Crews will spend the first part of this week sifting through the remains of the massive mudslide that struck Okanogan County last Tuesday evening, trying to determine its cause. The slide closed Ramsey Creek Road and the Department of Natural Resources and Okanogan County officials want to know it won’t happen again before they start repairs.

Arlo Vanderwoody of the U.S. Forest Service in the Methow area says, although specific details are sketchy, the have determined the slide appears as though it originated in the Tripod Fire burn area.

Original estimates put the coverage of the spill on the Fish and Wildlife land at about 200 acres.

At this point there is no estimated time of repair for the Ramsey Creek washout, although Vanderwoody speculated it could be over a month, depending on what they find this week.