Passport In Time

[Kurt Maechner]

Does anyone know if the Passport In Time project still operates in the summer at the west portal?  Since Ray Rossman retired and since the road has been closed to vehicles to reach the station complex, I wondered if it was still happening.  

I matched up a Rossman photo from the mid 1990s before a lot of the restoration work began with one I took this summer on this post.  It's awesome to see how much he and others accomplished up there.
Kurt

[lakeray]

Looks fantastic with the rail and switch down.

Ray

[Charles McMillan]

Great photos of the area.

I have wondered what the current condition of the road is now. Without some repair action the road will continue to degrade . If it reaches a critical point the end of the Palisades could collapse and no access would be possible at all.
Does any one know if action is planned to do some repairs and any photos of the location now?

Charles McMillan

[Kurt Maechner]

I asked several Pitkin residents about the Palisade damage this summer.  Several people chimed in on the subject, most having negative feelings regarding what is perceived as the USFS’s neglect of the area and particularly the Palisade problem.

It was explained that drawings have been made by the USFS for the needed restoration, but the cost to complete it varies wildly. Some say it will cost $800,000 dollars (the USFS estimate) while others say $200,000. One individual commented with sarcasm that the Forest Service would take forever to complete the job because they would want to put each exact stone back in its exact original place. Another Pitkin resident was very disgruntled with the USFS because, from his perspective they always complain they don’t have money, but then they buy expensive Rubicon jeeps that sit in a garage for 8 months of the year.

The Forest Service, according to Cory, owner of the General Store there, doesn’t seem to have any commitment to the area or the historical significance of it to the town and tourism. The USFS folks barely comes this way he said, “so it’s out of sight, out of mind.”

Sad...

[Steve Black]

Has anyone asked the District Ranger or the Forest Supervisor for that National Forest what the plans are?   Working for another land management agency, I hear people complain a lot when I am outside of work, yet they never seem to ask questions or come into my office to see what is going on.  

[Kurt Maechner]

Good point, Steve.  I planned on contacting them a little bit ago and even got to the USFS site, but never ended up following through with contacting them.  Would be a good idea, though.  Most of what I heard in Pitkin was obviously just hearsay.  I would be nice to hear from "the horse's mouth", as the saying goes.