ok if you come up to the snow shoe/xc/skins trail the *day after* it got a huge storm pleeeease bring your gear and don't be That Pair postholing 2' deep right up the middle of everybody else's nice snowshoe/skin track the whole way up...
I am impressed by your quads. I'm not impressed by the destruction of the nice path that was built by midmorning. the free-rider problem strikes again. oh well. i wouldn't want to break trail in just boots either
I brought Xc skis, my only pair that is åsnes mountain race skins. the downhill ski tourers had a better time than me bulldozing up the hill with their wide stable skis. Hopefully I will have a better time in deep snow like this when my new poles with big snow baskets arrive.
I got slightly beyond artist point proper but it did not seem clear how to get to huntoon safely on my narrow skis and sharp poles. the ridge was relatively narrow, and the path to huntoon had several large mounds all with lots of unstable powder to navigate and drops on both sides. no trail there broken as of 2pm. I did 5.25 mi according to Gaia.
most of the parking isnt dug out yet so good luck. I got really lucky at 11am probably because someone left.
pros: incredible views in all directions. I am glad I did this exactly today. well worth the drive it was all I wanted out of stupendous North Cascades Big Sharp Pointys. stunning.
cons: cannot imagine bothering getting up here once the downhill resort opens and the twisty road up gets congested. there is a lot of yellow snow everywhere on the road and in the lots despite open (and stocked!) biffys. not all from dogs unless they can spell.
tons of dogs almost all off leash and several with poor recall. which explains the fresh poop around too. sigh
unfortunately it seems like in busier season this place could get literally disgusting. with the huge new snow yesterday, all the grossness I saw had to happen before just 3pm today. imagine after a pow-free week. ew! real shame since the views are definitely as good as reputed. I guess timing is key here.
edit: the trail description is a little confusing to me, i think because of the early season. I, and everybody else, followed the summer road 95%, only diverging JUST before the top.
Gaiagps route linked below
Comments
Grumpy Dingo on Artist Point Snowshoe
I have snowshoed up there several times with my Cattle-dog. It's a fantastic place. Nothing chaps my azz more than people letting their dogs run uncontrolled and crapping everywhere. This area has become inundated with people since covid. That being said, when the snow drops the leash rule does not apply as per a ranger I spoke with a few years ago. It seems there are a lot of uneducated people in the ways of "LNT" these days. Our back-country is slowly turning into downtown Seattle. Pity....
Posted by:
Grumpy Dingo on Nov 16, 2023 03:05 PM
pellaea on Artist Point Snowshoe
tbh after i once watched someone's dog almost pull him off the mountain as biped and quadruped pursued obviously different safe routes up a steep snow section in Teanaway, i have a lot more understanding of off-leash dogs in tricky conditions/terrain where chance of wildlife encounter is very low.
However I knew the dogs I saw had poor recall because they ran up to other, shyer, dogs on multiple occasions and ignored their owners' several attempts to call them back. At that point they were out of their owners' control and bothering other parties which is not ok. I have bad experiences with dog owners deciding their friendly happy dogs deserve access to my body so seeing friendly happy dogs ignoring recall on-trail puts me on edge in case they decide they are interested in me next.
And I cannot blame the dogs for all the yellow snow because dogs usually don't write their name... but like idk find a tree dude, or hit a biffy when you are through with the downhill run that will take 5 minutes to the parking lot.
Posted by:
pellaea on Nov 17, 2023 06:51 PM
Kittyboy on Artist Point Snowshoe
I was just up there myself 11/26/23 and saw all the dogs. During the later summer after the snow is clear, there are even more dogs! And of course the dog owners believe everyone else on the trail just loves having dogs everywhere. I could better tolerate the dog issue if the owners kept them on a leash and packed out the dog droppings. I do believe that dogs are not permitted in the back country, but good luck enforcing that. And for the people droppings, please, most definetely, LNT
Posted by:
Kittyboy on Nov 28, 2023 10:48 AM