Above: The new bridge, after being completed, at Round Bottom. It replaces the washed-out ford that was once the exit from the one-way Balsam Mountain road. The park service did a good job on this one - it looks great.

Below, one of the slides on the north side of Hyatt Ridge that I use to access Right Fork. That's Paul (aka Fastwalk) checking out a huge fallen spruce that lies in the slidepath. It takes a lot of time to tie them together, but these washed out streambeds provide pretty good access across the ridges down in the Raven Fork drainage. This one didn't work out - it entered a big tangle of downed trees and doghair rhodo a few hundred feet downhill. By working my way across an adjoining ridge, on downed trees that lifted me above the rhodo hells, I was able to reach another slide and eventually, Right Fork. It's my favorite route into the Raven Fork area now.