Pacific Northwest - The road to Sunrise (MRNP/410)
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Marinman
06-26-08, 06:22 PM
Hi,
Does anyone have input on how the road is (this year in particular) and how are the shoulders or do people ride (going up) on the road? I know there are some club rides going to Chinook. I meant Sunrise/410, couldn't get edit to work.
Thanks,
MM
heavyMetal
06-27-08, 11:41 AM
I don't know how the conditions are this year, but I rode it a while back, in late Sept or early Oct. It was cold in the morning, nice once we broke out of the forest and into the sunshine, then cold again at the Sunrise station. Suprisingly, the road was not that steep. You get a chance to recover a bit after each switchback. The shoulders were pretty good, and if you get an early start, not too much vehicle traffic. Coming down, the switchbacks present some thrilling moments, as you can't see if there is traffic coming up your way. Make sure your tires and brakes are in great condition!
stringbreaker
06-27-08, 12:28 PM
Hi,
Does anyone have input on how the road is (this year in particular) and how are the shoulders or do people ride (going up) on the road? I know there are some club rides going to Chinook. I meant Sunrise/410, couldn't get edit to work.
Thanks,
MM
I saw two STP tickets on Seattle craigs list morning
Hi,
Does anyone have input on how the road is (this year in particular) and how are the shoulders or do people ride (going up) on the road? I know there are some club rides going to Chinook. I meant Sunrise/410, couldn't get edit to work.
Thanks,
MM
Sunrise visitor center is open on July 3rd, so the roads should be fine. The shoulders aren't great but the traffic is generally pretty well behaved and not going very fast. You have to pay to get into the park at white river ($5 IIRC). The climb itself is long long but great.
You have a couple of options. You can drive up to white river and park and do the climb, you can ride up from Enumclaw and do the climb, or you can climb to the top of chinook and then climb sunrise if you are looking for a bit more pain.
You can get water at white river and food/water at the top of sunrise, but nothing at the top of chinook.
Have fun. It's a beautiful climb.