Timberline Trail in July

[chooch]

With the weather this year, how do you think the TT will be in mid-july for doing the whole loop?

Thanks!

[Aimless]

This year in mid-July there will probably be considerable amounts of residual snow on the Timberline Trail. Only the lower elevation sections and areas most open to the sun are likely to be clear.

[drm]

One of the challenges of this in a year like this one are some of the creek crossings. When snow lingers into midsummer heat, the creeks can be raging and difficult to cross. They also can have perilous snow bridges over them that threaten to collapse and dump you into the water. There will still be long snow-covered stretches with difficult route-finding in sheltered or higher-altitude areas, though by mid-July some will have boot tracks in them.

[chooch]

Hmm. Okay, I guess I will have to keep a close eye on it. It looks like the last year with this heavy and late of a snow was in 2011 and the trip reports from even late July/early August of that year suggest a lot of snow still covering the trail making trail visibility very difficult.

[chooch]

Well this week certainly didn't help i suppose, but it looks like it will warm up from here on (hopefully). I can push our trip back to late july/early august so I am hoping its possible.

We are flying into Portland though, so if TT ends up being not possible can anyone recommend another trip that we could get to from Portland and that would offer similar distance/difficulty/awesomeness?

Thanks very much.

[drm]

While there would be many other routes open by then, the same degree of "awesomeness" probably means a route into alpine terrain. If the TT still has too much snow, then most of the rest of the Cascades would too, so you would need to find somewhere outside of the Cascades. That probably means a longer drive (4-6 hours) north to the Olympics or east to the Wallowas.

But while there will be some snow in early August, most of these routes should be doable with only some extra difficulty, not too extreme. Definitely delay your trip as long as your schedule allows. Us locals are planning our best trips for late Aug or September.

[chooch]

Thanks, DRM. I'll keep a close eye on things, but those look like great fallback plans.

[SplitSince]

Seems like it's been a good couple of weeks on the snow-melt front. With a warm June, I'm also hoping to be able to hike TT latter half of July with backup plans in mind. Thanks for the suggestions. #crossingfingers

[chooch]

Yeah, things moving in the right direction for sure. Hope the warm weather continues! I saw a weather report that it will be warmer than normal in the PNW over the next few months.