PORT ANGELES — Stubborn landslides are making the Port Angeles Waterfront Trail a muddy mess and forcing trail users to take detours.
The Waterfront Trail, a portion of the Olympic Discovery Trail that passes along the Port Angeles coastline near the Strait of Juan de Fuca, has slides somewhere along the route year-round, said Corey Delikat, director of the Port Angeles Parks and Recreation Department.
Three weeks ago, a large slide occurred on a section of the trail 3 miles east of City Pier, and the slide is still active, Delikat said.
He said muddy material has continued to ooze over the path, creating a barrier to the hikers, runners and cyclists who use the trail.
“It’s no surprise,” he said.
Delikat said that while just about any area of the bluffs can slide, there are some areas that are more problematic than others.
The current slide is part of the most active slide area, a milelong section of bluffs located 2.5 to 3.5 miles east of City Pier.
Delikat said there is a section of trail near Olympic Medical Center that also has repeated slides.
“It’s an ongoing problem, and it’s likely to continue to be ongoing,” he said.
Delikat said slide activity is inherent to the geology of the bluffs and there is little the parks department can do to stop the slides, which are triggered by heavy rain and groundwater.
The worst of the slides are usually during rainy winters.
But slides occur all year long.
“Even in August, there is water coming out of the bluffs,” Delikat said.
The Peninsula Trails Coalition, which manages the Olympic Discovery Trail, usually manages slide areas, he said, but some are too large for the trails volunteers, and the city recreation department will clear city-owned sections of the path of the worst of debris.
“It’s been a difficult winter for us between the Dungeness Railroad Bridge and the slides,” said Gordon Taylor, project manager for the Peninsula Trails Coalition, referring to the closure of the iconic bridge in early February after floods washed out trestle pilings.
When the slide that occurred three weeks ago came down, it pulled with it a large clump of alder trees and threatened to keep sliding, Taylor said.
“We closed the trail for a week,” he said, adding that even when the trail is open, trail users should be cautious in known slide areas.
Taylor said the trail organization volunteers do as much as they can with shovels, but when there are trees, boulders or very large volumes of material, they call the city for help.
In Sequim, a portion of the Olympic Discovery Trail that crosses the Dungeness River is closed at Railroad Bridge after the river flooded, changed course and washed out 100-year-old trestle pilings Feb. 6.
Visitors can walk onto the bridge, which is in the Dungeness River Audubon Center park at 2151 W. Hendrickson Road, but access is blocked to the trestle on the west end of the bridge and to the trail beyond it.
The bridge is owned by the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, which is examining how to make repairs.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
