Washout at Greenwater

[jeepdad]

I parked at the parking area and heard several stories from sledders who burned their Hyfaxes and overheated that I decided to park at the bottom of Crystal. I rode into Rainier national park with my wife.

Pretty tame trail but still 13 miles in a great area.

take the left up to Crystal mountain off 410 and then the immediate right to the snowpark. short trail back on HWY 410 and right at the Sunrise entrance. You can ride to the lower camp site just past the second bridge.

watch out for the snow shoers and the skiiers they can leave a mark ( kidding)

My wife needed a trail day and thats exactly what we got with no bare pavement.

i think i am gonna hafta to try this one!

 

[armyguy]

^^^^^I was thinkin the same thing ^^^^^

 

[line8]

I am having a hard time believing that there's been no comments about the trail ride. Am I missing something? I crack up everytime I look at it, And, I want to go next time.

 

[sidehil]

I rode in there in 97 with my first mmax 600 and everyone took turns on it. Its perfect for first timers. It was one of my first rides. The look on the skiers faces was stunning. Not many realize you can do it. I thought by now it be skiers/snowshoers only. Looks like the word is out now. It was about the time snowest started.

 

[sidehil]

That snowpark is not very big as I recall. Lot of from the skinny skiers.

 

[line8]

Seriously! I really had no idea you could do it........I have been here many times but didn't think you could ride in since it was the Mt R Ntl Prk.

 

[jeepdad]

That would be a good place to go if you had limited amount of sleds and alot more riders by the sounds of it.

i think i am gonna go check it out next weekend.

 

[Cscott]

Can anyone tell me if there is enough snow down lower so we don't have to ride across so much dark stuff? Thank you

 

[WHEREDAFUGAWEE]

Please help out a Snowest Brother out and let me know if the lower gate is open or not, i want to go over the top to my cabin in Cliffdell this weekend and i really dont want to create sparks on bare pavement if you know what i mean.

 

[mtnsledder]

The gate was closed at the 28 mile snopark on Monday when we rode there, pretty rough on carbides and hyfax.

It was pretty much mostly pavement until the bottom of the Matterhorn.

The Forest Service person stated on Monday that they wouldn't open the gate and move the snowpark up until the groomer plowed the few remaining patches of snow on the road past the gate.

I won't be back till they move the snopark higher.

 

[TNTCOPP]

Any updates from people that rode Thursday?

There is no reason why we , at the very least should be parking at the parking lot a mile past the gate. That's where they should have put the gate anyways. God forbid we drive our trucks on any snow or ice to get to the Sno-park.......unbelievable.

The gate was closed at the 28 mile snopark on Monday when we rode there, pretty rough on carbides and hyfax.

It was pretty much mostly pavement until the bottom of the Matterhorn.

The Forest Service person stated on Monday that they wouldn't open the gate and move the snowpark up until the groomer plowed the few remaining patches of snow on the road past the gate.

I won't be back till they move the snopark higher.

 

[WHEREDAFUGAWEE]

Ok seriously get that fricken gate open and plow the road to the upper snow park. Talk about trashing my ski carbides and shortening the life of my hifax's.
Rode over the top to stay at my cabin friday night near Whistlin' Jacks. Snow was on the road from the gate up friday night. Had a great ride over the weekend in areas such as Little Bald Mountain and Clover Springs. Coming back over the top to the west side, had lots of bare pavement to travel on on the bypass road (the Matterhorn). Come on somebody plow the road and open that gate!

 

[line8]

Who can be called about it, to actually get something done? Maybe if enough calls are made something will happen. It could be that the FS can't put their $45k trucks on anything but highway.

 

[xpspenziv]

For those that were at the groomers meeting that said dont plow just keep the roads groomed. What do you think of your vote now?

After they take 30% of are grooming and plow money i dont see greenwater being a place to ride in the next couple years.

 

[Ryanlilly]

This is getting ridiculous, who's do we need to kneecap to get this friggin gate open? Last time I was up even the forest service guy wanted it opened, but he was told no by his ”superiors”!

Anyone want to elect me as governor? I'll get that **** open!

 

[JETJOHNSO]

groomer meeting tonight , it will be handled !!

Not the forest service call, the road needs to be plowed, hopefully it will get dont this week, I'll let everyone know tonight after the meeting, the forest service wanted to open it over a week ago but cant do it till the road is plowed 2 rigs wide,

 

[xpspenziv]

Good . Thanks.
Couple Qs.
How is him plowing the road gonna affect the grooming since it dips into the same fund?

Grooming gonna go down to once a week?

 

[TNTCOPP]

It's probably going to get plowed this week regardless isn't it as Stafford will have to get equipment in there to fix the washout next week???

http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=304740

Not the forest service call, the road needs to be plowed, hopefully it will get dont this week, I'll let everyone know tonight after the meeting, the forest service wanted to open it over a week ago but cant do it till the road is plowed 2 rigs wide,

 

[WHEREDAFUGAWEE]

As of yesturday, Sunday March 4th, it appears that they have begun to plow one side of the road from the gate up and around the matterhorn all the way to the upper snowpark. If you look closely you probably will see all the marks on the bare asphault from my carbides and the smell of burnt hifax plastic probably still lingers in the air from riding almost a 1/4 mile on the road.

 

[Ski Bum]

Gate SHOULD be opening soon

The contractor should be up this week (most likely Wednesday depending on weather) to plow off the other half of the road up to the Pyramid snowpark. Once that is finished, the Forest Service will open up the gate so we can drive to the top. This will likely burn up the last of the plowing funds for the year, so any big snows from that point on could get rather interesting. (or we would have to use grooming funds to plow the road) And No xpspensive, it is NOT the same pool of money for grooming and plowing. The fact that the same contractor has both contracts just means that if we rob Peter to pay Paul the money still goes into the same pocket. Anywhere else in the state, you would literally be taking money away from one company and giving it to a different one, and since they all have signed contracts, that isn't even possible.
One last note, since it would take a lot more time/money to push off the snow from the actual parking lot at the top, the current plan is to just plow a turn around and have people park on the downhill side of the road. (like we have for years when the lot gets full)
Also, since the ice in some of the shady spots on the 70 road is 2+ inches thick, it won't be going away anytime soon, so you may still need chains if it gets warm and there is a layer of water on top of that ice.