Mount Rainier National Park officials need to find an alternative that keeps a road through the Carbon River corridor.

Earlier this month, the park released preliminary options for dealing with the Carbon River Road, which was severely damaged by the historic November 2006 flood.

There are three proposals, some of which involve two phases. In only one scenario would the road be maintained, but only the undamaged lower section and only for the short term. Eventually, it would be replaced by a hiking trail.

I understand the road has been expensive to maintain. For a variety of reasons, however, I feel elimination of the road would be detrimental to future park users.

 • Eliminating the road puts the hike to Carbon Glacier beyond the ability of many people. Park staffers admit the hike from Ipsut Creek Campground to the glacier is among the park’s most popular. But the road’s closure turned a seven-mile round-trip hike into a 16-mile trek. Often touted as a good family hike and the shortest hike to the snout of a glacier in the lower 48 states, it is now doable only by the fittest of visitors.

 • Paradise and Sunrise, the park’s two busiest destinations, are showing the strain of constant visitor use. Park statistics show that 13 percent of all park visitors go to the Carbon River-Mowich Lake area. Where will those people go if the road is eliminated? They will add to the crowds in other parts of the park, or – worse – won’t come at all.

 • When Paradise Inn was undergoing a two-season renovation, the park took the opportunity to restore the building’s historic character. Park Superintendent Dave Uberagua explained they opted to restore parts of the building that best reflected the original design for the longest time. Using that standard, I believe the best example of historic usage in the Carbon River corridor is a road leading to a year-round campground.

 • The park’s general management plan calls for closing the road should it suffer “a major washout.” I admit it’s difficult to describe the damage in any other terms. My contention, however, is the plan is based on a flawed premise.

At the urging of then National Park Service director Stephen Mather, the road was built along the river. In the late 1920s, when the federal Bureau of Public Roads began working with the park service, it raised a flag of caution. “The road will be flood-prone in perpetuity, due to its location in the Carbon River floodplain,” bureau engineers said in a report to the park. Why then, wasn’t the road moved to higher ground?

Park Service leadership failed to heed that warning and clung to the master plan written to guide the park’s development. Such plans are great, but they should never be considered carved in stone.

The solution is to rebuild the road at a higher elevation, which makes for another problem. To do so would put the road inside the wilderness area, where roads are prohibited. Issues involving endangered species and historic landmark designations make the task even more daunting.

When I asked, assistant park superintendent Randy King said it would take an act of Congress to change the wilderness boundary.

If that’s what’s needed, let this be the first call to our park supporters in Congress, Norm Dicks and Dave Reichart.

I feel the park should be accessible to all who want to visit to the greatest extent possible. Eliminating the Carbon River Road will make that goal harder to achieve and only add pressure to areas already suffering from wayward human footprints.

Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640

jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com

blogs.thenewstribune.com/adventure

Get involved

Learn about park plans at www.nps.gov/mora. Send comments by July 31.

In writing: Superintendent, Mount Rainier National Park, 55210 238th Ave. E., Ashford, WA 98304-9751

E-mail: mora_ superintendent@nps.gov

Online: parkplanning. nps.gov/mora (click on Mount Rainier link)