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FW: [pct-l] southbound trail conditions
- Subject: FW: [pct-l] southbound trail conditions
- From: firsttrxx at hotmail.com (Travis Anderson)
- Date: Wed Jun 15 23:04:28 2005
d=rt here. I experienced the same conditions as Thomas leaving Manning May
29. However, on June 4, the Chiwawa River was six inches deep (interesting
that it dropped five and a half feet over night) and I took the Glacier Peak
reroute. The Napeequa was flowing fast and deep but there was a ford fifty
feet upstream from the trail crossing that was only two inches above my
knees and doable. The pass south of the Napeequa was very buried in snow
and would have been very difficult in low visability. Otherwise, the trail
was very managable. I left the trail at Snowqualmie Pass due to a
hyperextended knee but I hope this report is helpful.
d=rt
<br><br><br>>From: "thomas perkow"
<perkowt@hotmail.com><br>>To:
pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net<br>>Subject: [pct-l] southbound trail
conditions<br>>Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:23:58 +0000<br>><br>>We
began southbound on May 25th. Trail conditions from Manning Park <br>>to
Rainy Pass involved much snow work on north-facing slopes above
<br>>5,000 feet. Fully south-facing slopes had almost no snow up to
<br>>7,000 feet. We began with four days of full sun and hot conditions,
<br>>leading to very soft snow and much post-holing. Several slopes had
<br>>new releases, and many traverses involved some risk of avalanche
<br>>danger. Navigation could prove difficult in some areas during
<br>>periods of poor visibilty due to large sections of the trail
<br>>obscured by snow. The crux for us was getting to Cutthroat Pass -
<br>>many lengthy steep snow traverses just prior to this pass. We
<br>>ascended Methow Pass directly for the final 500 feet since the trail
<br>>was completely snow covered. Otherwise, the trail is in fine shape
<br>>with only a few blow-downs.<br>><br>>>From Rainy Pass to
Stevens Pass, things improved somewhat. We had <br>>>no
snow<br>>until the north side of Suiattle Pass, which we navigated
through in <br>>thick cloud without too much trouble. Buck Creek Pass
had some <br>>lengthy sections of complete snow cover, though it went ok.
High <br>>Pass still had considerable snow and cloudy conditions,
prompting us <br>>to continue following the trail to Trinity. We sussed
out the <br>>Chiwawa River crossing on June 3rd: it was running fast,
deep (over <br>>6 feet), and very cold. We realized that, should the
High Pass <br>>route have gone and the Napeequa River been not crossable
(highly <br>>likely), one would be faced with re-crossing High Pass back
to Buck <br>>Creek Pass. We followed the stock detour to Stevens Pass.
(Note: <br>>on the stock detour there are two restaurants at the Hwy 207
/ Hwy 2 <br>>junction. We found a nice campsite just prior to this
junction on <br>>Nason Creek. There are two small grocery stores a few
miles up Hwy <br>>207.)<br>><br>>>From Stevens Pass to
Snoqualmie Pass we encountered considerable <br>>>snow on
the<br>>north sides of both Pieper and Cathedral Passes. These would be
<br>>difficult to navigate when visibility is low. Beyond, there are
<br>>only patches of snow, though some are very steep with cliffs below.
<br>>Caution in certainly in order.<br>><br>>South of Snoqualmie
Pass we had very little snow work to Tacoma <br>>Pass, though lots of
rain. Here, at 3,400 feet just two days ago, <br>>we awoke to full-on
blizzard conditions. We hiked 10 miles to a <br>>logging road through
4-8 inches of heavy, wet snow and slush through <br>>pouring rain and
hitched out. Having dried out, we hope to resume <br>>Wednesday
afternoon.<br>><br>>A word of explanation: I have submitted trip
reports to the pcta.org <br>>site three times along the way to provide
up-to-date snow info to <br>>other southbound hikers. For some reason,
they have not been posted <br>>on the site. Hopefully, this forum will
allow a quicker sharing of <br>>the info.<br>><br>>tom and
krystal<br>><br>><br>>_______________________________________________<br>>pct-l
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