Season Opener, Stampede Pass, Saturday, 12/1/2001

We made our first trip of the season out to Stampede Pass on Saturday, December 1st, after more than 36" of snow had fallen during the week prior. Myself (on my new Mountain Cat), Brian Copps (actually his second outing since I missed the Greenwater opener the day after Thanksgiving) and my neighbor Tim Thorlton (last snowmobile he rode was a John Deere in 1976) started out early enough to miss the mad dash to the mountain tops.

Three feet of soft fresh snow without a base was really tough to get around. Trails that had not been previously ridden yet only caused our sleds to dig a deep trench almost down to the ground (Dandy Pass road pictured right). Other tracks we followed, carved out from riders probably the day before, were now covered with a new layer of freshly fallen powder that also made it hard to stay on course since the snow was so soft (41 road not yet groomed out to Cabin Creek).

Lucky for us though, we followed a group for most of the day who cut the fresh powder with their long-tracked 800s to places we've never been before (out the 5220 and to the ends of several spur roads).  I'm sure they had a much easier time cutting the drifts and staying on course while we got totally worked on our 600s! But all the effort we spent digging each other out was definitely well worth it in the end.

Powder Bustin', Stampede Pass, Wednesday, 12/5/2001

Brian Copps and I spent the afternoon up in the Stampede Pass area. Although another foot of snow since Saturday, the trails are getting better as they continue to pack down by more rider traffic (especially after such a busy weekend). We even caught up with the groomer, which was good to see, who was making his way up the Lost Lake road.

So today we decided to try two new places we haven't been yet, Yakima Pass and Meadow Pass. Since we were already up near Lost Lake (after trying a splinter trail off Dandy Pass road we noticed on Saturday), we went for Yakima Pass first. This trail (128 off of 5480) was completely untracked... and it was awesome breaking the new powder which seemed a little less difficult than a few days before. Nonetheless, if you let off the gas on anything but a flat spot, your chances of getting stuck were pretty high. Speaking of getting stuck, I was following Brian's path as we made our way up toward the pass and somehow got pulled over into a deep part that ended up being a snow-filled culvert. Throttling up for a hopeful recovery, I only dug the track in so deep that this "hole in one" will be tough to beat (we took a picture but the film got ruined in the camera)! Spending some time here digging out, we turned around and headed for Meadow Pass.

The Meadow Pass road (118 off of 5483) was already packed down from others and was probably ridable all the way around but time and darkness forced us to turn back and stick with trails we were more familiar with. So we ended up taking the main loop back to the sno-park which was already tracked but still a blast. (The groomer hadn't made it up to this route yet which left plenty of fresh powder stretches on either side of the tracks we had to follow.) I can't count how many times we had to reach over to wipe the snow piled up on the headlight!

Giant Loop, Stampede Pass, Friday, 12/21/01

Too many Christmas chores and not enough riding makes Johnny-boy a grumpy 'ole GRINCH... but we managed to sneak in a ride just before Christmas!

Brian and I took the day off and basically did a big giant loop with a few spur road diversions (the loop was Crystal Springs to Lost Lake road to Yakima Pass to Meadow Pass to Tacoma Pass to 41 and back to Crystal Springs). The first set of spur roads we'd never been on were up near Lost Lake (roads 117 & 125). I believe 125 does a small loop back towards Cottonwood Lake to 5480 that doesn't show up on any map but decided to check that out another day. Instead, we continued on towards Yakima Pass via 128.

At the first 'Y' going to Yakima Pass, we chose the road up towards Mirror Lake to the top/end for a view and quick picture. The clouds had broken up for a short time to catch a late afternoon sunset. While we were sitting here at the top, we noticed some tracks that lead through the trees. Not far on this path, we went off a 25-30 or so foot drop and around a bit to an almost secret play area (if it wasn't for the tracks these machines leave behind). After messing around there for a while, we continued following these tracks up and around and eventually/unexpectedly popped up back on to what looked like a main route that did bring us to 5483. From here we continued on to Meadow Pass.

Near Meadow Pass, we played here for a while as we found a few new cool places to hillclimb. We did make some new tracks out 5078 towards Meadow Mountain but soon turned the opposite direction down to 54 and out to Lester. This is the first time we'd been to the gate - lights were on in one of the houses - someone lives way out here?? Didn't want to stick around and find out so we headed out the 52 and made a quick detour up 7036 to check out the Greenwater connection for the first time. By now it was about 5:30pm and we came across two elk on the path. After they were out of sight we kept going for about 3 miles until we came across the first snowblown area where other tracks weren't visible any longer. Since we hadn't been this way before and it was already dark, we decided to turn around to make our way home via Tacome Pass to 41.

