Winter seems to have arrived, finally

washout on the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail

Update Monday Dec. 22nd, 2025

Welcome back! This season is starting out crazy, and some things are still not sorted. During the summer, details are worked out, contracts set and all is ready - then stuff happens. Right? Well, this year is no different.... The big news for the moment is the weather and how it has impacted the winter trails. Here we go:

• We all know about the washouts everywhere. Well, our various winter trails have all been hit and I doubt anyone knows the extent of impacts on our winter trails just yet.

• In addition to the debris flows, extreme winds on the east side of the crest toppled many trees (and sani-cans). So, there is that to deal with.

• Then adding to the challenge of all this is the lack of personnel with the USFS to do anything. They are all laid off for the winter.

• Add that all up and we will have no grooming on USFS land until a USFS employee with Okanogan/Wenatchee National Forest closes roads to motor vehicles and get signs posted which will allow over the snow grooming. Our contractors need to follow the law and right now, grooming will not happen until this happens. This means Cabin Creek, Erling Stordahl, parts of the sled dog trail system and the snowmobile routes could remain ungroomed through the holidays or longer. Stay tuned. UPDATE: The contractors are starting to prep all USFS trails, and build berms in the I-90 corridor.

• State Parks operate mostly on their land, and the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail will be up and grooming as normal as soon as the washouts are fixed (picture above was one of their slides to repair) or at least have a temporary fix, which should be about now. There is enough snow to groom this core route. Stay tuned for more reports from them. Probably on Monday Dec. 22nd. The folks that fixed the washouts are also the groomers, so they've been busy.

• Franklin Falls will not be plowed for the same reason that there are not enough USFS on staff to maintain the parking as per King County stipulation (part of the access is King Co. maintained road). Franklin Falls access will be from the road turn off like it was two years ago - the Asahel Curtis picnic road. I will get a little map up on the Franklin Falls page.

• Salmon La Sac - this favorite will be groomed Friday nights and will not have set tracks initially. Maybe later. This was groomed by the USFS and staff that did the work were laid off. There is a substitute groomer who is awesome, pitching in to help keep this area open until USFS is back to normal.

• Blewett Pass will have limited snowmobile grooming, but the lots will be plowed and is still a great ski touring / backcountry skiing area. UPDATE: the latest storm has downed a HUGE number of trees across all trails.  There were volunteers cutting trees recently, but my understanding is they hardly made a dent in the problem.  Earlier in the fall, all Tronsen trails had been cleared.  This last storm has clogged the trails all over again.  People who go to Blewett expecting to get anywhere on any given trail are likely to be disappointed.  

Also new this winter is the Trailhead Ambassador Program led by the Mountains to Sound Greenway! They will have volunteers stationed at Gold Creek, Crystal Springs, and Cabin Creek to be available to answer questions and sell passes on Saturdays.

Sign up to help here:

https://mtsgreenway.org/get-involved/volunteer/trailhead-ambassadors/