What outdoor leisure activities have you done this winter? (Camas: live in, statistics)

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

How about in and around Vancouver? Do you use chains around town or on major highways? Lots of hills in Camas and Washougal.

Derek

Not as a general rule. Once every couple years we get a big ice storm which can make the streets so dangerous you can't even walk on them without metal spiked cleats on your shoes. When it gets like that you pretty much just have to keep the car parked but if you absolutely need to get out you can chain up and drive on the ice. Two years ago I had to chain up all 4 wheels on my wife's Highlander to get her off Prune Hill and to work. She already had snow tires on the car but when she started to back out of the driveway the car just slid sideways into our yard. She is in medicine and has to report to work or those already there can't get off and go home. Her employer requires employees who are at risk of not making it to work to check into the hotel across the street. She would rather have me chain up the car than spend the week at a hotel. Most other employers just shut down when it gets like that.

When it gets like that you just don't want to even get out on the streets. But if you absolutely have to, or are trying to get home then chains come in useful. I keep them in all our cars all winter long as a general rule just in case.

You can't really drive chains faster than about 30 mph so you put them on the car to get off Prune Hill then take them back off when you get down to 192nd. It's a big hassle.

[silibran]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

How about in and around Vancouver? Do you use chains around town or on major highways? Lots of hills in Camas and Washougal.

Derek

We live in East Vancouver. We have never used chains. We don’t even own chains. But we don’t drive the Gorge in bad weather.

We don’t get that much snow here, really. The major problem with the bad weather we do get is that local governments don’t take responsibility for plowing streets.

But if you live in or near the Gorge, you probably need chains. The weather there can be fierce.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by silibran

We live in East Vancouver. We have never used chains. We don’t even own chains. But we don’t drive the Gorge in bad weather.

We don’t get that much snow here, really. The major problem with the bad weather we do get is that local governments don’t take responsibility for plowing streets.

But if you live in or near the Gorge, you probably need chains. The weather there can be fierce.

It's all elevation. East Vancouver is pretty flat and low elevation. Once you cross 192nd and start driving uphill into the Prune Hill parts of Camas the snow and ice start to show up pretty fast during winter storm days. The pavement can be dry down on 192nd and a sheet of ice up on the top of the hill. As you move into the even higher elevations back in the Livingston Mountain area it gets snowier and snowier.

If you live at the top of a steep hill there will be occasional winter days when you either just leave the car parked or you have to chain up to get in and out. As silibran notes, that really doesn't happen in the lower and flatter parts of East Vancouver. Some of the streets in Camas are pretty steep and the conditions that might enable you to poke along slowly on flat level streets are impossible to drive on the steep slopes. This past weekend there were lots of cars parked around the sides of the roads at the bottom of some of the big neighborhood hills in Camas as people couldn't get up to their houses due to the snow and ice. Chains would have made that possible.

The Gorge is the worst. This morning I-84 was closed in both directions according to the NPR newscast. I think there were some big accidents due to ice and they just closed it. I wasn't paying enough attention to catch if it was due to accidents or ice conditions or both.

[StealthRabbit]

We were iced in for a week on Our first winter in WA (35 yrs ago)

Lived next to Evergreen Memorial Gardens (Essentially Mill Plain and 205)

Coming from Colorado (crunchy snow with good traction)... ICE was a new thing.

Went to Salvation Army and bought golf shoes with metal spikes, Had to use them again today (in the west gorge). My car wears 4x studded snows, and I NEED that many times / yr, such as today.

Lots of Semi traffic on SR14 today due to I-84 closed. The DOT guy was making them chain up, but letting them through.
Raining, but still have over 3' snow on portions of my roof (that is not good... HEAVY and potential to cause leaks)

[Landslide84]

Well we just moved here from Nashville last month and have been out quite a bit. In the 3-4 weeks we've been here I've been up to Lake Cushman (snow), Mount St. Helens (as far as the road is open but clear), Sea-tac during the snow last week, Mt. Rainier National Park (more snow), Port Angeles (lots of snow and super cold), Sisters, OR (snow over Santiam Pass), the Oregon Coast (clear), The Gorge, (clear) and around Battle Ground a few days ago (snow). Before we left TN I put winter tires on which was a hassle because no one carried them down there. Since getting here chains have been bought not for around Ridgefield where we now live but for when I drive to Sisters for work once a week in the near future. Overall I do a lot of hiking and photography and this is a great place, even in the winter for it.

We bought a Discovery Pass which is great but we will probably buy the National Parks Pass as well. Around town we have walked down to some parks in the snow and rain and we also got up to Ape Caves the other day which was weird because someone was way back in there playing drums. I kid you not, like a full drumset and I'm a drummer and recording engineer so I was completely thrown off to encounter that waaaayyy up there in the forest. Just flat out strange.

