[pct-l] North Cascades Report

Fri Aug 5 12:21:09 CDT 2011

If you have never been to the Washington Trails Association website, it can sometimes be helpful.  Hikers write trip reports and often include pictures, so it may provide some info for some of the sections along the PCT.  www.wta.org   Go to the Find A Hike tab, and click on Freshest Trip Reports.

-----Original Message-----
>From: Roger Carpenter <rogercarpenter at comcast.net>
>Sent: Aug 4, 2011 8:06 PM
>To: "'Jim Keener ( J J )'" <pct2010 at ridgetrailhiker.com>, 'PCT-L MailingList' <pct-l at backcountry.net>
>Cc: Tom Brown <tom.2mountains at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [pct-l] North Cascades Report
>
>Thanks for this, Jim.  I am planning to hike with a friend from High Bridge
>to Manning starting on August 14 and am very interested in gathering as much
>information on trial conditions as possible so I can pack the appropriate
>gear.  I also noticed the Harts Pass Snotel is reporting no snow, and read a
>trail report from Aug. 3 on the WTA site from someone who found 5' of snow
>on Cutthroat Pass just north of Rainy Pass.  Also the PCTA trip reports
>included this report about Goat Rocks Wilderness
>http://www.pcta.org//planning/during_trip/Trail_con_W.asp
>
>"Scattered snow until we got to the Coleman Weedpatch and lost the trail
>completely. 5 to 20 feet of snow still remains, and will not melt out this
>year. The open slopes and western facing slopes are clear, but this section
>has deep dark forests and the snow is not going to melt out of these
>forested areas this season.  We continued 10 miles south with GPS, map,
>compass, and while we could generally follow the trail, it was slow going
>and very dangerous."
>
>It's hard to say if something similar is lurking in the more forested
>sections between Rainy Pass and Manning.  If anyone has credible reports of
>Section L please post them  Thank you!
>
>Roger Carpenter
>
>PS: This 90-mile section hike to Manning will celebrate the 15-year
>anniversary of my 1996 thru-hike.  My friend Tom Brown, who has also hiked
>the entire PCT, will join me and we hope to celebrate again at the border!
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-
>> bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Jim Keener ( J J )
>> Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2011 12:07 PM
>> To: PCT-L MailingList
>> Subject: [pct-l] North Cascades Report
>> 
>> Greetings,
>> 
>> Jon Smith, who has hiked several sections of the PCT this year sent
>> this information to me today:
>> 
>> "On July 23, 2011, I hiked to the top of Windy Joe in Manning Park from
>> the PCT trailhead.  The summit is eleven feet shy of 6000', and part of
>> the hike goes along the final 3 miles of the PCT before ascending Windy
>> Joe.  There was no snow anywhere on the hike.  None, zippo, nada: not
>> on north slopes, not in the woods, not on top, not in deep shady stream
>> valleys.  Looking around at surrounding mountains, most of the actual
>> peaks were snow-free, though north slopes below the peaks seemed to
>> have snow cover starting at about 6200-6500'.  This past weekend (July
>> 30-31), my wife and I did a little driving vacation through the North
>> Cascades.  There was no snow at Rainy Pass (4800') except a few small
>> nuisance drifts off the trail in very shady parts of the woods, no snow
>> at Washington Pass 600' higher, where last winter they had 60' of snow,
>> and then a couple of very large drifts (100' long, 12-15' deep, some of
>> it perhaps piled by snowplow) on the very shady north slope on the
>>  way eastward down from Washington Pass.  We overheard a local say that
>> Harts Pass (6300') was still "snowed in," i.e., not drivable, which is
>> commensurate with what we'd seen in Manning Park.  However, the Harts
>> Pass Snotel at 6500' today says no snow, so things may have melted
>> since, and her info may have been a week or two old at that point.  We
>> saw no snow at Stevens Pass (4000'), though obviously there were some
>> snowfields above us.  Now, I am recovering from minor surgery July 25,
>> so we didn't go more than a couple hundred yards down the trail in any
>> direction from Rainy Pass, and passes are pretty much by definition
>> among the low spots on the trail, but things ARE melting--we are
>> finally getting summer here.  HYOH, and keep in mind that while Manning
>> Park got a LOT of snow last winter, it was not as much as some places a
>> little further south, but still: I'd be very surprised if the
>> northbound pack, when they get here, finds it anything like what they
>> went through in th
>>  e Sierras.  Oh, but it is getting buggy out there."
>> 
>> Walk well,
>> Jim Keener ( J J )
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