Trailhead has ample, free, accessible parking
On the last weekend of no permits a weather window opened up for an overnight hike & early morning activation of Mt St Helens. The trail was covered with snow to the parking lot. I hit the trail at 1:20am and made good time to chocolate falls on skis. Somewhere heading up the ridge I had to make the switch to bootpacking the skis. Heavier backpack, but faster travel overall.
So in my continuing series on how to summit the easy way, I loaded up the family for the tail end of spring break and headed over to Bend, OR. The weather was gorgeous with just a bit of wind blowing. That contributed to delaying my activation time by an hour due to the lift not yet in service. In the meantime, we skiied the lower slopes. Snow was icy in places particularly the sides of runs and the upper reaches. Once the Summit lift opened, I grabbed my pack and headed up.
The Nestucca River Byway is a very secluded and off-the-beaten-path route through the North Coastal Range, between HW6 to the North and HW18/HW22 to the South. It's paved from Carlton at least as far West as the turnoff South to Willamina, but not maintained in the winter, so the sign says when approaching from the East from Carlton.
This was a winter activation and I had hoped for a one-way ride on the Pomerelle Triple Chair lift. After an e-mail and phone inquiry I received no response. I then planned a hike from the Pomerelle parking lot along established roads to the top of the lift and then a very short hike to the summit.
We did this summit as a winter snowmobile trip with Cooper Mtn. and Poison Peak.
See full report here:
http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/wu7h/2022-march-04/cooper-mountain-wa-feb-2…
We did this summit as a winter snowmobile trip with Cooper Mtn. and Fox Peak.
See full report here:
http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/wu7h/2022-march-04/cooper-mountain-wa-feb-2…
WW7D and I set out on an adventure to see if we could activate Cooper Mountain via snowmobile. We knew that it was theoretically possible since Cooper Mountain lies on a groomed snowmobile trail. The only intel we had was a 7 day old trail grooming report. We knew from past experience that we might arrive to find the snow park gated or the trail impassible due to downed trees, lack of snow, etc. We decided to roll the dice and make the long journey from the Seattle area to Chelan, WA.
Here is a pavement to trailhead activation if you find yourself in the Columbia River Gorge near White Salmon, WA. A short hike of 1 mile and 700 feet of elevation gain will get you the chance at this 2 pointer. The hike is mostly on a good gravel road and the last bit is easy cross country (for now) as they ran a cat over almost all of it, so not much to push through or step over. There are stumps around and a couple of tall “habitat trees” that are likely in the AZ if you need that sort of antenna support. I tied a pole to a stump at the top.
A friend from Eugene wanted to hit Mount McLoughlin in the winter and despite the drive distance from Beaverton, it looked like too beautiful a mountain to pass up. After picking up rental snowshoes from REI in Medford I made it to the Summit Sno-Park TH at sunset. Casey arrived shortly after and we made some quick dinner on our backpacking stoves then turned in for the night.
McMurray Benchmark is a 1-point summit located near I-5, just northeast of Stanwood, WA. I had driven by the entrance (where you turn north onto 12th Ave NW) in the past, but saw a no tresspassing sign and wasn't sure about driving up the road. This time, after I turned onto 12th Ave NW and drove 0.5 miles to the parking area... I was surprised at how many cars were parked at the trailhead. As long as you fill out the waiver form near the entrance, you are not tresspassing when you hike to the summit. Below is a link with more information about the area.
