Forum Index > Trail Talk > North Bend or Sultan-which is better?
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neek
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neek
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PostTue Sep 28, 2021 4:51 pm 
JPH wrote:
Road maybe? North Bend has Tiger, Raging River, Ollalie, Tokul, etc.
Yes, sorry, should have specified. Better MTB near North Bend probably. +1 on what flatsqwerl said, if that had been one of the options.

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timberghost
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PostWed Sep 29, 2021 7:56 am 
North Bend we have enough clowns in the valley

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domaz
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PostWed Sep 29, 2021 12:52 pm 
kw wrote:
domaz wrote:
Neither, Port Angeles and Sequim is far better if your only consideration is hiking / winter recreation. Traffic on weekends is heavy but not terrible, and you can get to the coast or the mountains easily anytime.
Fewer nazis in north bend though.
Idk.. I've seen some very weird folks up the Middle Fork road in North Bend

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Navy salad
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PostThu Sep 30, 2021 2:10 pm 
I live in an area just west of Duvall (near the top of the hill), where it is nearly the same driving time to either Snoqualmie or Stevens passes, so it's good for both.

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dixon
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PostThu Sep 30, 2021 2:33 pm 
I live in N. Bend and think its great for proximity to I-90 and lots of snowshoes/hikes that are possible even when the avy danger is high. The biggest issue is the cost of living which has dramatically increased post-covid (similar to everywhere else). I personally cannot afford to buy here and so rent, but there are very few rentals. I saw a rental recently but they wanted $3100/month for a 2 bed. There is a new development being built presently (~120 units apparently) but a group of residents are suing the developer and State of WA over water rights so its likely to be delayed until this is resolved. The broader question is are there "any affordable" places left in WA to buy property with close proximity to the mountains?

mosey, SpookyKite89, zimmertr
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Exmoor
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PostThu Sep 30, 2021 3:36 pm 
Navy salad wrote:
I live in an area just west of Duvall (near the top of the hill), where it is nearly the same driving time to either Snoqualmie or Stevens passes, so it's good for both.
Yea, Duvall might actually be the "jack of all [passes], master of none" here. It's also roughly equidistant from the Mountain Loop highway to Sultan, if that matters. There are going to be very significant cultural differences the areas as well. If you ever have to drive anywhere away from the mountains traffic is going to be much worse in Sultan from my experience.

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altasnob
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PostThu Sep 22, 2022 1:32 pm 
All the cool kids are moving to North Bend: How North Bend became a true Northwest mountain town https://www.seattletimes.com/life/outdoors/how-north-bend-became-a-true-northwest-mountain-town/

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hbb
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PostThu Sep 22, 2022 3:20 pm 
I can't imagine anyone willingly moving to a location that requires dealing with the traffic on US 2.

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thunderhead
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PostFri Sep 23, 2022 10:09 am 
Yup. North bend is awesome.

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Roly Poly
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PostFri Sep 23, 2022 9:49 pm 
Hmm, the Highway 2 traffic is only an issue on weekends. Monday-Friday, no-one is on the highway and I often feel that I’m the only car.

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BigBrunyon
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PostSat Sep 24, 2022 1:56 am 
Boils down to the food options. Boils down to the fast food scenes. In north bend, you're getting off that main exit, you're seein a MCDONALD'S. Seein a McD's. Lookin to get a BIG MAC or two. Seein an ARBY'S. couple mexican options. For burgers ya got BURGER KING (BK). Sultan you're rollin in on 2. Rollin thru town. Seeing the Mexican place. Couple burger options. Seein the pizza place. Pullin in to that MCDONALD'S across from the chevron lookin to get a BIG MAC or two.

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Lazyhiker
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PostSat Sep 24, 2022 6:21 am 
There’s only one place that is really worth stopping for food in Sultan, I suspect a lot of people here know that.

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ale_capone
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PostSat Sep 24, 2022 8:57 am 
altasnob wrote:
All the cool kids are moving to North Bend: How North Bend became a true Northwest mountain town https://www.seattletimes.com/life/outdoors/how-north-bend-became-a-true-northwest-mountain-town/
About somes it up. 2 completely different cultures. Northbend is a mountain town for city people. Sultan is(was) a valley town for country folk. I know quite a few cool kids from both areas. I always get this feels that northbenders are 'too cool'. Everyone is sponsored, or a professional fun haver. In sultan you are more likely to find horse people, sportsmen, and rednecks, then hikers or climbers. Good people, just different. I've always found it odd how few active sports people there are around here. My personal opinion, but I like the immediate mountains around sultan more. Probably slightly better food in north bend.

Nancyann
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Nancyann
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PostSat Sep 24, 2022 12:20 pm 
Now that Smokey’s Barbecue is closed again there aren’t many options for a good dinner on Highway 2 after you leave Monroe unless you like Bubba’s. We usually land at the Sultan Ixtapas if we are running late, open until 9. Like ale_capone said, when I first moved here 18 years ago, lots of horse people like me who couldn’t afford property in North Bend moved here, in addition to sports people such as fishermen and hunters. Now the demographics are quickly changing, with a large influx of people who can’t afford to live closer in to the metropolitan areas finding affordable housing in the huge developments springing up everywhere in the Sky Valley. Regarding the weekend traffic horror, it’s my guess if a survey was done, most of the extra traffic burden would be from all the people from Seattle who hate Highway 2 but come up here anyway.

ale_capone, rossb
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Bruce Albert
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PostSat Sep 24, 2022 12:39 pm 
ale_capone wrote:
Northbend is a mountain town for city people. Sultan is(was) a valley town for country folk. I know quite a few cool kids from both areas.
Nice distinction. Heading west on 2 at the point where the 3 lanes neck down to 2 and you go under the RR tracks the culture shifts a little. Nice folks, mind you, no hate intended, just wired a little differently. Once upon a time when travel through North Bend was mandatory, a BBQ beef sandwich and mega-giant root beer float at the A&W was the basis of many a fine meal. I imagine they tore that down by now. But to the OP question I wouldn't consider either North Bend or Sultan, again no harm, no foul, no hate; it's just that they are both distant suburban communities that IMO combine the inconvenience of living way out in the sticks with the negatives of living in the 'burbs where life is harder if you don't drive. Truth be known I probably wouldn't move to Index again either. No man crosses the same river twice...and all that razamatazz With respect to being all outdoorsy and such, if you live up the valley, any valley, and want to recreate in a different valley you have to drive down one valley to get to the other valleys. Some trips get shorter; others get a lot longer. There's a ton of stuff very accessible in the Sky Valley, but if you want to go anywhere else, add an hour or more to your city-friends drive times.

ale_capone, rossb
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