Workshop on Cape Horn trail parking highlights safety, enforcement and funding concerns; commissioners pause on quick ordinance

Skamania County commissioners convened a workshop April 8 to seek solutions for heavy parking and safety problems around the Cape Horn trail system and the Salmon Falls Park & Ride. Representatives from Friends of the Columbia Gorge Land Trust, Washington Trails Association, the scenic-area office, the U.S. Forest Service, volunteer trail groups, and the county sheriff participated.

Why it matters: the trailhead frequently exceeds its parking capacity on busy weekends, creating safety hazards on narrow county roads, increasing law‑enforcement and search-and-rescue calls, and straining maintenance and emergency services. Stakeholders told the board the problem requires a coordinated mix of short-term management, improved messaging, volunteer-access exceptions, and longer-term parking and shuttle solutions.

Discussion and positions County staff presented maps and proposed ordinance language that would prohibit parking on designated shoulder sections of Salmon Falls Road, Canyon Creek Road and nearby side roads. The county prosecuting attorney recommended language to allow temporary exemptions for maintenance and emergency reasons.

Nick Kramer of Friends of the Columbia Gorge said the land trust supports steps to protect neighborhood safety and offered to help with outreach and social-media messaging. "We support your efforts here, and we want to make sure safety is paramount," he said.

Ryan O’Hario of Washington Trails Association said volunteers need staging access close to work sites and offered to push messaging to hikers and to propose alternatives for busy weekends. The scenic-area project manager said her office will help with outreach and noted limited scenic-area law‑enforcement capacity.

The sheriff described operational impacts: the department has responded to growing search-and-rescue activity and frequent parking violations around the trailhead. "This does not bring in any revenue to us," the sheriff said, describing calls for vehicle prowls, search-and-rescue and on-scene enforcement; he reported a 550% increase in search-and-rescue incidents in the county’s first quarter of 2025 compared with 2024.

Longer-term options and constraints Friends of the Gorge said it has purchased the Collins property above Strunk Road and is developing a phased concept that could include an overflow gravel lot and an accessible overlook; the land trust said the area straddles the scenic-area boundary and that construction will need county permitting. Stakeholders and staff noted that any new parking will generate additional traffic on narrow county roads and may require environmental and permitting review.

The group discussed shuttles and existing regional parking options (for example, the Dog Mountain shuttle and other staging areas) as possible short-term mitigations, but partners said costs and operational details need work. County public-works staff said a pre-application meeting with planning would help define permitting and road-impact requirements for any proposed overflow lot.

Board decision and next steps Commissioners agreed not to rush an ordinance that would ban shoulder parking immediately. Instead they asked the working group to develop a coordinated plan—covering enforcement language, volunteer exemptions, short-term messaging, potential overflow parking on the Collins property, and shuttle or overflow options—and to return with a more detailed recommendation. The commissioners asked planning, public works, law enforcement and partners to schedule follow-up meetings and a pre-application review for the proposed Collins parking concept.

The county will continue stakeholder meetings and will not publish or adopt parking restrictions until there is a coordinated short- and long-term plan. The board indicated it expects to revisit the item in about a month pending further planning and mapping work.