So there you have it.

• The Marbled Murrelet is an endangered seabird.
• The Marbled Murrelet is eaten by crows and other corvids.
• Crows associate people with food and tend to follow hikers.
• The Westwind Trail bisects what is perhaps the largest stand of Marbled Murrelet habitat left in Washington State.
• The addition of the trail closure was added to and existing project after the public comment period had passed. No public review was required by law.

The Full Explanation Arrives

A few days later I got a reply from Karen Clevenger, Records Manager with the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission.

It said, "Brian Yearout forwarded your email below to me for response since I had recently provided a response written by Jessica Logan, one of State Parks' Environmental Specialists, for a similar request. A copy of her response is attached to this email. This concludes our response to your request for public records or information."

There was a .PDF file attached with the following: (Click to see full sized)

I Find a Link and Send a Request for Information

I found this link:

Project Snapshot - Cape Disappointment Multi-Use Trail Extension
 
https://secure.rco.wa.gov/prism/search/ProjectSnapshot.aspx?ProjectNumber=10-1308

There seemed to be no mention of removing the Westwind Trail in the plan, so I sent some e-mail to Brian Yearout, the project contact:

Hello,

     I am looking for information on the closure of the Westwind Trail at Cape Disappointment State Park.  I understand that it was closed in conjunction with the Mult-Use Trail Extension, but I have not been able to find any information on it and was hoping that you might be able to point me in the right direction.

Thank you,
Terry Pack

I got a reply back a few days later:

Mr. Pack,

 I will have someone get back to you

Thanks,
Brian

Old Cape Disappontment State Park Map

The Old Map Showing the Westwind Trail

Frogs

No blog about the Westwind Trail would complete without mention of the frogs.  Every time I have hiked that trail I was amazed by the number of little brown frogs hopping off the trail just ahead of me.

As far as I can tell, they are all Northern Red-leg Frogs (rana aurora). Between the swampy area at the bottom of the hill and the rainy climate, it is an ideal place for these frogs to breed.  I suppose there would have to be a plentiful food supply too, but I don't remember ever seeing a fly or mosquito on the trail, unlike the North Head Trail on the other side of the hill, where there are swarms of them at times.    

 

Some pictures of the new trail taken mid-May 2015

The Trail Disapears

Last May I went to hike on one of my favorite trails, the Westwind Trail.  It is at Cape Disappointment State Park and runs between Beard's Hollow and the parking lot next to the North Head lighthouse. When I got to the parking lot, I found that the trailhead sign was gone and the little stairway over the muddy area at the start of the trail was missing as well.

My fist thought was that it was vandalism or something.  The trail took a little bit of looking to find and was apparently still in use as there were boot and dog prints on the trail. The sign to the lookout was gone as well.  Aside from one tree that had fallen across the trail, it was still in good condition.

At the lighthouse parking lot I found that someone had piled a bunch of brush at the end of the trail and removed the sign at the top of the trail.  New signs had been installed around the parking lot and none of them showed the Westwind Trail at all.

I talked with a ranger and he said that the trail had been removed as part of some kind of trade for the new trail that ran along side of the road that connected the North Head Lighthouse parking lot to the Discovery Trail.  "You can't just keep taking wilderness away, you need to give back."

This didn't sit right with me, especially since the new trail was practically a road, in some cases they just widened the road and put up jersey barriers between the path and the car traffic lanes. Hardly the same wilderness experience at all.