Drift Skipping to Pyramid Peak
Stampede Pass, Thursday, 12/27/01

Brian and I wanted to get a few more miles closer to the Stampede Pass/Greenwater connection today... From Crystal Springs to the 41 main road, we took a shortcut up the power lines to the weather station with a quick stop at a play area on the way. We then circled the weather station and continued on along the power lines until we met up with the 5403 road. 5403 to 5405 to 5250 and onto the main 52 road, we shot over to 7036 to catch as must day light as possible.

It was very windy that afternoon and much of the trails were starting to get overblown with snow. The wind seemed especially gusty between these mountain tops that link up Stampede Pass to Greenwater but we managed to make it further down 7036 from our previous ride on Friday. At one point, we approched a 'T' in the road that we thought to be the Green Pass or 7030 turnoff. The to the right was completely untracked and looked pretty drifted over (which I thought to be the not-often-traveled way to 7030) but the road going left had tracks that we decided to follow thinking we on the road for Green Pass.

Later looking at our downloaded tracks, we were on the road for Green Pass but about 1.5 miles shy of the real left hand turn we were expecting to take. At that time, it was already dark and still blowing hard but we kept following visible tracks that lead up a ridge to a nice wide open area at the top. Had we been here earlier in the day with more light, we would have stopped and played in all the big rolling drifts. But with visibility only as far as our headlight provided, we kept going. At the end of this mountain top, we came across a sidehill section that definitely got the blood pumping. Shortly beyond that, the tracks we had been following to this point ended.

As we stopped to contemplate our direction, we noticed the road veering right widened, was completely untracked, and all you could see was drift after drift like waves on the ocean. We didn't know this was the intersection we were looking for (to Green Pass) but quickly decided to take this road going right for a bit just for fun (unknowingly towards Pyramid Peak and 7030). This ended up being some really great riding! The way the wind had blown the snow gave it this very unique looking texture. The evergreen trees were also covered so thick with snow that they looked like giant rock candy sticks. I tried to take a picture of them but the flash didn't reflect enough light back at night. The picture above did come out good showing where we had no choice but to stop and turn around - the road we were on quickly became very steep, heavily windblown, and completely unpassable. On second thought, using TOPO! as a "guide", we just might be able to get beyond this section by riding the ridge just above this area. Download our tracks and you'll see exactly where I'm talking about.

Brian and I rode from Greenwater (Pyramid Peak Sno-Park) to Whistlin' Jack Lodge in Cliffdell for the first time. Other than a complete white-out at the top of the 7080 loop as we started out, it was a good long ride. The trip was mostly over groomed trails and was about 40 miles each way (depending on which roads you take out of Greenwater).

As we got over to the Yakima side, we also made it through the one steep icy area known as "Ice Hill" without too much trouble. (This is about 4 miles after the Quartz Meadow Road - 1903 - turnoff from 19. Download these waypoints for exact locations.) If the conditions are icy or no new snow has fallen in quite a while, much caution should be taken whether traveling up or down this slope. Other than that, it was very cool to ride some 40 miles, stop and have a hot meal right off the trail, get pumped watching insane snowmobile videos, gas up and ride back until either your body says enough or your fuel gauge reads "E".

Our goal today was to start out at Greenwater (Pyramid Peak Sno-Park), make it up to Green Pass, then over to the Stampede Pass connection and back down to the sno-park via 7036. Heading out towards the 19 road, we stopped to play in one of the meadows just beyond Naches Pass. There was a bunch of fresh snow from the night before and it was still coming down hard as we rode throughout the day.

1913 was pretty well tracked until just after the 785 split. From this point on, all the roads were drifted and snow blown but still passable (with caution, of course). When we got to the part of Green Pass that is said to always be windblown, it was obvious to see why the 7038 Bypass is necessary.

In our opinion, this bypass trail is definitely not for the novice rider. Coming from the Green Pass side, it starts out mild as you follow a spur road that heads toward the treeline. (The intersection of 7038 with this spur road is marked as "BYPASS RD" in the waypoints recorded from this ride.) As the spur road comes to the end, you follow a trail (marked as waypoint "UP2TRAIL") that ascends into the trees and up to the top of the ridge. Incidentally, this bypass is very well marked through this area... and it's a good thing because the ridge isn't all that wide and the path between the trees is tight! You then reach a point where you need to descend off the ridge (marked as waypoint "STEEP DWN") and down to the road on the other side of the windblown area. Here's where it can get ugly real fast.

