Middle Fork Road Re-Opens for Memorial Day Weekend
Repairs to the flood-damaged Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Road will be completed in time to re-open for the upcoming holiday weekend.
Prized for its remote and rugged landscape—just 45 minutes from Seattle—the Middle Fork Valley is a paradise for hikers, kayakers, bikers, climbers, and campers. Popular activities include kayaking the Middle Fork River, hiking through the lush rainforests along the Middle Fork Trail, climb training on Mailbox Peak, and camping at the Middle Fork Campground.
For the past five months the only access road into the valley has been closed due to heavy flood damage that occurred during January’s massive rainstorm. Road crews have been working hard to repair three impassable wash-outs, with repairs to be completed in time for a Memorial Day opening.
Memorial Day Weekend Schedule
The road will open to all traffic from 6pm Thursday May 21 until 6am Tuesday May 26. The weekly midweek closures will begin again at that time, keeping the road closed to all access beyond Valley Camp until noon on Friday May 29.
Summer Construction and Closure Schedule
The 2015 summer construction work has now started, part of a three year road improvement project that will pave the first 10 miles of the road (see below). Effective now and continuing all summer, the road will be closed to all access past Valley Camp (including no access to Mailbox Peak) noon Monday – noon Friday. During the weekends (noon Friday – noon Monday), the road will re-open.
Middle Fork Road Improvement Project
A construction project on 10 miles of the Middle Fork Road will improve recreation access for hikers, kayakers, mountain bikers, equestrians and others who enjoy this nearby wild valley. Major improvements to this notorious, pothole-filled access road will take place over three summers, 2014-2016. The Federal Highway Administration awarded the construction contract to Active Construction of Tacoma. This long-awaited project will greatly enhance water quality in the valley, reduce sediment runoff into wetlands and streams, diminish summer dust clouds from the current gravel road, and open coastal cutthroat trout migration routes that have been blocked for decades.
While recreation-seekers will be impacted by summer construction closures, in the long term the new road will allow much improved access into the spectacular Middle Fork Valley.
