FORKS — After more than four months of closure, the Upper Hoh Road is repaired and set to reopen this week.
The Olympic National Park’s (ONP) visitor area for the Hoh Rain Forest, including trails, the parking area and restrooms, will reopen to the public at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
At noon, a ceremony will take place at the repair site. Gov. Bob Ferguson will join local officials and community members for a ribbon cutting to commemorate the completion of the project, according to a Jefferson County press release.
Portions of the road were washed away in December, nearing the center line, at milepost 9.7, said Eric Kuzma, Jefferson County’s deputy public works director.
The river typically flows at 3,000 cubic feet per second (CFS), but during the December storm, it surged at 30,000 CFS, Kuzma said.
“We’ve seen it get up to 60,000,” he added. “So huge fluctuation in potential flows, but 30,000 was enough, and has been in the past, to do significant damage.”
Federal funding options, which have repaired the road in the past, did not come through. And Jefferson County, which owns the road, did not have funds in its roads budget for the repair.
Lissy Andros, the Forks Chamber of Commerce’s executive director, said she’s seen a number of road closures since she’s been in the area since 2011, but repairs have always been timely.
“When I learned there was a real possibility this road failure could mean visitors were shut out of the Hoh Rain Forest during peak visitor season, I knew we had to act,” Ferguson said in a statement included in the Jefferson County press release. “I asked my team to look for ways we could help get the road open.”
On March 8, Ferguson and his staff had a Zoom meeting to discuss the potential of using the Governor’s Strategic Reserve Fund (SRF).
In attendance was state Sen. Mike Chapman, D-Port Angeles, state Reps. Steve Tharinger, D-Port Townsend, Adam Bernbaum, D-Port Angeles, and Jake Fey, D-Tacoma, along with their staff, Jefferson County Commissioner Heidi Eisenhour, Jefferson County staff, a Clallam County commissioner, Clallam County Administrator Todd Mielke, Forks Mayor Tim Fletcher and Forks city staff, Jefferson County Public Works Director Monte Reinders said.
Later that week, during a press conference in Seattle, Ferguson confirmed use of the SRF funds, which required private funds as well. The SRF funded $623,000, and $23,000 in private donations were raised for the repairs, which were made by Seton Construction of Port Townsend and members of the Jefferson County Public Works crew, according to the press release.
“This project represents a true partnership in action,” Reinders said in the release. “We’re grateful for the support of Governor Ferguson, the private donors, and our hardworking local contractors and crews.”
In 2024, the Hoh Rainforest fee booth saw 175,000 vehicle trips, with an estimated 450,000 visitors, according to the press release.
A statement from the governor’s office following their commitment of funds said tourists spent more than $444 million in Jefferson and Clallam counties in 2023, generating nearly $39 million in state and federal taxes.
“I think had it not reopened, people would have really been bracing themselves for a tough summer,” Andros said. “People come here because it’s beautiful. We have 73 miles of wilderness coastline, but the Hoh Rainforest is the shining star.”
Anna Matsche, who owns Hard Rain Cafe on the Upper Hoh Road, said she was heartened to see how much Forks-area support there was for finding a solution; The Forks Chamber of Commerce, Forks area hotel owners and Airbnb owners came together to find a solution, she said.
Having always seen the Upper Hoh Road repairs completed in relatively short time frames in the past, Matsche said she was surprised and concerned when her first phone call to the county yielded a troubling conclusion — the county had no money or plans for the repair.
Matsche said the initial experience was negative, but it lit a fire under her to engage the process to drum up support for the road repairs. Matsche said she consistently engaged the county commissioners, making public comments at their weekly Monday meetings by Zoom.
“It was a learning experience for all of us,” Matsche said. “In the end, the takeaway is that investing time into the process of government does make sense and it does work, but also, in the middle of it, it can feel really frustrating and you can also feel like, maybe you’re not being taken seriously.”
The Hard Rain Cafe opened its season in March, Matsche said.
“It was financially pretty ugly in March and April,” she said.
Last year, the cafe was staffed by two people during the week and three people through the weekend, Matsche said. This year, the cafe was staffed by one person per day throughout the week and weekend.
“It wasn’t even worth it at that,” Matsche said. “Just a tough season, but we definitely wanted to keep our staff. We didn’t want to lose anybody.”
Matsche gave some of her staff hours at her other business, Native to Twilight.
The Hard Rain Cafe sells year-specific merchandise, which they order a year in advance, she said. Loss of merchandise revenue for the months of March and April will affect the business year, she said. Hard Rain Cafe merchandise can be purchased online from Native to Twilight, she added.
In response to how busy the park area became during the COVID-19 pandemic, Matsche’s parents, Gary and Charlotte Peterson, who own the Hoh Valley Cabins, located behind Hard Rain Cafe, opened two small alternative trails. The trails are open to the public.
A map of the trails is located at https://olympicpeninsula.org/land-of-legends-trail-map.
ONP has prepared the visitor area by flushing water systems, bringing wastewater systems back online, ensuring emergency communications systems are functional, among other things, according to the press release.
In addition, the park used closure time to repair and fortify a failing culvert, the release said.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com
