Washington Land

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Ashford's destruction greatly exaggerated.


After reading articles in the Eatonville Dispatch and the Seattle Times about the flooding. I was worried about the land up there that I have listed and am selling. I went up there today to show some land and I wondered if I would even be able to get there. As usual the newspapers sensationalized the issue. The river looked pretty much as usual except you could tell it had had a little higher flow previously as you can see green tree branches on the sandbars.
Nisqually River
The Seattle Times reported that Highway 706 was undergoing repairs but I saw no recent repairs on the Highway. Perhaps they were referring to the section of the road after it entered into the park (although most people call the road Paradise Road at this point and not Highway 706). Seeing how Highway 706's actual name is State Route 706 and when it enters the park it is no longer Washington's road but a Federal one so it has a different name (If you don't believe me, check a map). The park was indeed closed but I had no problem driving to the end of Highway 706 to the entrance of Mt. Rainier National Park, where a ranger turned me back. Although it wouldn't be as sensational to say that the driveway to Mount Rainier is closed. With all the actual flooding that happened over Washington due to this storm, one wonders why they had to stretch the truth here. They could have gone out to the Carbon River entrance and seen some real problems.

I wanted to get a nice picture of the washout on Forest Road 52 but it was already filled in. There is a picture of it in the Eatonville Dispatch article I linked to up above.

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