Index-Galena Road

Index-Galena

This past weekend I went back to the North Fork Skykomish River valley to see if any of the salmon have returned now that the river levels have come back up. The rivers were actually WAY up; so much so that I felt is was a little too exciting to go wading out into the high waters. I didn’t see any salmon but a part of the damaged road had finally succumbed to back-cutting by the water and isolated another stretch of former pavement. I’ve photographed this spot before since it’s a nice sheeting “waterfall” but now the water’s flow adds a nice sweeping motion to the foreground:

A side channel to the North Fork Skykomish River takes another piece of the Index-Galena Road
A side channel to the North Fork Skykomish River takes another piece of the Index-Galena Road
A side channel to the North Fork Skykomish River takes another piece of the Index-Galena Road
A side channel to the North Fork Skykomish River takes another piece of the Index-Galena Road
I wanted to get some longer exposures and smoother motion around the pavement so I utilized my graduated Neutral Density (GND) filters. I doubled up my 0.6x and 0.9x GNDs to get that effect. I positioned the 0.9x on the bottom since there was more whitewater and used the 0.6x to handle the far-ground in the frame. I was pretty happy with how things turned out. I also poked around Index on my way back to Monroe. The fall color is definitely on its way out but there’s always a few nice spots left-

Fall color in the North Fork Skykomish River valley upstream of the town of Index, Washington
Fall color along the Skykomish River west of Index, Washington
Fall color along the Skykomish River west of Index, Washington

A river now flows through it

I only had a portion of Saturday morning to take photos so I stayed closer to home and visited Index-Galena Road outside the town of Index. This particular road has been closed since the fall of 2006 when a major storm event re-routed a portion of the North Fork Skykomish River to flow down a half mile of the existing road. I’ve seen plenty of photos of the damage but this would be my first visit.

On my way to where the road closure is located, I passed by Bitter Creek which had a real nice series of cascades just above the bridge that spans it.

Bitter Creek - North Fork Skykomish River Valley
Bitter Creek - North Fork Skykomish River Valley
Bitter Creek - North Fork Skykomish River Valley
Bitter Creek - North Fork Skykomish River Valley
The damage to the road begins just beyond the closure signs and barricade. This is where the new channel angles back to the river and has created a 4 foot high waterfall.

Index-Galena Road Waterfall
Index-Galena Road waterfall
Beyond this point, varying portions of the road still exist and are surrounded by two smaller channels on either side of the road’s center. I was hoping to reach the upstream starting point of all this damage but deeper water (I was only wearing 16″ boots) and time restrictions forced me to turn around. It’s always amazing to see how nature responds to what we do..

North Fork Skykomish River cutting through the Index-Galena Road
Road remnants
North Fork Skykomish River cutting through the Index-Galena Road
Road remnants
North Fork Skykomish River cutting through the Index-Galena Road

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