[pct-l] SOBO hiker: Hart's pass?

[Robert Henry]

The Hart's pass road is a 1-2 lane dirt road, very exposed in places,
with 1000's of feet of drop off in places.  I suspect the road is
managed under contract by the USFS, and is not a county road or even a
state road.  Given the USFS budget, I think they will wait for the
snow to melt, wait for the road to dry out to avoid ruts, then send a
grader up if they have the budget.  I've been to Hart's Pass in mid
August, just a week after the grader was there, and that was in a
moderate snow year.  Hart's Pass is just shy of the end of the road,
and the end of the road is the highest road in WA state.

On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 10:36 AM, Dan Cross-Viola <dan_cross43 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Thanks PCT Mom for keeping us informed of the snow up in those parts.  I too am embarking on a SOBO thru-hike.  My buddy and I are planning on a 6/24 start date.  It looks from the WSDOT page that SR 20 will be open today, but I wonder about the access to Harts Pass.  Judging from a report from the Methow Valley News (http://www.methowvalleynews.com/story.php?id=5796), there is roughly 10' of snow at Harts Pass now, and I wonder how much of a priority clearing/opening a dirt road like the one at the Pass gets in a high snow year like this.
>
> PCT Mom, what would you say would be the odds of Harts Pass being accessible 6/24 for the start of our hike, or even 7/1 for the start of Variety's hike?  If the outlook isn't good, what would you recommend as an alternative?  Of course, I'll keep an eye on snow levels over the coming weeks, but I'd like to have a Plan B too.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Bear Can
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Tue, 24 May 2011 16:35:54 -0700
> From: Andrea Dinsmore <andrea at dinsmoreshikerhaven.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] SOBO hiker: Hart's pass?
> To: Jason Minamora <jminamora at gmail.com>
> Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Message-ID: <BANLkTim-2fQdsCkDyWTqWusm-rbqisk1Yg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> You all might want to keep checking this site fror the snow level and road
> clearing closer to when you are going to try and get to Harts Pass , Rainy
> Pass and the monument. We still have tons of snow up here on all the high
> parts of the PCT in Washington.
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157626170712679/
>
> PCT MOM
>
> On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 11:06 AM, Jason Minamora <jminamora at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> The PCTA recommended starting from Hart's pass, heading north to touch
>> monument 78, and then returning. But it looks like Hart's pass is an
>> awful long way from most everything, including the nearest Greyhound
>> station (which seems to be more than 50 miles out)! Would anyone be
>> willing to offer a ride to the pass around July 1st?
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Variety
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