Ramona falls to Cascade Locks on PCT

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Rockaway
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Ramona falls to Cascade Locks on PCT

Post by Rockaway » May 7th, 2017, 7:12 pm

Would this be a doable hike over Memorial weekend? Concerns of snow this year.

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miah66
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Re: Ramona falls to Cascade Locks on PCT

Post by miah66 » May 8th, 2017, 11:54 am

I think that's pretty early. You'd be postholing for long stretches, no discernable trail. I'd think it would be late June before you'd be able to walk it.
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Aimless
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Re: Ramona falls to Cascade Locks on PCT

Post by Aimless » May 8th, 2017, 12:01 pm

Yeah. My sense of how the snowmelt is progressing is that you would be dealing with plenty of snow over Memorial Day weekend. My best guess would be snow increasing as you hike above 3800 feet and anywhere above 4300 feet would be continuous snow. And that's the optimistic version.

AaniishEpiichaak
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Re: Ramona falls to Cascade Locks on PCT

Post by AaniishEpiichaak » May 9th, 2017, 8:53 pm

Was considering this next hike too! when the weathers good. Yeah, my gadget said the Chindere cutoff and or PCT part of my last hike was at 4009 ft. There was intermittent snow, then maybe 3 ft on the Benson Plateau ....
I would take snowshoes nextime, until yeah, who knows, june....

dibgerge
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Re: Ramona falls to Cascade Locks on PCT

Post by dibgerge » May 14th, 2017, 1:11 pm

From the NOHRSC models, it looks like snow all the way till after Benson plateau, or just after Wahtum lake if you take the eagle creak alternate. Snow is currently up to 80 inches in places along the PCT. But this is just the model...

http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/interactive/ ... &js=1&uc=0
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ramona falls - snow map.png
Snow map of PCT from Ramona Falls to Cascade Locks

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retired jerry
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Re: Ramona falls to Cascade Locks on PCT

Post by retired jerry » May 14th, 2017, 2:01 pm

I like the legend on that better than the NOHRSC I am used to

Much easier to see what the snow level is

The other one has shades of blue that are difficult to tell what they mean

This one has browns and greens and reds and ...

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adamschneider
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Re: Ramona falls to Cascade Locks on PCT

Post by adamschneider » May 14th, 2017, 8:33 pm

retired jerry wrote:I like the legend on that better than the NOHRSC I am used to
Me too! And I just now noticed that there's a checkbox labeled "high-contrast palette." I'm changing all my bookmarks...


Meanwhile, here's the elevation profile on that section of the PCT (Eagle Creek variant):

Image

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retired jerry
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Re: Ramona falls to Cascade Locks on PCT

Post by retired jerry » May 15th, 2017, 6:03 am

on this one

http://adamschneider.net/hiking/snow_depth.html

you can select "snow + GPS topo" which is cool

but not "high contrast pallette"

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adamschneider
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Re: Ramona falls to Cascade Locks on PCT

Post by adamschneider » May 15th, 2017, 4:50 pm

retired jerry wrote:http://adamschneider.net/hiking/snow_depth.html

you can select "snow + GPS topo" which is cool

but not "high contrast pallette"
Yeah, unfortunately the graphics that can be pulled out separately and overlaid on Google Maps don't come with color options.

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BigBear
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Re: Ramona falls to Cascade Locks on PCT

Post by BigBear » May 16th, 2017, 12:05 pm

On a normal year, this would be more of an Independence Day idea. The first (and only time) I backpacked to Wahtum Lake (1989), there were so many mosquitoes it was crossed off my list of camping sites. I had not know at the time there was a paved road to the ridge above the lake, and when a young woman in a flowered dress and clogs strolled into our campsite and complained about the hill from the parking lot down to the lake, I so wished we had set up our camp 3 miles back where a pair of beautiful streams met under a conifer forest.

On my second and third Memorial Day weekend excursions to the area (we camped lower and day hiked up), we found snow on the way to Chinidere Mtn. and endless snow on the way to Indian Springs. Again, there were not heavy precipitation years.

This year...I don't know if you can even drive to Lolo Pass due to the snow. Hike it? Best of luck.

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