Worst roads

[nolanr]

I nominate Middle Fork Snoqualmie River. Maybe it was just my own damn fault for being out there w/out a beefy pick up or something, but that sucked! Brutal on my car (Sub. wagon, not an Outback). Took almost 2 hours to drive the last 13 miles. No wonder the FS wants to close the road, it's in horrible condition and they don't want to spend the $$ or take the time and effort to try to maintain it properly. Anybody been on anything worse that actually passes for a road in WA state? Alaska doesn't count, or northern Canada for that matter. Got that Dru?

[bobinc]

I second that one; truly legendary potholes and so many "can I make it?" partial washouts in wet years that you lose count.

[MountainMan]

You should think about riding a bicycle up there. I rode up there yesterday. We parked at the 8 mile mark and rode all the way to the top. The ride down was FAST and FURIOUS. It only took about an hour to ride the 24 miles down to the car. Of course if you have a lot of beer .. er .. gear ... then you might want to take the subaru.

[chucK]

I just drove in to the Dutch Miller Gap TH today. A bit less than two hours from Seattle. It is getting pretty bad at some

spots, but mostly it's not too bad (if you got a high clearance vehicle). I used to drive my Rabbit in there though.

Chuck

[michaeljosephnozel]

Upon a second reading, I guess I am slightly out of the above defined parameters. Being right off Hwy 99, and only minutes from Squamish, however, it seemed within the ballpark.

[Dru]

Oh, the upper Chehalis road is worse than any of those. The water bars are dug so deep they eat 4x4 pickups with giant tires for breakfast.....

 

The Hurley River road is kinda jinxed. not a bad road but something always seems to get damaged on your car when you drive it - wheel falls off the next day or something. sort of inexplicable. bermuda triangle effect??

[michaeljosephnozel]

My vote would be the last (7) miles, or approximately (11) kilometres, of the road to Brohm Ridge, Garibaldi Park (that is, to the gate below the Black Tusk Snowmobile Lodge).

 

To put it into perspective, however, the local snowmobilers driving the road must not see it like I did. These guys were FLYING in their pickups--some even had their snowmobiles tied in the back, bouncing around like hell.

Anyway, I thought it was the most treacherous road I've driven (within the above defined parameters).

 

[Tod]

Try the road into Depot creek from Canada. This road accesses a "Trailhead" to Spickard and Redoubt in the northern reaches of US North Cascades.

Mostly boulders, lot's of brush, high clearance needed, extremely slow going, lot's of fun....

Tod

[nolanr]

I knew Dru would have something good for us. Ah, screw the parameters. Feel free to share horror stories from anywhere in the world. I found the road into a portion of Hell's Canyon called Dug Bar to be not a lot of fun, either. Course it was dark and I wasn't quite sure where I was going.

[Alpine_Tom]

quote:

---

Originally posted by nolanr:

I nominate Middle Fork Snoqualmie River.

---

This road was responsible for only time I ever bailed on a climb BEFORE getting to the trailhead!

The road up to Whitehorse Peak (mine road?) is pretty wrecked too. Or, it was up to a couple of years ago. Maybe our trail park fees have fixed it.

 

[payaso]

Yes, I'm sure our trail fees are wisely being invested in the maintenance of these roads as we speak.

[Jman]

I did Whitehorse earlier this year and the road seemed fine. In fact, my fried drove his Honda Accord up there several times in the last couple of years (not to the 'end' of the road, but to the Niederprum trailhead).

My vote is for the 17 (?) miles of winding road up to Three Fingers. The road condition itself is actually pretty good. It's just that the grueling curves went on for so long that I got so sick we stopped the car so I could get out and puke. Then again, it could have been my friend's driving...

[nolanr]

I'll take the road to Three Fingers over M. Fork Snoqualmie ANY day!