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Trip Report

Three Fingers — Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway
Approach from Mt Loop HWY (facing uphill)

Seeing the notification of the new road wash out, and suspecting it was at the location where I saw it starting earlier this summer, I wanted to check it out and get some photos to share.

As described, at ~4.8 miles up the Tupso Pass road (aka Green Mountain Road, aka NF-41) the washout grew from the summer and the road is now blocked (on both sides).   See included pictures.

This will add ~3.2miles (each way) to this hike.  It will be an easy road walk, but still plan for the additional distance. Using bikes is still a good option as well.  I did that ~4 years ago from the bridge to the original trailhead.  This summer we just hiked from the bridge to the mt. meadows trailhead (~2miles), but this new development may make the bike approach make more sense again.

Parking will also be an issue.  There are some turn-outs approaching the washout that one or two cars could park, but it will make it more difficult for cars coming/going to pass then as these turn-outs will be utilized as parking.

As a side note, I noticed the garbage has drastically increased along the approach as well.  It is mainly clay pigeon fragments, shell casings, and beer cans.  

Washout - facing downhill
Washout - facing uphill
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Comments

Seattle_Wayne on Three Fingers

So is this washout before the bridge washout?

Posted by:


Seattle_Wayne on Dec 12, 2023 10:55 PM

cascadiacruiser on Three Fingers

Correct.

There is a washout ~2 miles from the original trailhead. That one is more or less moot because the road was closed about another 6 miles down at the bridge over Canyon Creek where the current trailhead is now designated (so ~8 miles from the original trailhead or ~2 miles from the Mountain Meadows trail which more people tend to take now). The Canyon Creek bridge / new trailhead is ~8 miles from the MLH.

This washout is ~3 miles from the Canyon Creek bridge / new trailhead. So this is new new trailhead is ~5 miles from the MLH.

I hope this helps clarify things

Posted by:


cascadiacruiser on Dec 13, 2023 08:44 AM

Seattle_Wayne on Three Fingers

Yes, this helps, thank you. I’ve plans to do this hike in September. Hopefully the road can stay intact until then.

Posted by:


Seattle_Wayne on Dec 14, 2023 04:49 PM

Dream Delay on Three Fingers

Thanks for the update! I look forward to exploring this area next year.

Posted by:


Dream Delay on Dec 20, 2023 07:08 AM