Reply to Update on Trail closure at Salt Creek (W. of Rocheport) and roughly MM 118 (west of Portland

The bridge over Salt Creek (3 miles west of Rocheport) remains closed and no repairs to replace the bridge that washed out is imminent. Mo State Parks have money in the 2021 budget for the design of the replacement bridge and are hoping to get the estimated $500K for construction in the 2022 budget. Current feeling is that it will at best be approx. 2 years before a replacement bridge is in place. The State Parks Dept. have repeatedly ask the MODOT to put signs up on US Highway 40 alerting motorists to the presence of bicyclists on the detour around the closed section of trail, but MODOT HAS CONSISTENTLY REFUSED TO DO SO. So much for trying to keep riders safe!!!!!!

The second closure around MM 118 was the result of a landslide from private property onto the trail right of way. The trail is completely blocked and there remains the threat that additional rock falls from private land may occur. Removal of the current large amount of rock that fell is anticipated to trigger an additional landslide from the private property onto the trail. The private owner is pushing for the state to buy the land affected, which is holding up the ability of the State to get the trail open. The above information was obtained through a discussion with a representative of the Mo State Parks who was familiar with the situations. The landslide can be seen on the latest Google Earth aerial imagery.

Personal Viewpoint: The property owner should either be required to remove the current landslide and any additional landslides from his property on the trail ROW that may occur at his own expense or given an option that the State can do the initial removal and any subsequent removals and charge the owner. A final option would be for the private property owner to not try to extort money from the state and the owner could do the right thing. There is no timeframe that I am aware of for resolution of this issue, so riders will still need to use Highway 94 as a detour.

My advice: if it has not been raining, you can try the Salt Creek crossing.

But please, DO NOT make the same mistake I did -- the rock slide near Portland is impassible. I got unclear advice from another rider and attempted to go through. Disassembled my gear to get it over the fence, then had to port in pieces to get around the rock slide. I wasted probably 45 minutes and if I had sprained my ankle on the rocks, I would have been in trouble (also, little cell signal there). Just suck it up and take the suggested detour of 1 mile on Hwy 94.