[pct-l] OR PCT -Snow Conditions

[mattjolley at comcast.net]

The snow has been melting about 2 inches a day in the Oregon reporting stations, only 2 have any
 snow left.  Trail elevations are sometimes higher.  
  
I have enjoyed checking out the PCTA volunteer trail maintenance people and some of their postings on pct-l.
In short,  the snow melts,  the volunteers check out the trail,  and then start cutting the fallen timber.
One counted 72 fallen trees in 2 miles.

>From South to North  recent reports  in addition to the ones posted here,  

Riv&Dan reported crossing sketchy north face snow Jun 28 at about mile 1590 to 1605  before 
Etna, about 7000 to 6000 ft elevation.   posterholer.com  journals.

The 18 inches of snow at Annie Springs  mile 1830  elevation 6010 melted off in 6 days June 23 to 29.

Crater lake Rim has snow patches on the web cam July 6,
http://www.craterlakelodges.com/cratercam.htm

July 5,  there was no snow at Willamette Pass at mile 1912  at 5000 ft elevation.

McKenzie Pass  Oregon Hwy 242 is expected opened from the East in mid to late July,  but
west will continue to be closed for bridge construction.

postholer.com PCT snow report page,  you can just click on the elevation and see the last 30 days or so of snow reports from the weather station.     But sometimes  stations are 1200 ft or so below max trail elevation.

Matt


Michael wrote >>
[pct-l] OR PCT - Snow Conditions
Michael Donnay mdonnay at yahoo.com 
Sun Jul 6 12:01:58 CDT 2008 
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My wife and I were planning to hike our final third of the PCT (940 miles) from I-5 in Ashland, OR through to Manning Park, BC this summer.

We camped at Callahan's Lodge off I-5 near Ashland the night before our first day. The new lodge's construction is almost complete (a few more weeks) and the owners are excited to start hosting hikers this season. They are very hiker-friendly and welcoming.

We set off on June 21 and found terrific trail conditions throughout OR/WA Section B (1727.1 - 1780.6) with no traces of snow, all blow downs from the winter had been freshly cleared away by trail crews, and there were few to no mosquitoes. Really ideal hiking conditions!

As of June 24, OR/WA Section C  from "Hwy 140 near Fish Lake" (1780.6) to the "Broad saddle" (1792.2) there were still some patches/stretches of snow with 6-8 foot snow drifts around massive tree holes in the shade of the forest. Trail crews hadn't yet tackled this section and there were lots of blow downs from the winter. Mosquitoes were swarming in hoards. North of the "Broad saddle" (1792.2 @ 6,300') the snow was continuous and the trail was completely obliterated beneath feet of snow.  We lost the trail and had difficulty navigating in the thick forest, so turned back to Hwy 140 and returned home to Olympia,  WA to wait out the snow melt.

There weren't any foot tracks of other hikers at the time, so we assume we were the first in that section in quite a while. Since then, I've read that Wolffman, Sonic, and a couple other hikers have tackled this section too. Have any of them, or others, made it through to Crater Lake (1830.4) and reported trail conditions since the Sun 29 June update from Firefly?

When does the thru-hiker pack usually arrive in OR? ...although with this year's fires in CA, nothing is predictable, right?

Does anyone know who to call (Forest Service ranger districts?) to monitor the snow melt and trail conditions in this section before we attempt to resume our hike from Hwy 140? I've checked with the PCTA but my update for this section remains the latest.

Thank you.  Good luck to the thru's this tough hiking season!
Mike