White River Rd to Campground

Per the DOT person I spoke to at the gate, DOT never opens the road to White River entrance before opening 410 over the pass. They fear, no doubt correctly, that this would be confusing to many drivers who are aiming for Yakima only to end up at a dead end in the park.

I suppose it could be misleading if you can't add up 2 and 2, and are a tourist without a map. But if you end up there and did not see the big signs in Enumclaw that says Chinook Pass CLOSED, Cayuse Pass CLOSED, Yakima CLOSED-then I think it is your own fault for not reading the sign at the begininng of the drive.
It is only a 10 mile RT drive to the WR road closure and back to the MRP gate. I bet Bob has at least one customer every day that comes to his shop in the Winter thinking that they could get to Yakima or the park, but did not read the signs in Enumclaw.

IMHO-I say if there is no snow to WR open it. Since it was budgeted-Why pay all the Park Rangers to stand around one more week?
Break em in with a soft opening, so when the hordes hit next week they are rehearsed.

If someone thinks that they can get to Yakima when the pass signs say CLOSED. I share the same empathy for them as the Big Rig truck driver who disreguards the NO COMMERCIAL VEHICLE signs and thinks they can sneak their rig over Chinook Pass and gets busted.

I suppose it could be misleading if you can't add up 2 and 2, and are a tourist without a map. But if you end up there and did not see the big signs in Enumclaw that says Chinook Pass CLOSED, Cayuse Pass CLOSED, Yakima CLOSED-then I think it is your own fault for not reading the sign at the begininng of the drive.
It is only a 10 mile RT drive to the WR road closure and back to the MRP gate. I bet Bob has at least one customer every day that comes to his shop in the Winter thinking that they could get to Yakima or the park, but did not read the signs in Enumclaw.

IMHO-I say if there is no snow to WR open it. Since it was budgeted-Why pay all the Park Rangers to stand around one more week?
Break em in with a soft opening, so when the hordes hit next week they are rehearsed.

If someone thinks that they can get to Yakima when the pass signs say CLOSED. I share the same empathy for them as the Big Rig truck driver who disreguards the NO COMMERCIAL VEHICLE signs and thinks they can sneak their rig over Chinook Pass and gets busted.

You are absolutely correct, the park is being managed for the people that don't want to use it, not the people like us that want to use it. For many years I have been trying to get the park to open the road as it is plowed and safe for travel. They do have a gate at the Sunrise Y but have never used it! The park entrance would be a great place for a sno park to allow a cross country ski experience in MRNP on the north side. This year I offered the park some ideas on limited openings knowing the problems that a Cayuse Pass closing would present. But once again it fell on deaf ears! We all need to work together to put pressure on the park to open these roads so we can enjoy the snow in the park. As it is now the road is closed at the Crystal Mtn Blvd until Cayuse Pass is opened. I have proposed to stage openings based on snow and avalanche conditions until Cayuse Pass is open. This would allow people that are trying to get to MRNP as a tourist the opportunity to visit the park in the spring season and have at least a limited experience instead of facing a closed gate at Crystal Mtn Blvd. For the people that are going to Yakima, you could post one more sign or they could just drive a few miles further before turning around. Maybe the rangers could open the gate if you are a park user and turn you around if you are heading to Yakima. I would be glad to hand them a ten dollar bill to go up to the campground this weekend. You are right, getting some folks up there this week before the 3 day weekend makes a lot of sense, maybe that's why the folks at the park don't understand it. A call, letter or e-mail to the park would be a good start.

There were 6 cars parked at the Summerland trailhead today... apparently if you "know someone", you can get past the gate at the Crystal Mtn turnoff...  ???

I'm all for the early and more to the point, year round access to that road access. Writting letters/emails is a good start. My understanding is that Rangers arn't standing around cause they arn't there. It's all about summer staffing levels. The roads can get cleared but the allocation of money for the summer staffing isn't released till a certain date . Just Got to have mounties in the booths!

I'm all for the early and more to the point, year round access to that road access. Writting letters/emails is a good start. My understanding is that Rangers arn't standing around cause they arn't there. It's all about summer staffing levels. The roads can get cleared but the allocation of money for the summer staffing isn't released till a certain date . Just Got to have mounties in the booths!

In the past early seasons they only had the booths at WR open (taking Money) only on weekends and later June when the Sunrise road would open. But now they have become more prevelant during the midweek at the booth.

On a side note-Crystal Mountain funds the Ranger that counts skier tracks in the park on the Crystal mountain side of the road as part of the EIS aggrement that Teter was refering to earlier in the tread, not the NPS. This research data is used by the Park to present scientific evidence that too many skiers are skiing the Park, but that is a whole other can of worms.

Trust me, they must have dispursed the funds for Rangers in the Summer, there are more Rangers than you can shake a stick at right now cruising 410.

I am with Bob that the road should be open in the winter, there are plenty of rangers who are messing around in that area of the Park during the Winter. Plus, I have seen a quiver of volunteers in the Winter months. The road is already plowed to the WR ranger station, might as well plow the rest to the campground. I know realistically there are many cost factors involved, but that would pinch the country club lifestyle that the full time Rangers and their buddies enjoy 6 months out of every year in the WR area.

There were 6 cars parked at the Summerland trailhead today... apparently if you "know someone", you can get past the gate at the Crystal Mtn turnoff... ???

That's pretty lame.