Last summer, several of the BOTW trails were closed due to the fire.  There was a notice on the FS website with the trails, etc.  Since then, they have re-done the website and I'm unable to find the closure notices.  When you bring up the trails on the USFS website now, they have no notice that they are closed.  The closure order said they would be closed until May 15th. Does anyone know if those orders have been lifted?  Are the trails officially open?  Just curious...

Rob, Good luck finding any useful information on the new FS website.  It seems useless to me.  I haven't been able to find anything of value on there relating to Clackamas trails or conditions.  If anyone has any tips on how to navigate this unhelpful site, I'd appreciate hearing them. It sure is pretty, though. Doug

Rob, According to the District Ranger a couple of weeks ago the trails will stay closed until they can get in there this spring and make an assessment as to the damaged done and make a plan for repairing the trails. It's a wait and see what happens right now. The work may or may not be subcontracted, of course depending on available money, or our volunteers maybe doing the work. We will just have to wait for the snow to melt up high before we will hear anything about a plan of action for BOTW. Don

Doug: I agree - I can't find any useful info on the site - it looks nice, but it isn't very useful.  I took the survey they wanted me to take, and didn't rate it very highly.  I even did the search tool, and it kept returning nothing.  If anyone has better luck than Doug or I, please let us know the secret. Oh, and all the old links no longer work.  They just redirect you to the main page of the site.   Don: Thanks for the info on the trails.  It would be nice if the "new" FS website had that info on it.  If you pull up the trails, they don't say they are closed.  Hopefully the trails will get fixed.  I'm really interested to see how much damage there was.  I tried to look from BOTW lookout last fall, but it appears that most of the damage was behind hills.  I'm curious to see the Welcome Lakes area and the North end of the Elk Lake trail.

Wow. The new FS site page for the District sure needs help. They seem to have misplaced the content.    D

I took a gander at the revised website of our National Forest and was not impressed as others have posted here recently. I can say that I don't frequent that site that much, but I can say that they could use a good IT guy who knows the trails in our forest. Roads and campgrounds are good, but it's the trails that really get people in touch with nature. For it is the trails that get us out of our comfort zone where we can experience nature face to face. Whether it is the awesome veiw from a mountain peak or a trail, or the pleasure of the presence of the local flora, or an encounter with the local wildlife, it is the trails that will get you out there to take in the experience. Don