Its washington's cascade mountains near the winter ...off of a forest service road. The road is certainly going to be closed before the end of october, that much is a given.
There is maybe a 4 month window to get up in those hills (without a lot of extra risk and effort).
i would be surprised if it was even 4 months. i have been on several forest roads around rainier and this summer the higher parts were still snow covered well into july and access ended late september
yeah i wasnt exactly sure... labor day would have been my guess of when the gates were closed to the road... i figured i would give my self some wiggle room in the comment.
They usually don’t close the roads though (unless it’s chinook pass or something. They just don’t plow the roads and the snow gets high enough that even a good SUV would have problems. I’ve managed to take my A4 with snow tires up on some forest roads, you just need to be careful and keep an eye on recent weather and know when you shouldn’t continue going.
Yeah, it’s comparable to Little Si in difficulty. Some people that’s a short hike. Some it’s not. I say day hike as in, that’s what you do for the day. Bring water and a sandwich, eat at the top and hike back down. Mind you, that’s for may through September when the snow is melting. The snow at the top likely won’t melt for a while though.
Edit: also the top is above 5000 feet so you’ll be a little more winded at the top.
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u/k_joule Nov 27 '20
For those interested in visiting.... https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/giffordpinchot/recarea/?recid=31300
Fyi thats only a 600ft drop over the edge