Welcome Peter!

Hi Jesse, "In general" areas above the snow line are dedicated as snoparks in the national forests once the snow depth is about a foot or deeper. The "within a couple of hours of Seattle" sort of becomes an issue, since the mountains climb precipitously within that time/distance:) That being said, check out the road complex within the Darrington ranger district within the Mt Baker/Snoqualmie national forest. In particular FSRs 17, 25, 26, 27, and 28. 17 and 27 are now closed mid way due to slides or washouts, but there are lots of interesting places to camp off of all these roads. Stretching out beyond 2 hrs from Seattle opens up possibilities in the Olympics (FSR 22, 23) and in the wildlife areas in Eastern Wa. I would recommend traveling up to the lower mainland of BC as well if you want to stretch the limit a bit further. If you're interested in BC, let me know and I'll pass on some suggested routes. -.b

Yes! Marblemount Chevron 9am Texaco (maybe changed to Chevron) 972 WA-20 Winthrop, Washington 11am

@Ed Amdahl Thanks Ed! We'll see you in Winthrop at 11 on Sat. I think the Texaco may be a Chevron now, but it's the same place with that big gravel parking lot.

@Aaron Kravik It is dirty.....well after few hours off road it's dirty. The "Taco" is a younger man's game - I'm not flexible enough to spoon in a shortbed.

@ryanbowering I'm plannlng the trip, but not that part of it. My work cuts off before room assignments, but hey - what happens in the Taco, stays in the Taco.

I'm going to hang out on the wet side and meet everyone in Marblemount. You could go over FSR 52 and camp near here: 48.648567, -120.241961 That way in the morning you just go down 5130 to 51, and follow that down to Winthrop and meet us at the Texaco (which may now be a Chevron) at 11am.

@Aaron Kravik I whipped up the weather just for you!

Here we go - we're in the forecast window and....it looks like snow! DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY Moderate snow accumulations are likely above 5000 feet Saturday night and Sunday along the East Slopes of the Cascades. Highway 20 over the summit of the North Cascade Highway has the potential to receive 4 to 8 inches creating travel impacts. Additional rounds of high mountain snow are possible into early next week. Watch the forecast here: https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-119.9013621713966&lat=48.79677793975932#.W9T5VrxKgxw

Hi all - it's time to get a roll call! So far I've heard from Ed, Aaron, Mark and Vicki, and Ryan. John and Hannah - are you stil green for go Nov 3/4?

I just notices that at one of the points in our route, we'll come across the "Skull and Crossbones Cabin". Who doesn't want to go in there?

Thanks Mark. We'll see you out and about soon I hope.

@Mark and Vicki Lennox I'll be there - I'm only an hour away. The trip over hwy 2 and up to Winthrop is an hour or so longer - so if Hwy 20 is snowed in, I might head over the night before. At this point, it looks like the snow will hold off for a few more weeks so we should be good.

@Mark and Vicki Lennox It will depend on whether hwy 20 is still open. Last year it closed the night before the trip. If that happens, we'll only have the Winthrop meet up spot. Otherwise Marblemount will be the west side kick off point as planned.

Hi Ed - I may head up on Friday as well, not sure yet either. In any event, we should use this thread to lock down the route so we can coordinate linking up as we go. The options include heading to Ruby on the first day instead of up 37/39 right off the bat. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zx63Msf5e69NcXtGIdmHoyMl-DO9N5Rv&usp=sharing

I've heard the Loup Loup pack but never seen them. When they set to howling my dog climbed into my sleeping bag with me - which I thought was pretty funny.

As far as sleeping under the awning, I would suppose it depends on the wind. We've had a foot of snow fall sideways on one occasion, so a tent might be better. I've pitched my two person tent on top of the snow and been comfortable. We could easily dip down to Ruby and and the Fourth of July Mine. It might be easiest to go that way on the way out Sunday. We almost never follow the initial plan :)

Welcome Harley - good to see an old(er) friend!

Thanks for setting this up Chris! It was a great chance to meet everyone and just talk over-landing!

Sounds cool Chris! I'll be there.