White Chuck River Road question

[marek]

Hey

Anyone know about the above road being closed or damaged,

if yes, any specifics, milage, where or if bicycle use

possible? Alternates?

[klenke]

The road is closed.

There is/was talk of repairing it and reopening it. It might just be talk.

I don't know how suitable it is for biking but I imagine it would fine until you get to a really big washout or a really big gap spanning a river where a bridge used to be.

 

More info here.

[marek]

Klenke

Thank you, I just found similar info with partial access

and closure at mile 1,3.

Is there any way aroud it?

[klenke]

I don't know. Doubt it.

[turn_one]

left another post about this in the climbing partner forum but...

 

yes there is a way around it, trails that go up and over both wash outs, the second more irrataing than the first (about 1 mi. past the roads end). one could carry a moutain bike over these wash outs and make the trip in to glacier substantially faster.

 

i can't see how the roads could be prepared judging by the size of the washouts unless they built the roads higher on the hillside. the forest service didn't give me any indications openings anytime soon.

[marek]

Thanks guys

Now if the darn weather forecast wouldn't change every moment.

Keeps f,,hhgg changing twice a day for the worst.

[seawallrunner]

to get there, wouldn't you have to cross this?

 

[layton]

MattP's gallstone?

[JoshK]

It's too bad that road ate shit so hard...it is a great access point to lots of neat backcountry.

[magellan]

Seawallrunner...I'm pretty sure that is the bridge across the Whitechuck to the old Mt loop hwy. That is not on the Whitechuck river road.

 

Marek..call Darrington ranger district, they have the exact mileage for all four washouts on the road. I was told I could haul a bike across them. Where the road actually crosses the Whitechuck is not compromised. However the Whitechuck river trail is missing almost a mile of the five miles to where Kennedy camp used to be, before it got destroyed.

 

The word is Mt Loop Hwy and Suiattle river road will be restored next year. Whitechuck Rd...perhaps the year after that, with talk of relocating the trail to the other side. (Where it used to be 40 years ago)

[layton]

somebody laugh at and acknowledge my witty comment!

[Kraken]

We were going to use the road this summer to climb Sloan or Glacier peak, but when we learned it was washed out, we used the North Sauk road instead and attempted Glacier Peak, but were turned around by whiteout conditions and loads of rain.

[seawallrunner]

Magellan - indeed the bridge photo I posted is from Mountain Loop near the washout of the highway. Didn't people use the Mountain Loop to get to WC River Road? I posted a photo of the bridge that you would have crossed to get there, if it stood.

 

The alternative on the map looks like 4x4 land

Edited October 18, 2005 by seawallrunner

[catbirdseat]

somebody laugh at and acknowledge my witty comment!

ha ha

[marek]

Just called Darrington Ranger St and talked to a nice girl

Heidi. Here is what I was told:

In addition to White Chuck Road being torn in at least two

places, 1mile plus of the trail is gone as noted by someone

before. The bridge just before Hot Springs is gone and all trails around, so is the Kennedy Hot Springs.

The only way in is from the south via Rt 49 ( the usual way to Sloan )and then 8miles to some pass plus 6sich more to Glaciers vicinity.

I like challenges, but this one is gott to wait!

[mattp]

You are describing a fourteen mile approach, with more elevation gain but not all THAT much more elevation gain than the previous ten mile approach. Go for it.

[curtveld]

Depending on which side of the mountain you want, the Suiattle road (#26) might be worth a look. Its driveable up to Downey Creek. The FS road conditions web site is a good resource when the ranger stations are closed: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/conditions/road_conditions_report.shtml

[Guiran]

You'll have to ford the Suiattle at Milk Creek, but that should be feasible (but frickin cold) this time of year. Trying to approach the Sitkum route via NF Sauk would probably be better done as a three day trip given the distances involved.

[mattp]

In my opinion, it was ALREADY better done as a three-day trip. I did it as two, but I had some sore feet on the way out.

[JoshK]

Is the North Fork Sauk approach the one that brings up over Red (or is it White?) Pass? If so, that is a really beautiful way to go.

[klenke]

Yes. Red Pass next to Portal Peak. I was there a month ago. Very vibrant red and orange right now.

 

It took me 7 hours to get from NF Sauk TH to White Chuck Glacier area (a half-mile SW of Glacier Gap).

 

I was at the 6,000-ft trail junction (with PCT) below White Mountain in about 3:15 hours from the car (8 miles). From there it is another 30 minutes to Red Pass. From Red Pass it would take about 2 hours to get to somewhere below the WSW side of Glacier (below the Sitkum Glacier). So, say 6 hours to get there from the TH. But that's at Klenke speeds.

 

When I was at the aforementioned junction I talked to some guys doing the entire PCT. Said they were doing the real PCT not the detour. I told them about the washouts but they didn't seem concerned. Either the washouts aren't as bad as reported or these guys were underprepared. Who knows how they fared. Maybe the washouts are beyond where one would cut off trail to get up to the Sitkum.

 

Glacier from Portal Peak on 9/26. The Sitkum Glacier is that piddly one left of the summit: