Forest Roads: The Future (MBSNF meetings)

Perhaps we should collaborate on this thread and come up with a list of desired Forest Roads to preserve for the skiing/climbing community.

--cascade river road
--Re-open the road up to sulphur creek near glacier peak
--Re-open road up the Dosewallips in the Olympics
--2870 in the olympics up to the Buckhorn wilderness trailheads

Just a start. But I'm sure there are other roads that lead me to places I want to go in the future that may be closed. So all of you veterans to the area--speak up on your favorite roads!

great idea, Dan.  I don't get up that way, so I won't be involved; I'm limited in my ability to travel, that is why I harp on Mt. Rainier NP.  I hope others with local knowledge will collaborate with you; it is the only way to get things done.  Good Luck! 

Oh, FWIW, don't conflate Olympic NF road policy with Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie NF road policies (or with Olympic NP or NC NP policies) until they join the two Forest SOs (there was a plan for that, but I think that was derailed maybe).

Here is a quick inventory of roads in Mt Baker-Snoqualmie N.F. of potential interest to skiers.

I compiled this by looking at TOPO! and a DeLorme road atlas.

I don't know the status of all these roads. (Some may already be abandoned.)

If I've missed any important ones, let me know.

The goal of this post is to list some candidates. I haven't tried to prioritize them. I'm not sure they're all critical to maintain.

Mt Baker Highway Area:

• Church Mtn Road
• Swamp Creek Road, #3065 (Winchester Mtn)
• Ruth Creek Road, #32 (Hannegan Pass)
• Nooksack River Road, #34 (Nooksack Cirque)
• Skyline Divide Road, #37
• Glacier Creek Road, #39 (Coleman Glacier)

Highway 20 Area:

• Sulphur Creek Road, #13 (Easton Glacier)
• Shannon Creek Road, #1152 (Sulphide Glacier)
• Boulder Creek Road, #1131 (Boulder Glacier)
• Anderson Creek Road, #1107 (Mt Watson)
• Sauk Mtn Road
• Bacon Creek Road, #1060
• Illabot Creek Road, #16 (Snowking Mtn, west)
• Found Ridge Road, #1570, (Snowking Mtn, east)

Darrington Area:

• Tupso Pass Road, #41 (Three Fingers)
• Suiattle River Road, #26 (Dome Peak)
• Green Mtn Road
• Conn Creek Road, #2437 (Whitechuck Mtn)
• Whitechuck River Road, #23 (Glacier Peak)
• North Fork Sauk River Road, #20, 49 (Glacier Peak)
• Bedal Creek Road, #4089 (Sloan Peak from NW)

Stevens and Snoqualmie Passes:

• Skykomish River Road, #63 (Blanca Lake)
• Beckler River Road, #65
• Evergreen Mtn Road, #6554
• Johnson Ridge Road, #6520
• Tonga Ridge Road, #6830
• Miller River Road, #6410 (Alpine Lakes)
• Middle Fork Snoqualmie Road, #5620 (Alpine Lakes)
• Kendall Ridge Road, #9090

Crystal Mtn Area:

• Naches Pass Road, #70
• Corral Pass Road, #7174
• Huckleberry Ridge Road, #73 (Grand Park)
• Sun Top Road, #7315

One of the things we should push for is preventing the Forest Service from actively blocking or decommissioning these roads.

Thanks, Lowell, that is a good start for what we need - a list of roads that are critical to important recreation destinations.

Thanks, Lowell, that is a good start for what we need - a list of roads that are critical to important recreation destinations.

Thanks for the feedback.

To be honest, I was surprised the list wasn't longer. But when I located the boundaries of the MBSNF and looked at the significant roads I know of, this is what I came up with.

Please add more if you know of any. This is just a starting point. Prioritization can come later.

Here are three roads in the Mt Baker area that I deliberately left off my list:

* Wells Creek Road (north of Mt Baker)
* Canyon Creek Road (north of Church Mtn)
* Middle Fork Nooksack River (SW of Mt Baker)

I left them off the list because I didn't think they were of much interest to skiers. But I could be wrong. I've never been on any of these roads.