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Cyclopath Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 7732 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
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Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:56 pm
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Washington State Parks has opened a new Sno-Park at Annette Lake along Interstate 90, near the Summit at Snoqualmie.
Sno-Parks are designated trailheads that are plowed and maintained during the snowy season with amenities like portable bathrooms. Many offer access to trails for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.
The Annette Lake Sno-Park has access to ungroomed marked trails for snowshoeing and backcountry skiing, with room for over 40 vehicles. There is also a toilet and winter kiosk information board at the location.
To get there, take exit 47 off I-90, turn right on NF 55 road and then turn left on Asahel Curtis. Continue 0.4 miles to the parking area.
https://www.seattletimes.com/life/outdoors/new-sno-park-opens-near-seattle/?amp=1
zimmertr
zimmertr
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Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16092 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
Bring your beacons
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
thunderhead
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
thunderhead
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Cyclopath Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 7732 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
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Wed Dec 21, 2022 10:29 am
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Malachai Constant wrote: | Bring your beacons |
Or just go somewhere else if you don't like this one. I'll be at Cabin Creek and a lot of other places, this is too crowded for my taste and not great skiing. But there's been overwhelming desire to play in the snow, people have been parking on the side of I90. We needed more snow parks and this will be great for the people who want to make an angel and go home.
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Randito Snarky Member
Joined: 27 Jul 2008 Posts: 9513 | TRs | Pics Location: Bellevue at the moment. |
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Randito
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Wed Dec 21, 2022 11:31 am
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I think this a good move. There have been large numbers of vehicles parking illegally / chaotically in the Exit 47 area for several years.
There is some avalanche exposure along the summer hiking trail to Lake Annette. However that avalanche exposure is substantially less than the exposure that hikers/snowshoers have been undertaking on the otherside of the freeway heading up the Granite Mtn trail. An amazing number of folks igonorantly follow the summer trail right across the avalanche path off Granite's S aspect bowl.
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gb Member
Joined: 01 Jul 2010 Posts: 6309 | TRs | Pics
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gb
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Wed Dec 21, 2022 11:42 am
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Randito wrote: | I think this a good move. There have been large numbers of vehicles parking illegally / chaotically in the Exit 47 area for several years.
There is some avalanche exposure along the summer hiking trail to Lake Annette. However that avalanche exposure is substantially less than the exposure that hikers/snowshoers have been undertaking on the otherside of the freeway heading up the Granite Mtn trail. An amazing number of folks igonorantly follow the summer trail right across the avalanche path off Granite's S aspect bowl. |
I rate the avalanche hazard significant during or soon after storms. Above the slope angle is 33 to 37 degrees, and there are a couple of open gullies where slope angles are significantly higher than that. My guess is we will see accidents in this area.
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joker seeker
Joined: 12 Aug 2006 Posts: 7953 | TRs | Pics Location: state of confusion |
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joker
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Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:34 pm
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I bet that most of the folks who park there will either be crossing the highway to hike to Franklin Falls, or taking their kids to the snow play area that's in the picnic area right there. BTW there's decent signage warning of avalanche risk along the trail to Annette Lake.
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BigBrunyon Member
Joined: 19 Mar 2015 Posts: 1456 | TRs | Pics Location: the fitness gyms!! |
Hopefully they're requiring Chains to get in to the lot! I like to remind that Chains are only good of they're ON!!!
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dixon Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2020 Posts: 176 | TRs | Pics
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dixon
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Wed Dec 21, 2022 6:04 pm
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Is this free or does it require a pass?
The sno park passes are confusing. Some of the areas require a "groomed" permit in addition to the non motorized pass which costs $120 for a few months of the year. Seems pretty expensive for regular folks. Also some days they don't even plow the sno park so you can't access it.
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Cyclopath Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 7732 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
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Wed Dec 21, 2022 6:31 pm
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This is confusing, but even though it's called Annette Lake Sno Park, is really on the north side of the highway. Towards Franklin Falls.
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Cyclopath Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 7732 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
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Wed Dec 21, 2022 7:09 pm
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dixon wrote: | Is this free or does it require a pass?
The sno park passes are confusing. Some of the areas require a "groomed" permit in addition to the non motorized pass which costs $120 for a few months of the year. Seems pretty expensive for regular folks. Also some days they don't even plow the sno park so you can't access it. |
All snow parks require a snow park pass. Somebody plows out parking for people to go hike or ski or just enjoy nature. Plowing is expensive.
Grooming is when somebody drives a snow cat over the trail in the morning so the snow conditions will be just right. This is primarily for cross country skiing. Winthrop and Mazama charge $25 a day for their groomed trails; $120 for a whole season is a great deal!
