WINTHROP — Washington State Department of Transportation officials have closed off part of the North Cascades Highway to all traffic as of 8 a.m. Sunday morning, Aug. 4 as a result of increased Easy Fire activity.
The road closure spans from Granite Creek to the Easy Pass trailhead as a safety measure for fire response crews at work and the traveling public, according to a WSDOT travel advisory.
The closure is in place until further notice and there are no detours on U.S. Forest Service roads, the advisory states.
A series of dry lightning storms sparked the start of the Easy Fire on July 17, but over the weekend, the wildfire moved closer to the highway.
WSDOT has yet to estimate a time for when the road will reopen. For additional road closure information, WSDOT has a real-time travel center and will post updates on X (Twitter) @wsdot_east and @wsdot_north.
Multiple fires are burning near North Cascades National Park, including the Pioneer Fire and Flat Creek Fire. The increased fire activity has also resulted in the closure of the following trails (plus backcountry camps and cross-country zones along the closed trails):
- Sahale Arm
- Cascade Pass (updated to full trail closure)
- Horseshoe Basin
- Upper Stehekin Valley
- Flat Creek
- Park Creek (south of Park Creek Pass)
- Old Wagon (PCT)
- Agnes Creek (PCT)
- Bridge Creek (PCT) from junction with Old Wagon Trail to North Fork Bridge
- McGregor Mountain
- Agnes Gorge
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources maintains a wildfire incident information webpage that details active wildfires throughout the state, emergency preparedness and wildfire prevention.
Olivia Capriotti is a Dow Jones summer news intern, specializing in data journalism. Reach her at oliviacapriotti@cascadiadaily.com.
