Driving the road October 9 & 10, I discovered several pieces of heavy equipment (bulldozers, etc.) along the road. There are a number of areas where fresh dirt has been spread and smoothed. It looks like some culverts have been repaired or replaced. I'm not sure if this means there will be more logging activity in the area or if this is just routine maintenance. The gate at the metal bridge was open Thursday when I started my hike, but closed on Friday when I came out. There is still a major washout on the far side of the bridge, but if you keep to the west side of the bridge, it appears you can probably get across without bottoming out. While there were fresh tire tracks continuing as far as the AT crossing pull out, the bridge still looks pretty questionable to me. (I would suggest "eyeballing" it yourself before trying to cross it.) Obviously, if you did choose to park closer to the AT crossing, it would be critical to know the gate opening/closing schedule. There was a fresh blowdown blocking the road between the AT pull out and the actual AT crossing. Easy to hike around but no way to get a car around it, so that's as far as you can go at this time. The walk from the gate to the AT crossing is very easy and takes no more than 10 minutes if you choose not to cross the bridge or if the gate is closed.
Jay Baxter
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Jay Baxter
[email protected]