If you're not skiing, skip the groomed sticker and get the $40 pass, but then you can't go to a handful of snow parks that have grooming. It's good that the Snoq corridor has more non groomed options now.
joker
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philfort Member
Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 443 | TRs | Pics Location: seattle |
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philfort
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Wed Dec 21, 2022 8:54 pm
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From the MBSNF facebook page:
Quote: | The other sno-park, which is new this year, is located at the Annette Lake trailhead. The Annette Lake sno park provides access to the Annette Lake trail and the short and easy snowshoe hike around the Asahel Curtis Nature loop. |
joker
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dixon Member
Joined: 24 Apr 2020 Posts: 176 | TRs | Pics
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dixon
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Wed Dec 21, 2022 9:10 pm
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Cyclopath wrote: | dixon wrote: | Is this free or does it require a pass?
The sno park passes are confusing. Some of the areas require a "groomed" permit in addition to the non motorized pass which costs $120 for a few months of the year. Seems pretty expensive for regular folks. Also some days they don't even plow the sno park so you can't access it. |
All snow parks require a snow park pass. Somebody plows out parking for people to go hike or ski or just enjoy nature. Plowing is expensive.
Grooming is when somebody drives a snow cat over the trail in the morning so the snow conditions will be just right. This is primarily for cross country skiing. Winthrop and Mazama charge $25 a day for their groomed trails; $120 for a whole season is a great deal!
If you're not skiing, skip the groomed sticker and get the $40 pass, but then you can't go to a handful of snow parks that have grooming. It's good that the Snoq corridor has more non groomed options now. |
Yeah I understand the need to charge. I pay for snow removal at my property and it's def expensive.
It seems a good deal but everytime I've gone anywhere other than Amablis the snow mobiles are a nuisance, mainly because of the fumes from the 2 stroke engines which linger in the cold air. Easton reload is particularly bad as they drive on side of the groomed trail. I think the summit offers season Nordic for $179 so not too much diff. Good that they're building more parks tho!
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rossb Member
Joined: 23 Sep 2002 Posts: 1679 | TRs | Pics
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rossb
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Thu Dec 22, 2022 10:19 am
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@dixon
The state website for the snowparks has the information, but you have to dig around a bit. I believe all of the non-motorized sno-parks can be found via this page: https://www.parks.wa.gov/452/Non-Motorized-Sno-Parks.
If you read the description of an area, it should list whether you need a groomed sticker, and whether there are snowmobiles. They haven't updated the I-90 map, but you can find "Asahel Curtis" by scrolling down. There are no snowmobiles, and you don't need a groomed sticker. Along I-90, most of the sno-parks have one or the other, or both. Along with the Asahel Curtis, there is Kendall Lake Road (as lacking both grooming and snowmobiles). Gold Creek is another option. It doesn't require a groomed sticker either. It does have snowmobiles, but only folks accessing their cabins (which means there aren't that many). There may be more, but it wouldn't surprise me if that's it along I-90.
Personally, the only reason I pay for a groomed sticker is to go up Amabalis. I do appreciate the grooming, and feel like I get my money's worth. But I've seen people snowshoe there, which seems silly to me. I guess if you have exhausted everything else and want to check it out, then it isn't that expensive. But I would rather snowshoe up to Kendall Peak Lakes, or try out this new option. There are also some logging roads which don't have plowing, but that becomes its own challenge. You might spend a good portion of the day digging out your car, or carrying skis/snowshoes.
I-90 has a lot of sno-parks, while other corridors have their own challenges. We should probably start our own thread for that discussion. A "places to go if you don't want snowmobiles or pay for a groomed sticker and/or snowpark" is a worthy discussion. The books are very helpful for that of course. Another good resource I've just discovered for I-90 is this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/winter.recreation/.
dixon
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rossb Member
Joined: 23 Sep 2002 Posts: 1679 | TRs | Pics
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rossb
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Thu Dec 22, 2022 11:00 am
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joker wrote: | I bet that most of the folks who park there will either be crossing the highway to hike to Franklin Falls, or taking their kids to the snow play area that's in the picnic area right there. BTW there's decent signage warning of avalanche risk along the trail to Annette Lake. |
Yeah, I agree. I think they were originally going to call this sno-park "Denny Creek", but chose this name mainly for where you park, not where you explore. That being said, the play area as well as the nature trail should prove popular.
My guess is the only folks that head to the lake are those that know what they are doing (e. g. https://www.medicalmooselabs.com/single-post/skiing-silver-from-annette-lake). Humpback Mountain seems like a better option for backcountry skiers, although both look like they require very stable conditions.
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JimmyBob Member
Joined: 22 Jun 2018 Posts: 73 | TRs | Pics Location: Maple Valley, WA |
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JimmyBob
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Thu Dec 22, 2022 11:27 am
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They should just increase the Discover park pass fee or have an add on when you buy it, or have an expanded Discover pass.
Too many pass types.
Or just get rid of them all and increase taxes.
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