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cascadetraverser
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 10:23 am 
Anybody get up in the high country yesterday or recently? If so what was it like after the snows and warm rain? I have the rare October weekend free and am debating whether to brave the likely snow slush larch trip or stay low and enjoy a river or the coast....

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Nancyann
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 11:15 am 
I normally don’t spend much time in the Enchantments, but Monday was an exceptionally nice day to visit Lake Stuart. I don’t know what the core looks like, but the trail was in good shape if you don’t mind wading through deep puddles. No snow until we reached the lake. Still a couple of inches of icy snow in the shaded areas, but the campsites near the lake were snow free. Larches still colorful, but it was very windy, so don’t know how much longer they will hold on to their needles. The biggest surprise was the lack of people, that will no doubt change dramatically this weekend. Parking is a huge problem due to new restrictions. The signs claim vehicles improperly parked will be towed, I wonder if this actually is implemented.
Lake Stuart 10/22/19
Lake Stuart 10/22/19
Lake Stuart 10/22/19
Lake Stuart 10/22/19
Lake Stuart 10/22/19
Lake Stuart 10/22/19
Lake Stuart Trail 10/22/19
Lake Stuart Trail 10/22/19
Lots of snow has melted off in the Stevens Pass area, but the backcountry over 5,000 feet still looked pretty white, including the Chiwaukums. Should be a good week to get up there, once Friday’s wet weather passes.

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cascadetraverser
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 12:09 pm 
Thanks NancyAnn. Stuart Lake is a worthy destination! It’s good to know destinations lower than 5k (I am sure there are variations depending on local conditions and microclimates) is likely snowfree.

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fourteen410
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 12:14 pm 
I spent a couple hours last night perusing daily satellite imagery and in general, you will have snow in most of the larch hotspots. Generally speaking, the southern cascades didn't receive as much snow as the northern and central cascades did. Larches are more prime in the central-south region of the cascades anyway. Looks like snow starts approx 5200' in the American Ridge area (for approaches from the east or south of the ridge). Haney Meadow and Lillian Mt. have decent snow coverage, whereas the north side of Blewett appears to be snow free. Mission Ridge area is nice and larchy right now, but has some snow. Doesn't appear to be too deep though (webcam link here). C&M lakes look good right now.

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cascadetraverser
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 1:04 pm 
Thx for the links. C and M lakes? Cougar lakes?

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fourteen410
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 2:15 pm 
Clara-Marion

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Galadriel
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 2:39 pm 
There is about 2-3 feet of snow at Ingalls Lake. We were post holing up to our knees in places yesterday.
ingalls lk
ingalls lk
ingalls lk 1
ingalls lk 1

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treeswarper
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 2:59 pm 
There are some beastly winds forecast for tomorrow and Saturday. Don't camp in a snag patch.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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RumiDude
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 3:09 pm 
treeswarper wrote:
There are some beastly winds forecast for tomorrow and Saturday. Don't camp in a snag patch.
Some places there will be wind gusts up to 37+mph. I would avoid trees as much as possible. Rumi

"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
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Noheaperture
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 3:33 pm 
I went up to cutthroat pass and blue lake yesterday. I broke trail from the first bench of larches up to cutthroat which got to be about thigh deep towards the last mile near the pct which was pretty tiring. I’m sure a couple days of sun will help that out a little bit though. Blue lake was compact snow and about knee deep near the tarns.

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glenoid
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 5:31 pm 
Marc, come to the Blues. Snow is way up top, but so are the hunters. Went up Punjab this AM. It was fine. The whole road down the Tucannon was just graded all the way to the Meadow Creek trailhead. Maybe even up the rock infested Tucannon river road to the Tucannon river trailhead. (Cannot remember that being done for the last 10 years). Wear hunter orange.🎃 (We will feed you on your way!!)

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Bootpathguy
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 6:28 pm 
fourteen410 wrote:
I spent a couple hours last night perusing daily satellite imagery and in general, you will have snow in most of the larch hotspots. Generally speaking, the southern cascades didn't receive as much snow as the northern and central cascades did. Larches are more prime in the central-south region of the cascades anyway. Looks like snow starts approx 5200' in the American Ridge area (for approaches from the east or south of the ridge). Haney Meadow and Lillian Mt. have decent snow coverage, whereas the north side of Blewett appears to be snow free. Mission Ridge area is nice and larchy right now, but has some snow. Doesn't appear to be too deep though (webcam link here). C&M lakes look good right now.
Blewett Pass this afternoon. Southwest side of Diamond Head

Experience is what'cha get, when you get what'cha don't want
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Downhill
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PostThu Oct 24, 2019 9:13 pm 
glenoid wrote:
The whole road down the Tucannon was just graded all the way to the Meadow Creek trailhead. Maybe even up the rock infested Tucannon river road to the Tucannon river trailhead.
Lucky you! For many years I loved fishing the Tucannon between the Snake and Starbuck and up to the junction of Hwy-12. God's country!

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treeswarper
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PostFri Oct 25, 2019 7:37 am 
RumiDude wrote:
treeswarper wrote:
There are some beastly winds forecast for tomorrow and Saturday. Don't camp in a snag patch.
Some places there will be wind gusts up to 37+mph. I would avoid trees as much as possible. Rumi
Predicted gusts on ridges--60mph. This is for the east slopes of the North Cascades. Wind warning

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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joker
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PostFri Oct 25, 2019 11:51 am 
We hit Sauk for a short Wednesday late afternoon outing (carried my long and heavy telephoto zoom in hopes of a repeat of soaring big birds up there similar to what we saw last week but of course they weren't around :-) ). The snow started soon after the trailhead, becoming continuous less than halfway up the front face. It was firm and icy in the shade. At around halfway up, we were pioneering the recent snow as all prior post-snow hikers turned around there. It was good to have microspikes on. There was some postholing through a semi-firm crust on the upper half, sometimes up to my knee but mostly just above the ankle. Once we got to the other side of the ridge, the snow deepened and we decided to call that our high point for the afternoon - the step kicking to there had been plenty of exercise for me anyway especially with the heavy camera gear. Plenty of potential for a nice long slide over on that side where the snow crust was moderately firm. Also posthole potential. I personally wouldn't have minded crampons (and ice axe) if we had pushed on to the old lookout site, as I don't love trusting the microspikes on side-slanting traverses on hard snow.

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