Mineral King Update 1/21/2023

Hello friends,

I just spoke with Rick Hall who was on the helicopter today and able to review the storm damage from the air. The short answer is that there was no major significant damage (total road washouts) that we could see from above. There is a lot of erosion and rutting along the roadside but unless we missed anything major (possible) the two areas where the road has been undercut that you have previously seen are probably the worst damage to the road.

They flew the entire roadway and circled around the cabins looking for any obvious damage. They saw none. I know that won't put everyone's mind to ease as you are aware it is possible to miss seeing damage through the trees, but there was no obvious catastrophic damage to the cabins. No land, mud, or snow slides around them. No tree failures were seen to have impacted the structures. Overall, they said it look surprisingly good. 

Highbridge did release. Snow in that area is estimated to be 30 feet deep. That's going to be a challenge, like every year. There is still snow on the road, so it's possible that we missed something, but I'm feeling much more positive about the impacts thus far. 

Rick is working on getting some help through various means to put people on the Mineral King Road to start clearing slides and hardening drainages. We have to take certain steps to bring people on board, but he is working with some of our retirees to see if we can make a temporary hire or work through a volunteer process to speed things up. We need to take care of these folks, so it will take a bit of time to make anything happen. As always, I'll try to keep you apprised of our progress. 

Thanks, 

Dave Fox

Sequoia District Ranger

559-565-3710 office

559-565-3195 24-hour emergency operations center

9-1-1 Physical Emergency

9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Hotline