The descent from the ridge on the bypass is long and steep. It also goes through a fair amount of tall hefty trees - ones that would put a few dents on you or your sled if you happened to lose control and tumble down. I know for sure, neither of us would want to be on this kind of slope in icy conditions. Lucky for us that day, there was enough new snow that gave us some stopping friction as we literally slid down the side. At the bottom, we then jumped back on the 7038 and continued on.

Along 7038 after the bypass, we made it to the intersection of 7037 and the Stampede Pass connection. (Technically, I guess we've done the Stampede-to-Greenwater ride but as two separate legs - now we'll just have to do it altogether as one for the 'real deal'.) We stayed on 7038 with hopes to get beyond the point we turned around the night of 12/27 (where we thought we had no choice but to stop). Having daylight this time, it would obviously be easier to scope out the situation. I also had a few waypoints marked in the GPS to see if we would be able to get up on the ridge and ride out over the top. As we got to the place I thought we'd get on the ridge (based on what I saw from the mapping software), we could see this was not going to be an option (see waypoint "UP-NOGO"). The ridge here in real life is one big, tall cornice that goes along this entire stretch with only a narrow row of trees separating us from it. Throwing that idea out, we stayed on the road to the point already mentioned from 12/27.

By day, it was easy to see how to get beyond what we thought was the end by night on 12/27. There is a flat spot on the other end of this windblown "shoulder" that you can aim for while doing a hard right-lean sidehill carving uphill. Beyond this came another fairly steep sidehill section through what we believe to be the "Burnt Forest" we noticed from our first ride last season (see "Greenwater Season Opener", 11/25/01). Since the wind was blowing so hard through this section and we couldn't tell how long we'd have to sidehill, we decided to forget trying to make the loop to 7036 and headed back the way we came. It was snowing and blowing so hard throughout the day that, upon on our return, the tracks we left no more than an hour before were completely covered over. It looked as if no one had been out this way yet today...

Freshly Fallen Fluff, Stampede Pass, Monday, 01/21/02

With 29" of new snow reported from WSDOT-Hyak over the past 3 days (10" on Fri, 13" on Sat and 6" more on Sun), it's been really difficult to think about anything other than riding lately! So we couldn't resist the urge and made a trip to Stampede Pass. (I won't go into the delay we sat through on I-90 due to an overturned car just before our sno-park exit).

Riding today was very much like it was our first time out this season (See "Stampede Pass Season Opener", 12/1). The only difference this time was a base of snow pack instead of gravel under that 3 feet of freshly fallen fluff. We started out towards Yakima Pass on 128 from 5480 with the intent to head south and connect up with 5483 near Lost Lake the way I've seen it on a Cascade Drift Skippers map (not the way we did it on 12/21). As it turned out, there were no tracks to follow and I didn't mark a waypoint on the GPS. So when we got to the end of the road at Yakima Pass (doesn't show up on any of the printed maps I have), we had to stop and regroup. Well, slowing down to make the turn on the landing caused us to get stuck which actually caused us to stop, DIG and THEN regroup.

Moving on, we headed back down to the south split of 5483 from 5480 and out towards Meadow Pass trying to connect up again with Yakima Pass from the other direction (heading north). We did take a few detours on the way for mapping purposes - the first was the 114 road where the Cascade Powder Cats take skiers and snowboarders for backcountry adventures. We found some cool riding areas up there and will have to come back during daylight hours. The second detour was further down 5483 and out 122. Again, due to nighttime, low visibility and no other tracks in sight, we couldn't tell where the road continued so we turned back and proceeded to our original destination.

With it being dark and new snow covering tracks alomst as fast as they were being laid, we never did see the trail into the woods that should have taken us to Yakima Pass. Instead, we followed another set tracks along the avalanche side of Lost Lake. Stopping at the north intersection of 5483 and 5480 to rest, we bumped into the guys who had just cut the steep drifts on that section of road before we passed through. To finish the night off, we went back up to the end of 5480 and played in the powder for a while.