All in all it's nice here even in the cold damp days so I enjoy it. The only complaint I have about the weather and I guess area in general is those skinny concrete lane dividers that are around Battle Ground and Ridgefield. You can't really see some of them in the rain and snow and some aren't even painted or reflective such as the one that took out my front tire the first night we were here. I've never seen them anywhere else but here. Whatever, lesson learned, it's all good.

[texasdiver]

This is what an ice storm in the Gorge looks like. This is from yesterday

https://www.wweek.com/news/2019/02/1...-mile-ice-jam/

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

This is what an ice storm in the Gorge looks like. This is from yesterday

https://www.wweek.com/news/2019/02/1...-mile-ice-jam/

Wow, what a mess! These roads look like something to really avoid during snow/ice storms. Maybe the entire Gorge. I dislike Hwy 14 on WA side even more than I-84 due to its poor design, lack of shoulders, guard rails within a couple feet of the lanes, no center barriers and the excessive speed folks drive on it including big rigs despite these factors. Add in some ice and its an easy accident waiting to happen. There's simply no room for error, sliding, etc... And when it does happen there is literally nowhere to go on that little two lane highway. How they even get in there to clear accidents and help the injured with no shoulders and few exits, I don't know.

Oregon Gorge weather causes problems for Washington side

Derek

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Wow, what a mess! These roads look like something to really avoid during snow/ice storms. Maybe the entire Gorge. I dislike Hwy 14 on WA side .

Do be advised... SR14 through the Gorge is part of the SCENIC design (Sam Hill) ... not SAFE / high volume of traffic.)) but... is actually quite safe (statistically). SR14 statistics (Washougal to Vancouver) were VERY sad when Parker House was in business (Camas Port). Had 3 friends lose family between Washougal and Camas during that time.

I have delightfully used it daily for 30 yrs and have seen minimal accidents and only witnessed 2 deaths. (I often encountered more deaths than that DAILY while trucking weekend nights in WY and Colorado (age 18 legal for 3.2% at the time)

My son did Fire / EMT-para / rescue / for SR 14 for nearly 20 yrs and only had 6 deaths to deal with (lots of rescues). Over 1/2 fatalities were visiting motorcycles, unaware of the very dangerous (recent) placement of rumble strips. Mistakenly cross those in a corner..on a MC & you go down and directly into oncoming traffic and under the truck or car headed your way. Thump Thump...

Kids and family (and many peers) did SR 14 daily for work / RS / Jobs in HR and Vanc. I know of no locals who have been in a SR 14 accident (but many lost on Washougal River and Camas rural road (Mt Livingston / Fern Prairie accidents).

So... SR 14 (east of Washougal) is pretty safe (Tho it is nice that most people take I-84!) So the more who are scared of SR 14, the better for us! I have a few friends who drive for Milky Way and they use SR 14 daily. This week... challenging on both I-84 and SR14 (slushy Rain at the moment) Heading to Bend in a few minutes. Might wait for dark (less traffic, but more ice). (I prefer dealing with ICE to dealing with traffic).

fairly recent Tragic accident on SR14 was the 16 yr old driving her parents and Grandparents who got hit head-on by a cement truck (front tire blow-out on Camas slough bridge.) It was one of her first few days driving. Where to escape on the entrance to a bridge?

Life is fragile, handle with Care. (I sleep MUCH better since my 'driving' kids left home!). My mom's words ring in my mind... "You are not riding that motorcycle on the road while you live in this house, because I am not gonna lie awake worrying about you!" (I was gone by age 16 (for other reasons)). Still alive (temporarily). Need to drive SR 14 today.

[Ttark]

I don't even like taking 14 through the gorge when it's 80 degrees and sunny if it can be avoided! I can't imagine driving it this time of year.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Ttark

I don't even like taking 14 through the gorge when it's 80 degrees and sunny if it can be avoided! I can't imagine driving it this time of year.

I hear ya! We drove it this past summer and the speed at which folks drive for the size of those two little lanes makes it scary. According to Stealth there aren't too many accidents. But that still doesn't make the road safe without any shoulder, pullouts or center barrier. It's the major artery for the WA side of the Columbia. And things happen. Cars have mechanical problems, humans get distracted. Then add in snow, ice, sleet, etc... There is simply no room for error with oncoming cars in one direction and a guard rail on the other. Add in a little slip and slide on the ice and things will get crazy very quickly. Maybe the guard rails can at least constrain accidents to the road itself - blast containment. So I guess that can help some.

Derek