ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 25, 1996 TAG: 9601250027
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PEMBROKE
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
Nature had its way with the man-made Lower Cascades Trail last week, so much so that Western Virginia's most popular hiking path has been closed indefinitely.
After melting snow and heavy thunderstorms turned babbling Little Stony Creek into a raging torrent, the flooded stream destroyed much of the two-mile waterside trail.
Both trail bridges that cross the creek were ripped from their moorings and washed away. Additionally, extensive sections of the footpath were eroded away, and debris and flotsam blocks much of what trail remains.
Forest Service officials, after assessing the damage Wednesday, couldn't say when the Cascades Trail will be reopened. It may be late spring before reconstruction crews can begin work, Blacksburg District Ranger David Collins said.
Preliminary estimates are that the trail may cost $300,000 to rebuild.
Until then, a makeshift footpath that follows parts of both the Upper and Lower Cascades Trail may have to do. However, the higher trail, which follows an old access road, also was washed out in places.
High water has washed out parts of the 30-year-old Giles County trail in the past, but flood damage has never been this severe before, officials said.
The disaster is a significant setback for efforts to upgrade facilities at the Cascades Recreation Area, which were funded by a $176,000 federal grant. Although newly landscaped picnic areas and parking lots and a new building housing restrooms weren't damaged by the flood, they won't be useful until the trail is reopened.
As workers secured a locked gate at the trailhead, Forest Service officials said they plan to seek emergency funding through the Federal Highway Administration to reconstruct the Cascades tail, which attracts an estimated 70,000 hikers annually.
However, any effort to rebuild the trail may be complicated by the ongoing congressional budget battles. Forest Service employees, furloughed last month during the federal government shut-down, may be laid off again if another impasse occurs.
That uncertainty, in addition to reductions in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests' budget for trails, may swamp efforts to repair the Cascades quickly.
"It's going to be a challenge," said David Olson, Forest Service public affairs officer.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Gene Dalton. Stone steps are all that remain of thisby CNBcrossing after high waters washed out the bridge that traversed
Little Stony Creek and carried hikers to the Cascades. color.