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rbuzby
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 8:09 am 
I really hate this question but knowing the answer would help me, so I have to ask. Highway 2 backs up going west into Monroe Sunday evenings, doesn't it? Like stop and go for miles and miles. Is it cleared out by 8 pm? By 9 pm? Looks like I will need to be exiting the backcountry near Stevens on Sunday. Rather than sit in traffic, I will hike out late to avoid it. I just wonder how late is late enough. Thanks

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rbuzby
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 8:29 am 
Thank You Jeff. This time it's a choice between coming back Sunday or not going. And you know how it is, the mountains are calling me, and blah blah blah. I will probably hang around up high until 1 pm or so, then hike out, and get to the car around 8pm. When the grey dome drops on us for another long winter, I will be glad I got out there and harvested the pics I use for life support during the light deprivation season.

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Hutch
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 10:26 am 
I-90 wasn't much better yesterday. Turns out lots of people want to get outside when they can't gather inside. Excited for some cooler, wetter Fall weather to thin out the crowds.

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rubywrangler
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 11:54 am 
As late as possible. At the end of June I left the Rock Mtn trailhead at ~8:15pm and still sat in traffic for an hour. Got home after 11:30. I have avoided 2 since then but in the future I will just car camp on Sunday night and drive home first thing Monday morning.

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fourteen410
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 12:01 pm 
From my experience, if you get to Baring around 8:30pm you should be OK heading west. Might have some residual traffic, but nothing like earlier in the afternoon/evening. I definitely wouldn't get there earlier than 7:30pm. Perfect excuse to enjoy the sunset from the trail.

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rbuzby
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 12:07 pm 
Thanks for the tips everybody!

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 12:10 pm 
Several years ago did the Poets Ridge traverse, finished fairly late. Figured traffic would be no problem. Dead wrong. Traffic came to a stop somewhere around Baring. Crawled and crawled. We were starving, hit the McDonalds at the roundabout around 11 pm IIRC. Have avoided 2 on Sundays ever since.

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Kim Brown
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 12:57 pm 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
Several years ago did the Poets Ridge traverse, finished fairly late. Figured traffic would be no problem. Dead wrong. Traffic came to a stop somewhere around Baring. Crawled and crawled. We were starving, hit the McDonalds at the roundabout around 11 pm IIRC. Have avoided 2 on Sundays ever since.
I think I know which incident you're talking about. There was an accident on Hwy 2 that shut it down. I went into McDonald's as well, and the teenagers working there were under control, awesome, and efficient. They were managing the restrooms, which were crowded, even being courteous to those who just wanted to use the restroom, even if they weren't there to buy anything. I called McDonald's the next day and complimented them to the manager.

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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Cyclopath
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 1:00 pm 
I've always avoided US 2, at least from the west, it feels so far to get where I'm going. It's a shame because there's so much varied, beautiful country up there. You guys are going to blow it for me and send traffic to 90 and 12. Soon everybody will be doing Old Snowy and there will be stop and go on I5! I'm starting a petition to ban complaining about traffic on route 2. (Meant in good humor, I'm being goofy.)

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pula58
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 1:52 pm 
Over 28 years or so, I have been trapped between Skykomish and the West side of Monroe, Sunday afternoons, Sunday evenings, more times than I care to remember. I don't see any kind of possible solution, it is what it is.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 2:17 pm 
Kim Brown wrote:
I think I know which incident you're talking about. There was an accident on Hwy 2 that shut it down. I went into McDonald's as well, and the teenagers working there were under control, awesome, and efficient. They were managing the restrooms, which were crowded, even being courteous to those who just wanted to use the restroom, even if they weren't there to buy anything. I called McDonald's the next day and complimented them to the manager.
I don't even remember if I heard about an accident in the days following. I looked at my TR, it was late June of 2016.

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BigBrunyon
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 2:22 pm 
rbuzby wrote:
I will probably hang around up high until 1 pm or so, then hike out, and get to the car around 8pm. When the grey dome drops on us for another long winter, I will be glad I got out there and harvested the pics I use for life support during the light deprivation season.
I think you should get to the car 'round 3pm and target the WORST traffic. It will give you enough material for complaining about highway 2 traffic problems on the internet all winter.

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Brushbuffalo
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 3:13 pm 
rubywrangler wrote:
in the future I will just car camp on Sunday night and drive home first thing Monday morning.
Me too, although I do this on weeknights and it it often because I am too tired from the trip's exersion to safely stay awake, more so than from traffic ( wait, I am part of the traffic).

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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seattlenativemike
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 3:18 pm 
There's this sign in Mill Creek about New Homes in Sultan!!! that always makes me giggle thinking about that commute...

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treeswarper
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PostMon Aug 17, 2020 4:16 pm 
Hate to tell you this, but I-5 is stop and go in the Centralia Chehalis bottleneck. Oh, and Grand Mound because of crashes. Folks can't seem to stop crashing daily along this stretch. One of the reasons on my Move AWAY list. 12 is getting crazier also. It's always been crazy due to bad drivers who play chicken because of the wide shoulders. Once in a while, nobody chickens out and there is a fatality. Too many people have moved to this state. Go away! I also think Covid has made folks become worse drivers. I have no idea why, but it sure seems that way.

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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