PNW 2021/2022 Season! La Niña ahead!

[Stikki]

Air quality check: Good
90 degree turn to the south: Not Good

(sorry, burner phone pics, didn't bring a camera)

[PNWbrit]

Wilkerson fire?

[AK47bp]

From Snoqualmie ridge looking northeast.

Bolt Creek fire I think.





Windy day today not helping.

Edit. Actually may be the Loch Katrine Fire, seems way closer than Bolt Creek.


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[Stikki]

Wilkerson fire?

Goat Rocks - looking down HWY 123 towards Ohanapecosh

[chaka]

Edit. Actually may be the Loch Katrine Fire, seems way closer than Bolt Creek.

Sad to see this. Loch Katrine is a beautiful place. Great gravel ride up to the lake if you don't mind a climb. We were riding to the pass yesterday watching that plume grow.

[waveshello]

Much needed precip is back in the forecast this week, including the frozen kind:

Total precip through next monday:


Snowfall through next monday:

[Norseman]

Much needed precip is back in the forecast this week, including the frozen kind:

Total precip through next monday:


Snowfall through next monday:

fkna BRING IT. Been a lovely summer & fall. Glad the spring was so wet 'cause I think we'd be burnt up without it.

[Norseman]

Mini TR; last summer weekend day of 2022?



9 am... 72F and windy in the Claw, smoke column to the north. Uneasy.




Magical golden fairy lair understory cruisins. Clear calm air up here, not a hint of unease.








Tame-ass burd let me pet his belly




Hall of the mountain king. still some berries on dem golden hucks




Sisterly meadow wanderings o'er the crispy tundra, 'neath the lurking dusty chosspile




hucks n bleubs: choice accent for palate and palette












mtn lake diddlins while the white goat clatters round yonder uppercroppings





le tits now! we had a blast of a summer.

[bfree]

From Snoqualmie ridge looking northeast.

Bolt Creek fire I think.





Windy day today not helping.

Edit. Actually may be the Loch Katrine Fire, seems way closer than Bolt Creek.


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And last night:

[AK47bp]

And last night:

Great shot. I tried taking one last night but just had my shitty phone.



Very cool but not cool at the same time.

Likely human caused by some dumb asses.


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[Norseman]

W WA feelin the heat






eye spye new starts

upper Pratt river, Spider cr







and Jim cr, the big radio site

[Ed el Loco]

I was just looking at those. Never seen so many fires west of the crest.


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[alpinevibes]

Insane. I would never imagine all that activity on the west side.

And Jim Creek… I grew up camping there at the Navy cg


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[Dromond]

That’s crazy - I was up on Mt Defiance this summer.

I read a little about the history of fires in the PNW. There are reports of smoke and fires going way back into the 19th century. The forest next to Green Lake burned once even. The forests of western WA naturally burned sometimes before Europeans arrived. But in the 20th century, humans got pretty good at suppressing them. This idea that western WA forests don’t burn is a modern idea based around that suppression. Now, the fuel loads in the forests are too high after decades of said suppression and climate change is kicking everything into overdrive. So basically, expect more regular fires/smoke for decades. The only hope is that over time and better forest management, fuel loads decline to more historically normal levels making fires smaller and more manageable.

[byates1]

Just pulled trigger on Mt baker season pass. Woot.

[altasnob]

The various fires currently burning in Western Washington are all small fires. The largest West side fire, the Bolt Creek fire, has been burning more than a month and is only 14,000 acres. It's not even the largest fire in the state this year (Pasayten fire is 17,000 acres). To put it in perspective, the largest fires in Washington history after European settlement* are over 300,000 acres (all on East side). The largest known Western Washington fire after European settlement is the Yacolt in 1902, which burned 240,000 acres (and which is now currently on fire again in the Nakia Creek fire). No other West side fire has come close to the Yacolt. Bolt Creek might be the largest, exclusively West side fire since Yacolt.

*Sometime in the 1700s scientist believed a fire, or series of fires burned 3 million to 10 million acres in Western Washington. Essentially, every forest in Western Washington has burned sometime in the last 1,000 years.

[californiagrown]

The time has come to stop loading skis into the back of my 4runner. Junior is reaching the ripe old age of 1-and-some-change so he will be accompanying myself and Mrs. CG up to Lot 4 a few times this year and i dont really want a bunch of sharpened (but not in years) metal loosely hanging out by his neck and head for the drives. So im gonna need a rocket box for my 2004 4runner. I am also frugal, and very environmentally minded when it conveniently lines up with my frugality, meaning that im only looking for used rooftop boxes. The box will need to fit 4-5 pairs of skis, 200cm long.

