Grey's River Landslide

[cpiercem]

Porcupine landslide still moving, could dam Greys River - Buckrail, Jackson Hole News

Thought this might be of interest to many of you.

 

[hurricane]

Porcupine landslide still moving, could dam Greys River - Buckrail, Jackson Hole News

Thought this might be of interest to many of you.

This a Big Problem, for anyone driving up from the Alpine/Jackson area. The meadow section is approximately in the 30 mile range, the other routes are major undertakings.
Last year when the Hoback Canyon was closed due to a fire the shortest available route to Jackson was through McDougal Pass to the Grey’s River Rd, now this option may be lost.

 

[cpiercem]

Yes, it is a big problem to be able to get into there from just about any route. Last year the upper end of the Greys River Rd was in really bad shape with washed over areas and some places where the road has been eaten by the upper creek. Not to mention that the Smith Fork road was almost as bad. The snow melt had run down the middle of the road and washed a canyon down the middle of it.

To top it off I was over the LaBarge Rd a couple of years ago, and it is even in worse shape than the other two. The county turned road maintenance on the LaBarge Rd over to the owners along the road from about midway up. The national forest section at the top is good. The county section at the bottom is good, but the middle is alternating BLM and private. A guy at the top doesn't want the road repaired so it isn't. There are washouts and some real messes.

 

[mcnerney]

Cindy

Thanks for the heads up, that is going to really impact those fishermen that want to fish the Grey's this year.

 

[fredaevans]

This type of cave in used to be a real issue on a couple of Western Washington (Sky, Snohomish, etc.) Rivers; real pain if you wanted go fishing. River(s) could be blown out for weeks due to mud.

 

[buffler razz]

Updated today....Looks like no repair until it stops moving.

No quick fix for landslide in Greys River - Buckrail, Jackson Hole News

 

[cpiercem]

And this one on the closure downstream of the slide: Forest closes Greys River, too unstable after landslide - Buckrail, Jackson Hole News

 

[mcnerney]

Cindy
Thanks for the link, that was pretty interesting to see the size of that land slide.

 

[just4grins]

About all you can do is hope this turns into a great tailwater opportunity. Mother Nature at work.

 

[cpiercem]

The landslide is still moving and has now blocked the river. It is holding back 12 to 14 feet of water depth.
Porcupine landslide continues to move - KIFI

 

[mcnerney]

Cindy
Thanks for the update! This will be interesting to watch once the spring runoff gets going.

 

[Ard]

Thanks for updating this Cindy, pretty amazing the cost estimate isn't it? I'm no government agency but could probably hire a civil engineer and some equipment a little under the 3 million dollar mark. It is however a lot of soil that has moved and I realize this is way beyond backhoe work.............. I was just shocked at the price estimate.

 

[triggw]

Thanks for updating this Cindy, pretty amazing the cost estimate isn't it? I'm no government agency but could probably hire a civil engineer and some equipment a little under the 3 million dollar mark. It is however a lot of soil that has moved and I realize this is way beyond backhoe work.............. I was just shocked at the price estimate.

I'll bet there's a huge amount of hillside stabilization work that has to be done to keep it from just continuing to slide.

My wife and I camped and fished up that canyon 2 years ago. It's a beautiful river. Hope to get back soon.

 

[cpowell]

Thanks Cindy! I love going from LaBarge over or vice versa. The video I made about our summer in Idaho had about 4 seconds of footage right near Porcupine creek. Love driving over that pass, lot's of history!

Geology in action.

 

[cpiercem]

I am really wondering what spring runoff will do to this. Hopefully the backed up water releases slowly and not all at once. I would hate to see this become a real disaster for everything and everyone down river.

Ard, the cost of anything done by national forest, state game depts, or any other government entity, has always floored me. I think they ought to just take a little time and let nature finish whatever it is going to do.

Of course if I was in charge, I would be so impatient I would blast the heck out of the whole mountain just to make sure it was done moving!

 

[cpiercem]

If you are interested, they put in a water gauge above the slide. Here is where you can access that information. Decision Support Page for the Porcupine Slide

And here is a map of the closed area: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd574730.pdf

 

[buffler razz]

I am really wondering what spring runoff will do to this. Hopefully the backed up water releases slowly and not all at once. I would hate to see this become a real disaster for everything and everyone down river.

Ard, the cost of anything done by national forest, state game depts, or any other government entity, has always floored me. I think they ought to just take a little time and let nature finish whatever it is going to do.

Of course if I was in charge, I would be so impatient I would blast the heck out of the whole mountain just to make sure it was done moving!

Hoping for a good resolution as this is high on my wife’s favorite places to fish. Have camped along it a few times. It will be interesting to see what steps they take to keep it from continuing its movement. After seeing and talking with the crew boss for the work done to keep the “slump” on the west side of Teton Pass from continuing its movement, I can see how this could hit the costs they are projecting. Clearing it out is, IMO, the easy part, stopping it is a whole nother can of worms.

 

[cpiercem]

Another update. Porcupine landslide getting worse before it gets better - Buckrail, Jackson Hole News
This video fly over gives a better view of the lake building behind the dam, and how much more the mountain has slumped.

 

[Ard]

Now that creates a much better picture of what you've got going on down there Cindy, wow!

 

[cpowell]

We are going after this project with full force. I will be meeting with the NFS nest week to start our meetings. I am hoping to be moving equipment and housing in as soon as we can win the bid. Keep your fingers crossed for us please.

The good people of Alpine are starting to get worried.