[altasnob]

As I mentioned up thread, the road inside MRNP is actually very good, so it's not the park keeping the road bad to prevent overuse. Unlike most trailheads in WA, the road does not pass through a national forest (federal land) on the way to the trailhead. So unlike other trailheads (like the Middle Fork) there is no federal money funding this road maintenance. And because WA is one of the few states without a state income tax, counties rely on sales and property tax for the majority of funding. Cities (as opposed to counties) receive a disproportional bulk of this funding because most people live in cities and most people buy things in cities. So looking at Pierce County, they just don't have a lot of money to keep roads like Mowich Lake properly maintained. The funding to repair Mowich Lake road (outside the park) comes from sales and property tax in unincorporated Pierce County. Unincorporated Pierce County is the poorest place in the entire Seattle metro region. Middle Fork got repaired when unincorporated King County became yuppy, and there was federal money involved. Once Eatonville resembles North Bend you may see the Mowich lake road in better shape.

[Carbonj]

As it is a state hwy SR 165 it should be maintained every season, sometimes in the spring they do a training regrading run with multiple graders. Seen that 2 or 3 times in the last 35 years I've worked and lived in the Carbon valley. Email , write and call state and county representatives! Its the only thing that makes things happen.

[mb]

[Brian R]

[Seattle_Wayne]

Every time I hike up to Mount Catherine, I always stop to pick up bumpers and various other car parts left behind on my way out.

[altasnob]

Yes, closer inspection of the map shows the dirt road to Mowich is a state highway, not an unincorporated Pierce County road. So the state, not the county, and not the feds, pays to maintain the road up to the MRNP boundary. It is still a unique situation where people are driving a dirt road to a trailhead and not passing through National Forest. I believe funding for paving the Middle Fork mostly came from the feds as the road is in a National Forest.

[Cyclopath]

[Randito]

[Joseph]

Keep Mowich Lake road the way it is - potholes and all. Of all the main WT starting points, and supply cache locations, it is the most that gets ripped off (people get their crucial supplies stolen by the riff raff who drive right up to the TH). We do not need to make it easier for more people to access it and have it overrun by massive amounts of day hikers. In the spirit of ol' Harvey Manning: keep it rustic.

[Brian R]

A little history, the road was completed in 1938--but not opened beyond the Paul Peak gate to the general public until 1955. It was all tied up in the Paradise ski area controversy; the NPS not wanting local skiers to pressure MRNP to plow it and start putting in rope tows, etc even as they were trying to get skiers off the south side of the park. The permitting of Crystal Mountain eventually rendered the issue moot, it opened in 1962. Yes, it's a mob scene in summer. My input: 1.) The new Wonderland "trail running" cartels should be banned--along with their passenger van armadas, folding tables, shade tents, squirt bottles and gift bags. 2.) Access should be limited by the size of the parking lot. I've seen cars lined up more than a full mile down the road. First come, first served. No roadside parking. No bullsh## online reservation system either. Just get up early or go somewhere else. Build a turn-around at Paul Peak or below and drag out the Parking Lot Full sawhorse

[williswall]

[Brian R]

My biggest gripes are they take up parking lot space, campground space, are a commercial operation elbowing out the general public, are exempted from wilderness group size limits, and are generally obnoxious on the trail. In fact, they border on universally obnoxious. I would rather have MRNP wilderness encounters with hunters, motorcycles, wolves, ticks, giardia cysts, chupacabra, aliens with scales and large teeth, escaped convicts carrying hatchets.

[neek]

[kiliki]

[kiliki]