The aftermath of 'pineapple express'

Park officials say melting snow may reveal more trail damage

Glacier National Park trail crews continue to find and fix trails damaged by last fall's "pineapple express" rainstorm.

But the worst damage may be hidden by the deep snow that still covers trails at higher elevations, including the popular Highline Trail.

"On the Highline, we really just don't know," said Cory Shea, trails foreman for the west side of the park. "There's a strong assumption that it got hit hard, given the amount of debris that crossed Sun Road."

Indeed, Going-to-the-Sun Road was buried by debris slides in several places below the Highline Trail, which roughly parallels the road on the Garden Wall slopes above.

Shea said the Highline Trail was damaged by a rainstorm in June that delivered about 3 inches of water in 24 hours. The pineapple express that hit the park in early November dumped roughly 11 inches of rain, most of it in a single day.

It appears the most-damaging rain descended on the Many Glacier Valley.

Two bridges were washed out on the trail between Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine, and considerable trail tread damage exists, said Dan Jacobs, trails foreman for the east side of the park.

The damage tally east of the Continental Divide is 13 washed-out bridges, roughly 9,000 cubic feet of fill is needed to restore trails, and about 375 feet of trail boardwalk needs repairs, Jacobs said.

"We still don't have a good handle on [all the damage] because a lot of it is still covered with snow," he said.

That includes upper elevations of the Grinnell Glacier Trail. "That's the million-dollar question, how badly that was damaged," Jacobs said, adding that snowcover might have protected the trail from erosive damage.

Elsewhere on the east side, two bridges were washed out on the trail to Gunsight Lake.

"One is an 80-foot horse bridge that we can't find," Jacobs said. "We've been down the creek about a mile and still haven't found it."

Repairs are under way on two suspension bridges that were damaged by last summer's Red Eagle Fire and flooding.

A section of trail along Red Eagle Creek was washed away, "calving" into the creek, Jacobs said.

"It's amazing what Mother Nature can do in the course of 24 hours," Jacobs said.

Shea said repairs are under way on at least 1,000 feet of damage to the Flattop Trail, including a suspension bridge that serves as a "major crossing" over Mineral Creek that was damaged. Trail crews also are working to repair damage to the trail connecting the Loop to Granite Park Chalet.

Damage exists to the trail from the head of Bowman Lake, and to trails between Kintla Lake and Upper Kintla Lake.

Park officials have estimated that the cost of repairing trail damage could reach $1 million, and some emergency funds have been used. A campaign led by the nonprofit Glacier National Park Fund seeks to raise $150,000 in donations, and some of that money probably will be used by the end of summer, after the full extent of trail damage has been assessed, Shea said.