Wet and Heavy, Stampede Pass, Thursday, 01/24/02

19" more inches of snow has fallen since Monday. Brian and I thought it'd be an awesome time to head up after work to one of the play areas and just mess around. The place we thought would be most ideal is an area on the way to Meadow Pass.

The Meadow Pass road (118) from 5483 was completely untracked. Unfortunately, the snow was so wet and heavy from mixed snow and rain throughout the day that it was quite sticky making the machines do some real work to push us through! The best way I could describe it was like riding through freshly poured concrete. Feeling like we'd probably spend more time digging than riding, we decided to skip the play area and just ride the roads (which wasn't all the easy either). We rode a little way beyond Meadow Pass on 5078, then backtracked and took 5483 north a bit to the gravel pit near Lost Lake. Wanting to play here for a few minutes, it wasn't long before I got stuck... twice.

Visibility was poor - snow was coming down hard in big, wet flakes - the sleds weren't as maneuverable as they typically are in soft fluffy stuff. It was definitely a different type of snow condition neither of us have spent much time on.

Let it snow, let it snow, LET IT SNOW!
Stampede Pass, Saturday, 02/02/02

It has been dumping like crazy in the mountains lately! A record snow depth of 108" so far this season in the Snoqualmie Pass area according to WSDOT-Hyak. Much of this has fallen in the last ten days - nice recovery after almost two weeks of no new snow during the Christmas holiday.

Today we headed up to Stampede Pass and brought a friend from work, Thomas Ha. Thomas had never been on a snowmobile before so the plan was to stay on groomed trails this trip (or at least well packed ones). With this in mind, we thought today would be a good day to head out the 4110 road since neither Brian nor I have been up that way yet.

As the goal was to show Thomas a good time riding instead of digging, the only untracked attempt we made was a quickie up 113 before going out 4110. The 113 spur was pretty cool but we turned back to stay with the original plan. Riding on 4110, we didn't make it as far as I had hoped only because the packed trail turned up 141. We took that to the end, rested for a minute and turned around. On our way back, I think Thomas followed my tracks as I surfed a snow bank and found himself caught up with a tree. Nothing serious other than a little bit of digging...

By the time we made it back to the 41-54 intersection, we didn't feel we'd gotten enough riding in so we took Thomas around the main Stampede Pass loop. I was hoping for that cool view of I-90 at the top of 332 but it had fogged over by the time we got there. We then tried to take the Dandy Pass road back down as a short cut. Unfortunately, the tracks ended at a point where it became too drifted. With it being dark akready, we turned around and took the long way back chattering over washboard trails down to the sno-park. Thomas had fun even though he could barely move for several days after the ride...

Search and Rescue Mission
Greenwater, Friday & Saturday, 02/08-09/02

Early Friday morning, RRAMSAR and several other units got a callout for three missing snowmobilers out of Greenwater. (RRAMSAR is the snowmobile search and rescue organization Brian and I have been a part of since July 2000.) The subjects left from the Pyramid Peak sno-park on Thursday afternoon at 3pm for a ride out to Whistlin' Jack Lodge for dinner. When they still hadn't returned by the next morning, worried family members began making calls.

Once out in the field, our search team was myself (John Jones), Brian Copps, Loren Guzzone and Ron Torrey. We were given various assignments to ride the area looking for any sign that would indicate a trip gone wrong. This was especially difficult since 12-16" of new snow had fallen throughout the night and it continued to snow all day Friday. Visibility was low in places, all the roads were completely covered with a lot of deep, soft powder and several of these trails, including the main Pyramid Peak loop (7080 road), were severly drifted. It was cool to see the two Sno-Cats bust through this stuff like it was nothing. I can't tell you how ticked I was that the battery in my new digital camera went dead shortly after we set out on this mission!

Saturday morning came and the search was still on. We continued looking as additional units were dispatched including snowshoers and several helicopters. By noon, the news went out over the radio that they were found on Quartz Mountain... in good shape, out of gas and about 20 miles (by trail) in the opposite direction of their intended dinner destination.

Flip Flop Over the Top, Stampede Pass, Saturday, 02/23/02

My father-in-law, Dennis Hoffmann, and I went up to Stampede Pass this morning. The weather forecast was to be clear and sunny... instead, we got a lot of rain! If it had been a few degrees colder, this would have meant fresh powder and great riding conditions. Unfortunately, the temperatures are warming up lately and the snow level is higher than what we normally ride.

