PNW Trip Recommendations

[Matt Breuer]

Hi,

Following up on my earlier post about snow conditions in the PNW in June – does anyone have recommendations for 60-100 mile routes in Washington or Oregon that will have minimal snow in early-mid June?

Thanks,
Matt

[Steven Paris]

Matt,

It's just hard to predict in the PNW. It looked like we were going to have a low snow year but March more than made up for any chance of that. June is one of the more frustrating times (at least for me, who grew up in the south) when the THs and access roads are still under snow. I don't mean to be trite with this obvious statement, but staying below at lower elevations (say 3500' or so), farther south (southern OR will be snow-free quicker than northern WA) and/or east of the Cascades will help.

So where to go?

Maybe Hells Canyon in eastern OR, out-and-back trips in any one of the numerous river valleys in Olympic (just have to be flexible about a turn-around point), southern OR wilderness areas (maybe Thom Darrah will have some input here). I'll keep thinking.

[jscott]

Matt: I grew up around Seattle and spent a lot of years hiking in Washington State. It's really terrific. However, there's often a ton of snow in June. I see that you live in the Northeast and so will be traveling west for this trip. I also see that you'd like to hike 60-100 miles. That's a lot of miserable miles in snow. If you'd like to be in the Cascades, can you A) plan for July or August instead; or B)hike long miles in California instead where we've had a low snow year.This means the high country will open up very early this year. And yes you can easily avoid crowds down here if you stay off the pct/jmt; and even then, you may be surprised.

But listen to the PNW locals, who are more in tune with this year's snow than me. Also, the Olympics are a good suggestion. Guess it depends on whether you want to stay low.

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