they would be if they’d learned someplace with extravagancies like chairlifts.

At Hurricane Ridge a family can ski all year for $375, but they’ll have to ride rope tows and be content with never seeing the best runs groomed.

“Kids who learn to ski here, can ski anywhere,” said Lori Lynn Gray, head of the Hurricane Ridge ski and snowboard school. “You have to hike to get to the good stuff.
“Hurricane Ridge is not for wussies.”

In fact, Gray isn’t opposed to poking some good-natured fun at those who flock to the big mountains in the Cascades to cruise groomed runs.

“You go to a place like Crystal and ride up the hill on those soft, couch-like chairlifts and then ski down a trail that’s been groomed for you,” Gray said. “That’s not skiing.”

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Mount Rainier National Park trails crews will proceed this spring or summer with a reroute of the Wonderland Trail in the Carbon River area.

Park officials this morning announced that the environmental review process has been completed for proposed trail repairs to a
flood-damaged section of the trail.

The Finding of No Significant Impact was signed by Acting Regional
Director George Turnbull on Dec. 10. The finding records the decision of the National Park Service to relocate the damaged portion of the trail to higher ground above the floodplain, said a park news release.

The reroute will provide access to the Carbon Glacier and Carbon River wilderness and will retain a historic segment of the Carbon River Wonderland Trail.

The project involves relocating approximately 1/4-mile of trail to higher ground above the floodplain of the Carbon River as described in the Environmental Assessment. Trail construction will occur in designated wilderness and will include blasting of bedrock to create a pathway along steep side slopes. The project will include measures to avoid and minimize harm to federal and state protected species and their habitats, wilderness values, and other protected natural and cultural resources, the release said.

This spring or summer, volunteers and conservation corps members will assist park trail crews in building the reroute. Although a bypass trail will remain open during the construction period, hikers may experience short delays during blasting operations. The project is expected to be completed by October 2010.

Click here to see both the finding and EA. Choose Mount Rainier National Park from the drop-down menu.

Director Mary A. Bomar announced yesterday she will retire on Tuesday, capping a 25 year federal career that included becoming the first naturalized citizen to lead the NPS.

I've met Bomar once and interviewed her several times. She seemed genuinely concerned when she visited Mount Rainier National Park after the historic November 2006 flood. I remember her stopping to talk to as many of the frontline employees that she could while touring the park.

Bomar also worked to get children more involved with national parks, a theme I've been pushing for several years. To that end, the NPS launched a new kids Web site last year.

Here is the rest of the news release:

“It has been my privilege to lead the 20,000 men and women of the National Park Service for the past 27 months,” said Bomar. “But Inauguration Day marks the end of my tenure as Director. It is time for me to hang up my ranger hat, finish my Park Service career and retire with over 25 years of government service.”

Bomar became the 17th Director of the National Park Service on Oct. 17, 2006. She leads a team of 20,000 employees and 172,000 volunteers in administering 391 national park units and related cultural and natural heritage programs. The parks welcomed more than 275 million visitors in 2007.

Bomar’s tenure was highlighted by the largest increase in operational funds for fiscal year 2008, and an ambitious plan preparing for the NPS Centennial in 2016. In 2008, the National Park Service Centennial Challenge leveraged a $25 million appropriation with private sector matching money to fund 111 programs benefitting 76 parks in 38 states.

In a memo to NPS employees, Bomar wrote, “If parks are America’s best idea,then certainly you are the best America has to offer…there is a new hope and confidence in the future—that we will enter our second century prepared to meet any challenge we face.” She added, “Directors will come and go, but the places are timeless—and the hearts of those who care for them are bigger than the 84 million acres in the system.”

Bomar and her husband will relocate to Texas, where she spent the early days of her NPS career, which began at Amistad National Recreation Area, Texas, where she became chief of administration. During her four-year tenure at Amistad, the NPS took advantage of her management expertise, assigning her a portfolio as a management circuit rider, assisting many national park sites in the Southwest.

In January 1994, Director Bomar accepted a management position at San
Antonio Missions National Historical Park—home to the largest collection of Spanish Colonial resources in the United States—and was promoted to the position of assistant superintendent. Before her move to Oklahoma, she completed a detail as the acting superintendent of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

Director Bomar served as superintendent of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia from 2003-2005. There she presided over what was termed the "largest urban redevelopment project in America," a $340 million reconstruction of Independence Mall. The project included the relocation of the Liberty Bell to its new home in the Liberty Bell Center.

Selected as Regional Director of the NPS Northeast Region in July 2005, Director Bomar led the strategic planning, management and operation for more than 100 parks and areas of national significance plus numerous technical assistance and partnership programs in the 13-state region.

Prior to her National Park Service career, Director Bomar worked for the United States Air Force in the Morale Welfare and Recreation Program at various bases in the United States and Europe, and as a member of the Inspector General team.

Deputy Director Dan Wenk will serve as Acting Director until a new NPS Director is nominated and confirmed. “Dan has done a great job as Deputy Director,” said Bomar, “and I know he will continue to take care of the people, programs and places in the National Park Service.”