We still had a good time even though we were pretty wet just shortly after heading out. I think the most fun was at the play area on Meadow Pass. Although the snow was on the thick and sticky side, this untracked area was relatively easy to get around on our hillclimb attempts. Speaking of sticky, this video clip shows a little bit of what happens when a rider's momentum doesn't match that of his machine. The rider in this clip is... ah... er.... oh, nevermind.

Endless Visibility, Greenwater, Saturday, 03/02/02

If there was a day you wanted to be out on your sled enjoying the sun and scenery, today was that day! In fact, I can't remember the last time I rode with endless visibility and the sun shining so bright.

With spring weather slowly rolling in, it has made the snow conditions ideal enough to go just about anywhere. ...and that's exactly what we did. Brian and I hung around the main loops at Greenwater and played in a few of the off-trail hillclimb areas that are typically unsafe or difficult to ride during other times of the season. For example, one area with such characteristics is the Rock Face Basin. Here, the hillclimb degrees of difficulty can range from easy to extreme. Problem is if the snow is just right in certain places, you could experience more than what you bargained for. That happened here with two riders two years ago.

Another hillclimb hotspot was Devil's Backbone where we watched guys launch off their sleds into back flips as they reached the top. Crazy! We should have been up there taking pictures or video clips but by the time we made our way up, they had already done some damage to one of the machines and decided to keep the added expenses to a minimum.

The Road to Raven's Roost
Greenwater, Wednesday, 03/13/02

Just when you think spring is here and the end of a great riding season is coming fast, you get dumped on with a ton of new snow! Fourty one inches of new snow, yes 41", has fallen in the last seven days according to WSDOT-Hyak. That's a LOT of fresh powder! ...so we took the day off and played up at Greenwater.

As always, we opted for the trails that weren't yet tracked and on a Wednesday, there sure were a lot of 'em. So we played for a couple of hours hopping from one open meadow to the next and then decided to take a ride out to Raven's Roost (this is down the 19 road southeast towards Yakima). Once we got to the turnoff (1906 road), we were surprised to find the Yakima groomer had already been here and laid a smooth clean path for us. Oh well... we were hoping to carve our own path but went up anyway since neither of us have been there during daylight hours.

The road to Raven's Roost is groomed all the way up to the top. This is actually pretty cool since it provides a safe and easy opportunity for all levels of riders, including families with kids, to go somewhere high up in the mountains and take in those spectacular views (elevation here is 6,200 feet). Not many places with such a great view are this easy to get to! Unfortunately for us this day, we didn't see a whole lot due to some fog and low hanging clouds that moved in. What we could see though of the Fifes Peaks and adjoining ridge on the other side of Cougar Valley was enough to make me want to go back on a clear day for some awesome pictures. By the way, the best place to snap your photos is up the spur road to the left just as you approach the top. A quarter mile on this spur and it opens into a wide spot overlooking the Norse Peak Wilderness Area.

Down But Not Out, Greenwater, Saturday, 03/23/02

We rode at Greenwater on Saturday and encountered some problems. You know the drive axle that turns the track... well, that axle tore out of it's housing on the left side which resulted in damage to the chain case as fluid immediately flowed all over the right rail. Initially, I think the bearing blew as I lost my speedo earlier in the day and one thing led to another.

It was sketchy there for a while as to how we were going to get the machine home... However after some thought, our best solution was to take it apart and rotate the torn housing so the axle would at least hold in place and allow the track to roll. Luckily we were on our way home and on the Cornice Valley road when it happened. From that point to the time we got back to the truck was 3 1/2 hours and we were only 12 miles from the sno-park (and the housing was starting to fail again with less than a mile to go).

Thinking about it later, it could have been a lot worse. Earlier this day, we had been trying to get to Whistlin' Jack Lodge the long way, via Lily Pond Lake. The point we decided to give up and turn around (because the snow was so deep, completely untracked and it was already late afternoon) was some 30 miles from the sno-park. Now that would've been ugly!

By the way, the snow fall hit a record depth for this season three days ago. 27" fell on the first day of spring (yeah!) and 13" the day before topping the charts at a total of 146" as reported from WSDOT-Hyak.

*Snow depth statistics based on the Snoqualmie Snowfall Report.
**Snow depth statistics based on the Avalanche Report for Crystal Mountain.
Use on these pages for purposes of general seasonal comparisons.

Trail Maps
For additional TOPO! maps of snowmobile trail systems in Washington, visit our Trail Maps page.

...or read our trip logs from other riding seasons.