[pct-l] Canadian Crossing-SoBo

[Bob Bankhead]

I am reminded of something I once heard: "The mountain is not inherently dangerous, but it is totally and completely unforgiving of the slightest mistake on your part".

IMO, that is a bad time to go into that area, especially solo. That's incredibly rugged (and beautiful) topography up there, and they've had a lot of snow in northern WA state. 

Your friend will need to have solid experience with travelling in cold and wet conditions, cross-country navigating over miles of buried trail, and be well-equipped. If not, he's likely heading into a lot of trouble. His only bail-out point is 40 miles in at Harts Pass - and a 15 mile walk down a bad road to Mazama and Winthrop, neither of which have any public transportation. Rainy Pass (hwy 20) is closed for the season, so once he leaves Manning Park, he's totally on his own for the 100 miles to Steheken.

Here in Portland, it's been in the low 50's during the day with intermittent wind-driven rain showers; perfect hypothermia weather.  All the visible Cascade volcanoes (Rainier, Adams, St Helens, and Hood) are solid white. 




  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Matt 
  To: pct-l at backcountry.net 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 5:58 PM
  Subject: [pct-l] Canadian Crossing-SoBo


  I will be NoBo this year, but I've got a friend whom does not use computers
  planning on heading SoBo from Manning Park.  He was wondering what the first
  stretch is like, heading down from BC towards skykomish/RT20?  He's going to
  head out in about a month (horrible idea, I know, not my choice.).  So, any
  info on conditions?  Difficulty?  Yogi's book hasn't arrived yet, so I'm
  still in the dark about everything north of Yosemite.

  Thanks,

  -Matt
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