Possible Local Snowkite Location

spike_101 · Since 29 Jan 2007 87 Posts

Hey guys, I was driving down I-84 today and looked accross the river at the hills in washington and had a great idea. If anyone has looked at these hills from troutdale or the surrounding area you will know that some of them do not have trees and might be possible to snowkite them because there is usually snow on them all winter. Does anyone out there know how to get up there? I was looking at google maps but it doesnt look like there are any roads. I might have to drive around there one day to find out the possibilities. If anyone has any kind of info about this area please post it. I will let you guys know if i find anything.

bamboo · Since 24 Jun 2005 165 Posts da 'chung; taiwan Stoked

aren't those the ones over by three corner rock!? i think you gotta go north out of washogoul and then there are up a bunch of logging roads you gotta navigate up. i looked into them for some touring options but just found that they were endless roads that were closed off or deadended into snow. you'll probably need a snowmo to make it happen.

chanson · Since 31 Jan 2006 1873 Posts WISCONSIN Chimey

Well, my roommate and I tried to search-out a snowkite location up there and ended up at Larch Mt. made it way up on some mt. service roads to about a 1.5 ft of snow and few trees but the access was not do-able, very steep where we were...
but if you could get up higher, either by snowmobile or trekking, you could get to some nice spots.
And yes, we went to Washougal and headed north up the river and kept winding higher.

Maybe we'll get back out in the area this spring..!
Go for it! Thumb's Up

NateDogg · Sun Mar 04, 07 9:58 pm

I've always wondered about that area around Washougal. And then what about up around Cougar and the general foothill area around St. Helens? I know I've heard stories of people kiting those high lakes in the summer, so there must be some snowy clearcuts that could work in the winter?

pkh · Since 27 Feb 2005 6549 Posts Couve / Hood Honored Founder

Google Earth is a good tool if they have photos of the area you are thinking about. Works good for finding clearings (not that I have found any killer local snow kite spots yet.)

Sasquatch · Since 09 Mar 2005 2102 Posts PNW Bigfoot

[quote="NateDogg"] I know I've heard stories of people kiting those high lakes in the summer, quote]

Last Labor day wkend we had that super warm weather with strong east winds. I went wakeboarding one of those days everyone was at RR. There were whitecaps everywhere. . . Needless to say I was thinking and wished I was kiteboard vs wakeboarding (there really is no comparison). I was on the third lake, Lake Merwin, the most downstream reservoir on the Lewis River. It was gusty, but nothing like RR that day. Anyway, it was 12m C kite stuff I'd say and a downwinder would of been a "Cream Dream". The only thing u would of needed was a boat for launching and picking u up about 8 miles downwind. There are no real places to launch from land that I saw and or that are not sheltered from the wind. It is 50 miles/1 hr from West Portland to the launch for a boat with good traffic. The water is relatively warm and very clean. Sometime in the future, someone should try it. Lots of logistics involved. . . Sad