April 3, 2011, MRNP Road Closed - Eagle Peak Trail

Word has it that MRNP had to get Paul B. and a Federal Hwys rep to blast the slopes (3X) across the road (and downhill from there) from Barnes Flats because of hanging avalanches waiting to happen; had a few runouts over the lower road.

Nice report; it's one ski trip (of so many of yours) that I haven't made.  However, it is my all-time favorite snowshoe route on a sunny day--the sun lights up the old-growth forest from the bottom up, presenting views and understanding never available from spring-summer-fall snowless expeditions (I've visited and/or quantitatively described old-growth forests from Vancouver Island to the ancient bristle-cone pine forests of California, and all types in between).

BTW, we used to ski from Longmire through the old campground (what a nice campground!) down the road and pickup the forest road that leads backup into the forest for a nice, trail-breaking XC ski; in recent years we stopped because the Park was plowing the road through the campground (they have a utility center on the far side).

Thanks for the tip, Andrew and Amar for the pointer and commentary.

author=Amar Andalkar link=topic=20475.msg87147#msg87147 date=1302376741]
We got to the park entrance just after 11am, and the ranger informed us that the road would be closed all day. WTF!! In numerous winter trips to the park, that's the first time I've actually had the road not open at all (endured many many late openings, obviously). What to do?
 

Welcome to the club, Amar!  At least you got the straight poop at the entrance.  It's not unknown for the morning phone message to promise an update which is never recorded, or for the entrance to give different info than Longmire...  Then there's what my buddy Winter Raven calls the 'stealth opening', where the recorded message says closed, but the road to Paradise actually opens!

Besides going home or backtracking two hours to White Pass, strong parties can follow the Wonderland Trail up to Paradise or the Tatoosh.  This requires a Nisqually River crossing; the summer footlog(s) at Cougar Rock are often washed out, but drift logs are sometimes available.  Another possibility is following the gravel bars upriver from Cougar Rock to Nisqually Glacier terminus; several small creeks must be crossed and kicker wax is handy on the return.   

Here are some other options (in order of increasing difficulty) to salvage some skiing when the Longmire gate does not open:

1)  There's the Horse Creek logging road that Andy mentioned.  The plowing stops about a quarter mile past the Longmire CG at the Longmire sewage treatment plant.  The first mile is probably more suitable for pattern-based skis, but with a long slog, one can reach the south side of the Tatoosh or Lookout Mountain.  There may be snowmobile tracks to ease the climb and with good coverage there are possibilities for shortcuts & turns in the upper clearcuts, starting about 4 miles up.

2)  Another long slog is to climb the Wonderland Trail to Rampart Ridge and follow this into Van Trump Park.  Like Horse Ck, this is probably better as an overnighter, unless you get an early start.  It's shorter, and saves removing skis to cross the road, if you follow the Trail of the Shadows north to the historic Longmire family meathouse, then leave that trail & climb a short hill about a hundred feet to the summer Wonderland trailhead.

3)  One of my favorites is the Kautz Trail to Mt Ararat.  The footlog about a mile up is often washed out in winter, but there should be plenty of other natural log crossings since most of the creek relocated farther E in 2006.  Just after entering the old growth forest, the trail is a steep, deeply incised rut between large cut logs that usually requires carrying skis for a few hundred yards.  Thereafter, the trail is quite skiable, if you can stay on it.  The SE & SW ridges are the safest way to the top; beware the large avy path on the lee E side that the summer trail finally traverses into Indian Henrys.

4)  When the leaves are gone, look across the river from just above Copper Creek restaurant a couple miles outside the Park and you'll see a narrow, moderately-inclined avalanche path leading up about two thousand feet to a large clearcut and natural clearings on the N side of Osbourne Mtn.  This is best accessed from the USFS Big Creek CG near the start of Skate Ck. road.  Unless the snow coverage at the 1800' campground is exceptional, it's probably easiest to boot up the FS trail about 5-600 vf from the campground to where mountainside steepens, then bash across a couple difficult initial ravines to a slight benching that traverses to the 'Osbourne Coolie' about a mile E of the trail.  Be sure to mark your route for the return.  The lower part of this coolie can be a hell of brush & down logs if you try to descend directly to the campgound.

5)  If one has a high-clearance 4WD or the snowline is above 3000', Mt. Beljica (5475') in the Glacier View Wilderness west of the Park can be a satisfactory ski outing.  Take USFS Rd #59 (Copper Ck) about four miles to the turnoff to the Lake Christine trail.  One can climb directly to the ridge from near this road junction and save several miles on the 59 road; you may have to boot up through the doghair reprod at the start if coverage is poor.  The ridge E toward the summit has a couple short sporty cliff bands; these are Oligocene lahars interbedded in the tilted muds & sands of the Puget Group, as are most of the high points in this area.  For better snow, descend a few hundred feet from the ridgetop on the north side to the large Beljica Meadows and then climb through steep open forest to the broad saddle E of Mt. Beljica.  I'd advise avoiding the Lake Christine trail since it traverses very steep slopes beneath cliffs and may be avalanche-prone.  I've also skied to the top of Peaks 5850 (Eagle Rock) and 5528 via their SE ridges from the Goat Creek spur described below.

6)  I haven't done this since the big-snow years of the 70's, but more adventurous sorts might try a ski ascent of Mt. Wow if conditions are favorable.  Take the spur road branching E from the Copper Ck road at the big quarry (about 3 miles from the highway) and follow it a level mile to Goat Ck.  The logging road beyond the washed out crossing is overgrown & roundabout, but does gain another 500 vf if the snow coverage is scanty.   The highest clearcut is not far below where the old 'Boundary Trail' ends on the ridgetop above the Nisqually Entrance Station (possible alternate hiking approach).  There's less sidehill bushwacking if you go a short way upstream from the Goat Ck. crossing, then directly up through steep old-growth timber to the SW spur of Mount Wow (6040+').         

Thanks for the great info and detailed list of ski options, Gary.

The only one of those which I've tried yet is Wonderland Trail to Rampart Ridge and into Van Trump Park, which we did intentionally in early January 2009 while the road was closed at Longmire for several weeks, due to the landslide on Glacier Hill past Nisqually Bridge.