[pct-l] southbound trail conditions

[perkowt at hotmail.com (thomas perkow)]

We began southbound on May 25th.  Trail conditions from Manning Park to 
Rainy Pass involved much snow work on north-facing slopes above 5,000 feet.  
Fully south-facing slopes had almost no snow up to 7,000 feet.  We began 
with four days of full sun and hot conditions, leading to very soft snow and 
much post-holing.  Several slopes had new releases, and many traverses 
involved some risk of avalanche danger.  Navigation could prove difficult in 
some areas during periods of poor visibilty due to large sections of the 
trail obscured by snow.  The crux for us was getting to Cutthroat Pass - 
many lengthy steep snow traverses just prior to this pass.  We ascended 
Methow Pass directly for the final 500 feet since the trail was completely 
snow covered.  Otherwise, the trail is in fine shape with only a few 
blow-downs.

>From Rainy Pass to Stevens Pass, things improved somewhat.  We had no snow 
until the north side of Suiattle Pass, which we navigated through in thick 
cloud without too much trouble.  Buck Creek Pass had some lengthy sections 
of complete snow cover, though it went ok.  High Pass still had considerable 
snow and cloudy conditions, prompting us to continue following the trail to 
Trinity.  We sussed out the Chiwawa River crossing on June 3rd: it was 
running fast, deep (over 6 feet), and very cold.  We realized that, should 
the High Pass route have gone and the Napeequa River been not crossable 
(highly likely), one would be faced with re-crossing High Pass back to Buck 
Creek Pass.  We followed the stock detour to Stevens Pass.  (Note: on the 
stock detour there are two restaurants at the Hwy 207 / Hwy 2 junction.  We 
found a nice campsite just prior to this junction on Nason Creek.  There are 
two small grocery stores a few miles up Hwy 207.)

>From Stevens Pass to Snoqualmie Pass we encountered considerable snow on the 
north sides of both Pieper and Cathedral Passes.  These would be difficult 
to navigate when visibility is low.  Beyond, there are only patches of snow, 
though some are very steep with cliffs below.  Caution in certainly in 
order.

South of Snoqualmie Pass we had very little snow work to Tacoma Pass, though 
lots of rain.  Here, at 3,400 feet just two days ago, we awoke to full-on 
blizzard conditions.  We hiked 10 miles to a logging road through 4-8 inches 
of heavy, wet snow and slush through pouring rain and hitched out.  Having 
dried out, we hope to resume Wednesday afternoon.

A word of explanation: I have submitted trip reports to the pcta.org site 
three times along the way to provide up-to-date snow info to other 
southbound hikers.  For some reason, they have not been posted on the site.  
Hopefully, this forum will allow a quicker sharing of the info.

tom and krystal