I just had the opportunity to spend about five days in southern Washington thrust upon me. I was hoping to hike around the southern volcanic trio (Rainier, Adams, Saint Helens). What are the snow levels like right now? There seem to be some conflicting reports about road closures and such.

Any information on what is and is not open, or suggestions for hikes that are doable right now are much appreciated!

Thanks!

* I am leaving Wednesday, June 27th. I have some work to do in Winlock for a couple days and won't hit the hills until the 30th or so.

I believe this had a been a heavy snow year. The NW set records for wettest spring.

Mt Hood and Mt Rainier are your best bets. The roads are paved and clear to the base of these mountains.

Mt. Adams will be very unreachable unless you want to hike several miles over snowed-in roads.

St. Helens is reachable from lower Marble Mt trailhead (2,670 ft)
The easier, Climber's Bivouac (3,750 ft), will not be open til July.

Here's the Mt. Adams area report, extra 3+ miles of road to hike.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjAwhwtDDw9_AI8zPyhQoY6BdkOyoCAGixyPg!/?ss=110603&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=stelprdb5172538&navid=120000000000000&pnavid=null&position=Not%20Yet%20Determined.Html&ttype=detail&pname=Gifford%20Pinchot%20National%20Forest-%20Alerts%20&%20Notices

When I was up there last year on the 4th of July, it was 2.25 miles or road hike, I just went up around 8000' checking things out. Met a group at Cold Springs that did summit in a one day shot, and they were hating life for the last few miles.

Thanks for the updates on the conditions. All things (weather) being equal, how do y'all think things will be by mid-July?

All of Washington had above normal snowfall this winter, but the southern part was the least above normal. The areas that were snowiest were between Snoqualmie Pass and Mt. Baker. The southern areas, including Mt. Rainier, are above normal but not inordinately so. Average snowpack at Paradise on this date should be around 75 inches, and last I checked, it was 120 inches. I'm guessing we're running a couple of weeks behind schedule in the south, maybe 3-4 weeks behind schedule in the north. Having said that, I think it'll still be quite a hike for Adams. As for Rainier and Hood, Billisfree pointed out that it really doesn't matter since the road is plowed. St. Helens shouldn't be an issue either.