[pct-l] Suiattle River Road Opens

[Barry Teschlog]

http://www.wta.org/signpost/hooray-the-suiattle-road-is-finally-open





This is a long closed access point to the eastern part of the Glacier Peak Wilderness in Washington's Section K.  It just reopened.  I was up there on Friday and hiked up the Suiattle River trail toward the PCT junction - didn't quite get to the junction before I had to turn back due to time.  The last time I'd hiked that part of the Suiattle trail was in July 2003, only a few months before the storm that wiped out the old PCT bridge over the Suiattle River.  I managed to hike Section K from Stevens Pass to Stehekin in August 2003 before it was wiped out.  On the thru hike in '06, it was shocking how much damage the '03 floods had done.




This is a worthy place to hike - if you've never seen Pacific Northwest old growth, here's a chance.  Amble up that way some time. 





Having this access point available will make getting into the part of the trail on the north and east sides of Glacier Peak a heck of a lot easier, although not easy by any stretch of the imagination.  The Wilderness starts only a few steps up the Suiattle River Trail from the trail head (wuhoo!).  It's about 7 rolling, gently uphill miles to the "new" PCT Suiattle River bridge (see the trail trace on the PCTA's website for the new location and the old location - new bridge is visible in satellite view at Google Map coordinates 48.207509,-121.079052). 




A great introduction to Section K would be to go in via the Suiattle and hike over to Stehekin.