[pct-l] Washington PCT

[Joanne Lennox]

Well, I am still thinking about you doing the trail out of Snoqualmie Pass 
and the Goat Rocks!!

The trail North of squoqualmie is a completely different trail than the 
section south of the pass - rougher, steeper, higher, with no "outs" ( lower 
intersecting trails and roads that will quickly bring you to more gentle 
terrain or civilization)

 From experience, I know trying to do a trail under snow in the forest of 
the Pacific Northwest to be more challenging and dangerous than climbing. It 
is dark and closed in and you can' t see where you are goiing, a compass and 
gps is helpful but minimally because it doesn't deal with smaller chutes, 
gullies, intersecting ridges that can be very confusing and  and turn you 
around. And the snow can change so fast.  Even on gentler slopes, the snow 
moats around trees can be steep and icey and impassable creating a maze of 
icey steepness between softer more passable snow. A snow chute may have only 
a few feet of steep icey snow, but that is enough-  and  if you slip, you 
have less time and no runout because there are lots of rocks and trees in 
the forest.

This is not like the PCT through the Sierras in June where you go up  over a 
snowy pass and than down into a warm snow free valley. Virtually the whole 
section will be under snow and much of it hazardous (the Crossing of the 
Waptus river is  lower). Have your ice ax skills well polished, good boots 
for kick stepping on firm snow, and your pack weight near you waist (nothing 
tied to the outside).

when I got to the Goat Rocks in 99, a storm came in, and trying to cross the 
high snowy exposed traverse, I got blown off my feet, so I retreated.  The 
next day, the ridge was covered in verglas ( a hard clear ice coating over 
everything).  When I camped that night near Tieton pass , trees were coming 
down around me ( I found out the next day that 2 cars had been crushed at 
Ohanopecosh Campground - at much lower elevation in Rainier Nt Pk). I saw 
nothing and was cold and wet much of the time.

When I did this section with Hopi Horse in clear weather, I found out why 
everybody was raving about the PCT through the Goat Rocks, and those photos 
are some of my favorite ones of the trail. The Goat Rocks and Snoqualmie 
North are too good to miss trying to survive snow and  PNW June gloom.

Goforth

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