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Wow, "reservable overnighting facilities operated by three private commercial entities" is exceedingly vague about who gets to use it. I feel like if you're going to allow any kind of development on public land it should be publicly accessible. The way I understood it last time was that the huts were going to be for private guided groups. I don't want more access for the rich pay to play crowd at the expense of any portion of the public trust. Cheap public huts like in Canada... maybe.

You're in the right spot @sara.squamish, welcome! I've found some of fine unicorns on this site...good luck! 🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄

This is in wilderness, so please abide by all the appropriate restrictions (no bolts, or only bolts drilled by hand, etc).

I am not 100% certain of the exact instances behind the Twin Sisters gates, but I suspect the usual- timber theft, dumping, fires, shooting, long-term camping, general mayhem, etc. These days it's much easier for the timber companies to gate their ownerships than deal with the shenanigans. But, gates do get vandalized all the time and aren't cheap to maintain either, but still probably cheaper than the alternative. I work a bit in the timber mgmt. landscape and I fully understand why the timber companies lock people out!

BTW, access from the other side (coming in Hampton/Sierra Pacific land from much farther south on Mosquito Lake Rd) is getting attention as a more legitimate access point under the auspice of visiting the DNR Daley Prairie Nature Area Preserve. Its 3-4 times longer but all bike-able. https://www.dnr.wa.gov/dailey-prairie-natural-area-preserve https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=12.1/-122.0436/48.7031&pubLink=HvWt3tXDN4hxcctmlr5OsnYq&trackId=52e0a40a-30fe-4eb5-8baa-692cb581c84c

Not being smarmy: what did the public do to ruin that privilege? I don't see that area getting trashed or abused... But I also 100% respect Hampton's right/interest in closing the place. Fires are real and cost $$$.

Visiting from Squamish. Looking for partners for day trips on Mount Hood, Mount Adams, or other nearby peaks. A summit route would be nice. Day trips preferred. Staying in White Salmon. Bivi possible but not ideal. Open to suggestions. Happy to get out in the mountains at all. Experienced on most terrain, comfortable on glaciers, rock, ice, scree, and just about anything. Solid technical skills, but out of practice. My ego won’t be slammed if you tell me my techniques are out of date either. I try to keep up with American guiding standards and nerd out on this stuff hard but I’m realistic about how little I’ve practiced recently. Prefer to move fast but won’t be racing. My off the couch level has proven to be good for big days but I’m no Eric Carter. Fine to go with someone less experienced, provided they’re enthusiastic, capable and a quick learner. Also fine to go with someone experienced, fast, skilled and knowledgeable, but I assume these unicorns will be busy climbing mountains with other unicorns. New to this forum. If there’s a more active or better place to find partners please let me know.

Not “recent” and not this site but: https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=578637 I’ll search this site later for you

Yeah, those gates in the Twin Sisters were unlocked into the 90s but the public definitely ruined that privilege long ago, unfortunately.

Hi My dad's cousin, Bill Vondriska, was the navigator on one of the planes that crashed on Salish Peak in 1956. My sisters and I have been doing some research. We have the official accident report, and Bill's death certificate. I've seen some pics posted on this forum dating back to 2006 or so. If anyone has current info on the crash site, additional pics or any other pertinent information, we'd love to see it. Thanks in advance George Vondriska

Old timers tell me that back in the day it was unlocked. Back before ski touring or climbing was very popular... shit, it's listed in the Burgdorfer ski guidebook. I don't think the Hampton company has any interest in opening up that gate to anybody that's non-paying.

Hi, Brad. My dad's cousin was the navigator in one of the planes that went down on Salish. I'd love to get pics and more info on the crash site.

Looks to be a chapel or church.....per the property outlines as seen on the Chelan County Asseors page https://maps.co.chelan.wa.us/GIS/ Property ID#30028. Photo taken from a hike this week, standing above the barn. It appears to be on the same owners land, but isn't included in the improvements/structures breakdown along with the large barn/hangar. Nor is the other structure above the chapel along the ridge line accounted for by the county. Both are visible on google maps. 47.52672496244515, -120.6786419076031, and 47.524546797153796, -120.68070380839872 The owners certainly have some resources!

Awesome work!! As always, great TR with excellent details - keep 'em coming, Eric!

Keep the gate locked. No huts. No snowmobiles. Gonna have to earn your turns, or the place will be over-run, and the seclusion, so close to Bellingham, will be ruined. Imagine the shitshow up there if you could drive to the start of the switchbacks? Totally lame...

Mountain Gear in Spokane used to be a good shop, unfortunately they are closed, https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/dec/22/off-belay-mountain-gear-is-closing-after-37-years-/

Oh yeah, he's legit. Bulger finisher #11, who completed the list on Jack in 1997! And I don't think enough of that historical info is on the web for AI to generate a lot of those details, now that I think about it.

Well if you're really a sleuth, it seems there is a long list of well known people that should know Mr Creeden, at least enough to trust him with some historical documents: https://statisticalclimbingguideforfredbeckey.webador.com/acknowledgements

Crazy story and even crazier that it's deleted the day after it was posted.

Thanks Veikko. Let me know at your earliest if you can find the book. Regds TG

well that makes it a moral conundrum. bought with private funds but sits on public land. seems like it could go either way. would be cool if let unlocked and accessible when not occupied by the guide services. or of fee required, it would be fairly cheap like the Canadian BC hut systems, but I think the alpine club runs those so the motivation is different.

I'm usually too clueless to be heavy handed. @DHC could be generating the articles via AI for sure. His account here is quite old and a lot of the photos in his articles (when they worked) appeared to be his? Maybe @DHC will sign on and explain what is going on....

I think I have one and will check and let you know.

Well, this is gonna be interesting.... The website is https://statisticalclimbingguideforfredbeckey.webador.com/articles and was also posted then deleted on NWHikers.net. The links to the articles don't work for me now. Prior to the abrupt about-face, I skimmed through Chapter 18 regarding his Army service & discharge. It painted a less than flattering portrait but seemed to have plenty of documentation. Mr. Creeden has also posted other interesting historical info on NWHikers. AI spoof (seems unlikely but wtf knows these days), the heavy hand of moderation, legal threats, and/or just second thoughts and wanting to save it all for the definitely "not published by the Mountaineers" book? Inquiring minds want to know.

Very cool! Thanks!!!