Jim hill henry creek cars getting towed

Is the pullout on the north side between the nordic center and the ventilators not plowed? It's just west of that steep bouldered hill side and east of where the highway divides. The pullout at the ventilators across from Henry Creek has been signed no parking for quite a while.

I think the issue with parking at the ventilators is more a BNSF issue than WSDOT. I might be wrong.

maybe i've just had bad luck with the pullout on the north side of the highway, but the couple times I've checked it out it hadn't been plowed all that recently-  once we were in a friend's truck with enough clearance to park there no problemo, but I've avoided it in my Subie- woulda gotten stuck the last time I was there.

I had forgotten that this towing issue popped up last season as well. Sounds like DOT/State Patrol isn't keen on people parking west of the tunnel vent building on days they are running plows on the highway- Jan 18th last year, four cars got towed and it cost them $500 in fees.

www.facebook.com/groups/148764008559430/...ink/675207712581721/

Total bullshit. You can't leave someone in the middle of nowhere coming out of the woods without their vehicle. Theres no signage saying you can't park on the shoulder. How do we even know what days they will plow? Took them 2 weeks to clear both lanes of the connector to the xc area. Apparently any day is a plow day.

Could someone explain exactly where the cars were towed from?

My understanding is that it is okay to park just west (left) of the road that accesses the Berne tunnel maintenance building. This is on the north (westbound) side of the highway, near the edge of the big pullout.

This Google Earth picture illustrates that location:



Were the towed cars parked here or somewhere else?

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To be clear, the location that I pointed to is small. Parking a car or two there may be okay, but parking a whole chain of cars could cause a problem.

I got this information a year ago from someone with good connections to WSDOT, but things do change.

The number one hassle of ski touring in western Washington increasingly is parking close to the tour. WSDOT practice is increasingly to post any and all turnouts as no parking or 30 minute parking. This is true even at locations along US2 such as the Scenic hot springs and old cascade highway turnouts that are amply sized.

With the growth of backcountry travel, maybe there are now enough numbers for users to organize and bring pressure to have plowed turnouts expressly for parking. This would probably have to be fee based, like the snowparks are, but I for one would happily buy a sticker to have increased touring options.

The Sno-park system's mandate is ideally suited to the task (look at the name!).

In addition, there's support in the snowmobile community for enabling backcountry skiers to have better winter access to existing wilderness.

It's occasionally possible for everyone to win!