Thursday, November 12, 2009

Eastside highway

The Washington State Department of Transportation has closed highwy 410 over Cayuse Pass at Crystal Mountain Boulevard tol the summit and closed highway 123 at Stevens Canyon Road to the summit. This means the only access to the NP on the east side is highway 123 from the Ohanopecosh entrance to Stevens Canyon Road, which itself is closed all the way to the intersection with highway 706 to Paradise and Longmire.

This along with the closure of all the facilities means you can drive in the Ohanopecosh (southeast) entrance for a few miles before everything is closed. And this section will close later in November or Decemer when the significant seasonal snow accumulates. This will close the entire east half of the NP to cars and only open to hikers, snowshoers or cross-country skiers. After that, you're on your own for anything.

This pretty much completes the seasonal closures for winter. The only closures now will be the daily one on the highway from Longmire to Paradise and opened after clearing each day from the gate at Longmire to Paradise, if it is reasonable to do so. Remember the only facilities open at Paradise are the Jackson Vistors center on weekends (10 am to 5 pm) and holidays. Paradise needs another foot of snow before snowboarders will be allowed. Skiers and snowshoers are already allowed in the defined areas for these activities.

That's it for now. It's winter and snow. If you like it, enjoy.

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