[pct-l] WA trail conditions

[Blanchard, Sym]

Greg,

Thanks so much for your wonderful hospitality and encouragement from you and the trail crew!  You guys are super!!

Sleeping Ninja and I were able to get through Mt. Adams successfully with my iPhone GPS, his great trail sense, and three other trekkers Breeze, Chimichanga, and Juan Pablo who gave us great foot prints to follow.   We started to get lost a few times, but Guthook's App saved the day.

We heard that the cornice at Goat Rocks had melted away, but Sleeping Ninja and I had all we could take from snow.  So we did a road walk from around 2260 to Packwood.

I am now recovering from minor surgery performed by the local medical clinic for an infected hangnail.  I hope to be back on the trail at White Pass by Friday.  Sleeping Ninja will be back on by sometime next week.

Thanks again!!
Symbiosis
_____________________________________________________________________________________----

Message: 9
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 13:24:41 -0700
From: Greg Mikol <greg.mikol at ieee.org<mailto:greg.mikol at ieee.org>>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] WA trail conditions
To: pct-l at backcountry.net<mailto:pct-l at backcountry.net>
Message-ID: <500DB309.30206 at ieee.org<mailto:500DB309.30206 at ieee.org>>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

> Hi all,
>
> Does anyone know what the trail conditions are from Cascade Locks to
> White Pass? I will be flying into Portland, July 29th, and am hoping
> to hike this section before doubling back down and completing Oregon
> with a friend who cannot start until August 10th. Which leads to a
> second question--any recommendations on getting from the airport to
> Cascade Locks? Unfortunately I'm coming in on a Sunday, and I don't
> think the county buses run on the weekends.
>
> Thank you for any and all advice, Noel, aka Jess Watkin

Was on a trail crew on Mt. Adams this weekend...8 logs cut out, 4
check-steps and a fair amount of tread repair got done, plus some new
trail markers at the FR23 crossing and the trail 64A junction.

We ran into some thrus on Saturday (7/21) who turned around below
Horseshoe Meadow on Mt. Adams. There is pretty much solid snow above
~5500 ft (PCT is around 6000). The snow is compact and relatively easy
to travel on, but the primary concern was route-finding in the fairly
open areas on the shoulder of Mt. Adams. A hiker who came through on
Sunday morning had maps on his iPhone, and they were going to head back
up and try to use the GPS and maps on the phone for navigation. Don't
know if they had success or not...we were packed up by noon on Sunday.

If anyone knows if Sleep Ninja and Sym (Symbian ? maybe) made it
through, I'd love to know.

Don't know about current Goat Rocks conditions.

If you have a smartphone with GPS, I'd say plan on having the PCT route
and maps pre-loaded onto your phone. There's really no cell service up
there.

Best of luck--

Greg