Lower Elfendahl Pass Road Reopens

For nearly four years vehicles couldn’t drive on one of the most scenic roads on the Kitsap Peninsula. The lower section of Elfendahl Pass Road had been closed since December 2007, when 12 inches of rain over two days flooded Stimson Creek and caused several serious washouts. The photo shows the repairs to one of them. The road reopened last Thursday.

Photos of some of the damage caused by the December 2007 storm are included after the jump.

The lower section of Elfendahl Pass Road is a 1.8-mile shortcut that connects the North Shore Road with Belfair-Tahuya Road. Because no one lives along the road, it was last on the priority list of some 25 Mason County repair projects from the 2007 storm. The reason it was repaired at all is that it provides an alternate route for emergency crews if either end of Belfair-Tahuya Road is blocked. FEMA money paid for the repairs, which cost about $400,000.

The road makes a steady curving 400-foot climb through the woods from its starting point on the Hood Canal before leveling off just after entering the Tahuya State Forest. Elfendahl Pass is a couple of miles north of that point. Along the way it plays tag with Stimson Creek, which flows under it in three spots through what are probably now considered undersized culverts.

The route is lined with moss-draped maples, old-growth cedar and Douglas-fir, and legions of red alder growing in wet spots near the creek. Driving on it reminds me of driving through the Hoh Rain Forest on the western side of the Olympic Mountains. Often the tree canopy covers the road, allowing sunlight through on only the brightest days. The land climbs steeply away from the road on both sides. During rainy periods runoff creates a secondary stream on the side of the road opposite Stimson Creek. There are no gravel roads or trails leading off into the woods anywhere along it.

Yesterday on my bike ride what I noticed most were the red and gold autumn leaves everywhere and an almost complete silence. A few cars passed by and I stopped for a few minutes to talk to a hiker I met there last summer. But otherwise the only sound was the gentle whisper of Stimson Creek.