Cascade Mountains, Crater Lake, Mt. Ranier
Hi--we are trying to plan a trip from Minnesota to Mt. Ranier, through the Cascades and down to Crater Lake NP. and home again. I've heard that the Cascades are beautiful and the area around Bend OR i...
Forum Discussion
How tight are the 'sharp hairpin turns'? Tighter than a freeway cloverleaf or tighter than a city street intersection?
To me a sharp hairpin turn is one where the vehicle has to backup once or twice to make the turn. Or if you prefer to call that a switchback, rather than a hairpin turn, how about having to straddle the centerline to make the turn (which could endanger oncoming traffic). On Google Maps streetview the curves on the west side of Chinook Pass are no where that tight. A big certainly needs good speed control on that downhill west side, but the loop curves shouldn't be any harder to negotiate than the WA123 intersection at the bottom of the hill. Or viewpoint turnoffs along the way.
My guess is that driving to the major visitor centers in the park will involve just as much in the way of grades and curves (e.g. Paradise and Sunrise).
To get to Sunrise you have to take WA410 and WA123 (from US12). To get to Paradise you have to climb from 123 in the east, or make a long loop around to the SW entrance to the park.
To me a sharp hairpin turn is one where the vehicle has to backup once or twice to make the turn. Or if you prefer to call that a switchback, rather than a hairpin turn, how about having to straddle the centerline to make the turn (which could endanger oncoming traffic). On Google Maps streetview the curves on the west side of Chinook Pass are no where that tight. A big certainly needs good speed control on that downhill west side, but the loop curves shouldn't be any harder to negotiate than the WA123 intersection at the bottom of the hill. Or viewpoint turnoffs along the way.
My guess is that driving to the major visitor centers in the park will involve just as much in the way of grades and curves (e.g. Paradise and Sunrise).
To get to Sunrise you have to take WA410 and WA123 (from US12). To get to Paradise you have to climb from 123 in the east, or make a long loop around to the SW entrance to the park.
