OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK – The Heart O’ The Hills campground will be closed for about a month while work continues to clear “quite a bit” of blown down trees and other debris from last week’s storm, said Barb Maynes, Olympic National Park spokesperson.
The roads into the Hoh and Ozette areas are clear of downed trees and the road into the Sol Duc area is clear of trees and open as weather conditions allow, Maynes said.
The Olympic Hot Springs Road into the Elwha area of the park has re-opened and the transmission line from the Elwha Dam has been repaired, but the one to the Glines Canyon Dam still needs to be fixed, she said.
No cost estimates for the damage are available yet, Maynes said.
The Nov. 12 storm – which included 123 mph winds at Glines Canyon Dam – closed several roads in 922,000-acre Olympic National Park, including the Hoh, Sol Duc, Ozette, Olympic Hot Springs, Hurricane Ridge plus the campgrounds accessed by those roads.
Maynes said winds of 123 mph were recorded at Glines Canyon Dam.
Those winds brought down a “huge amount” of electrical poles and lines.
Olympic National Park personnel cleaned up the debris, but couldn’t get to much of the area because of the downed electrical lines, she said.
Linemen crews from the city of Port Angeles repaired the lines and poles in the Elwha area, since park crews don’t have that kind of training, Maynes said.
“This is a great opportunity to say publicly that we really appreciate the efforts in getting the lines back up,” she said.
Jim Klarr, light operations manager for the city of Port Angeles, summed up the scene succinctly: “It was a mess.”
The transmission line was down in numerous locations south of U.S. Highway 101 between the highway and the two Elwha River dams, Klarr said.
So linemen crews changed out three poles and several broken crossarms and restrung the power line across the river, he said.
Three of the five loops at the popular Heart O’ The Hills campground had reopened only in late June after a six-month closure to fix damage caused by the Dec. 15, 2006 windstorm.
It had been the last of the Olympic National Park areas that are usually accessible by vehicles to reopen after wind and snow in November and December prompted closures of campgrounds and roads.
Those storms that stretched over two months caused an estimated $5.5 million in damage to the park.
In Chimacum, the campground at Lower Oak Bay Park has been closed for safety precautions until April 1, said Matt Tyler, Jefferson County Parks and Recreation manager.
The 26-acre park is located at the northern end of Oak Bay on Portage Way Road and will remain open as a day-use area.
The 12 campsites have been hit hard in past winter storms, as well as one last week, and so the decision was made to close them, Tyler said.
“The spit of land that holds the campground is eroding, and the erosion is causing more wind and wave action on the campground,” Tyler said.
“Normally, it’s been open year-round, but because of this erosion, it’s not safe.”
The asphalt on the road leading to the water-front campground has been especially torn up by wind and waves, Tyler said.
Tyler said the closure has nothing to do with funding shortfalls Parks and Recreation is experiencing that was reported last week.
“The closure is strictly for safety reasons,” he said.
