French Creek Road, Washington. Photo by Gloria Dickie
Locked Out
Ten million acres of public land are inaccessible in the American West, but uncommon allies are fighting to open them
On a winter’s day in 2015, Kevin Creager and Renae Haug were skiing in the backcountry of northern Washington, hundreds of feet above the Methow River that channels water out of the eastern North Cascades toward the Columbia. The hills here, dotted with alder, larch, and spruce, were some of Haug’s favorite. They felt historic; ancient Native American trails crisscrossed the landscape, marking the passage of early pioneers. It was an easy choice, then, to skin up and over to a friend’s place on the snowpacked French Creek Road running northeast of their property. This backcountry shortcut eliminated the need to drive down to the valley bottom and out to the circuitous highway in order to reach the other side of the Methow. But 45 minutes into their skin they came across what Creager called “a grandiose gate in the middle of nowhere.” The upper stretch of French Creek Road dead-ended in a barrier.
Creager had lived in Okanogan County for nine years and a gate
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