Can anyone quickly school me on rooftop boxes? Where to buy used (other than CG/nextdoor/FB marketplace), what problems to look out for, best brands models, etc? Does going with a low-profile box really make much difference in MPG or handeling? Id rather not get blown off the road going through NB, or get fucked even harder at the pump because of my early 2000s SUV.

[Dromond]

Just pulled trigger on Mt baker season pass. Woot.

I thought you were MT all the way

[AK47bp]

The time has come to stop loading skis into the back of my 4runner. Junior is reaching the ripe old age of 1-and-some-change so he will be accompanying myself and Mrs. CG up to Lot 4 a few times this year and i dont really want a bunch of sharpened (but not in years) metal loosely hanging out by his neck and head for the drives. So im gonna need a rocket box for my 2004 4runner. I am also frugal, and very environmentally minded when it conveniently lines up with my frugality, meaning that im only looking for used rooftop boxes. The box will need to fit 4-5 pairs of skis, 200cm long.

Can anyone quickly school me on rooftop boxes? Where to buy used (other than CG/nextdoor/FB marketplace), what problems to look out for, best brands models, etc? Does going with a low-profile box really make much difference in MPG or handeling? Id rather not get blown off the road going through NB, or get fucked even harder at the pump because of my early 2000s SUV.

4Runners suck for long roof boxes because the furthest forward rail is behind the front doors. The box will block your tailgate from fully opening.

I have a Gen 5 so not 100% sure if the Gen 4 roof rails are the same.

I use the Thule Pulse Alpine box (7ft long) and had to add an extra cross rail in front, pretty much over the sunroof. Works fine but kind of a pain in the ass.

I don’t have any pics unfortunately.

Something to be aware of in your search.



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[Bandit Man]

Had a large Thule then a Yakima on my 2005 4Runner for 17 years in the PNW. If you set it up correctly, the rear door/hatch opens fine with just a smidge of clearance. You take a small hit on MPG but you chose a 4Runner, so you already made that concession at time of purchase.

Go to REI and choose one when they are running 20% off Thule or Yakima products. The older boxes are more sturdy than the newer ones (IMHO), but the attachment hardware is much better/more secure/easier to adjust on the newer boxes.

That being said, I moved to a Full-sized truck with canopy 2-years ago and will never go back to a roof box. I’ve got more teen/adult-sized people and more gear to move, so my use case is now drastically different than yours.

[AK47bp]

It does look like the Gen 4 roof rails are a bit more forward than the Gen 5. Not sure why Toyota moved them back for Gen 5. Pretty annoying.

Gen 4


Gen 5



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[AK47bp]

View from my house has a pretty defined smoke cap sitting on top of Tiger Mtn.
Attachment 425982


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Today is the worst the smoke has been. Loch Katrine winds must have shifted.



Really looking forward to the upcoming rain pattern later in the week. This shit is getting old.


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[Ed el Loco]

The time has come to stop loading skis into the back of my 4runner. Junior is reaching the ripe old age of 1-and-some-change so he will be accompanying myself and Mrs. CG up to Lot 4 a few times this year and i dont really want a bunch of sharpened (but not in years) metal loosely hanging out by his neck and head for the drives. So im gonna need a rocket box for my 2004 4runner. I am also frugal, and very environmentally minded when it conveniently lines up with my frugality, meaning that im only looking for used rooftop boxes. The box will need to fit 4-5 pairs of skis, 200cm long.

Can anyone quickly school me on rooftop boxes? Where to buy used (other than CG/nextdoor/FB marketplace), what problems to look out for, best brands models, etc? Does going with a low-profile box really make much difference in MPG or handeling? Id rather not get blown off the road going through NB, or get fucked even harder at the pump because of my early 2000s SUV.

Don’t have a 4 runner but I’ve had a few roof boxes. Yakima skybox lopro is my favorite. The wide, low box is easier to get things in or out. It’s not all stacked on it self. Oh and tech talk jong.

[ericrayl]

Back to hiking, while we wait for snow...

There are a couple of long day hikes I'd like to do that involve a car shuttle. In both cases the shuttle is long enough that having another party doing the same route the other direction and meeting up either prior or after for a car swap makes sense.
1. Mowich Lake to Sunrise via Spray Park
2. Backside of Stevens to Chatter Creek TH via Chain Lakes, Frosty Pass, etc.
Both about 20 miles and 6-7k feet elevation change
In all likelihood this is long term planning for early Fall next year. Anyway, send me a PM if you're interested in either of those.

[Bobcat Sig]

Don’t have a 4 runner but I’ve had a few roof boxes. Yakima skybox lopro is my favorite. The wide, low box is easier to get things in or out. It’s not all stacked on it self. Oh and tech talk jong.

Same. Low, long, and wide.

And Tech Talk, JONG