I am positive we drove from Seattle to Shasta City in 8 hours, taking 2 1/2 hours to drive to Portland from Ravenna in Seattle and 5 1/2 hours from Portland to Shasta City. We left Saturday morning on Memorial Day weekend and had very light traffic. I set the cruise control for 5 mph over the speed limit.

Sunny Buns wrote:For backup, consider Mt. Shasta also. May be warm and sunny while farther north is gray and rain. 8 hour drive to trailhead from Porkland.

Best time for South Side Hog Back route on Hood is Mothers Day weekend. Best for south side Adams is July 4. Best time for St. Helens is whenever you can get one of the idiotic permits on the internet.

There's always the Sawtooth range in Idaho too. I'm guessing 10 hour drive from Porkland.

I was planning to climb Mt Shasta in May but there is currently little or no snow on the mountain and the glaciers are in terrible shape. I know we're only half way through winter but the drought conditions there are severe enough to make me rethink our plans. We're not looking for a scree slog. We're looking for a much more enjoyable glacier/snow climb. Right now we'll likely climb something in the northern Cascades, weather be damned.

It does suck to live so far away. You roll the dice, buy a plane ticket and hope for the best. I always have a back-up plan in case the weather doesn't cooperate but it won't be looking at lavender fields...

I have done a half a dozen or so trips to the mountains outside Seattle in late April to mid May over the years. I expect one out of three days to be nice, two out of three days is a bonus year, and pray that I don't have a Pineapple Express during my visit.

I like Shasta in April/May, where i might get 2 of 3 nice days. Casaval Ridge is a fun climb.