Mountain Loop Highway opened / Monte Cristo Access update

The Mountain Loop Highway Deer Creek gate was opened [early] on April 19. This means you can now drive from Granite Falls to Barlow Pass. The MLH is still closed between Barlow Pass and Bedal.

Access to the townsite is open as well, a 4 mile hike from Barlow Pass.

You may have heard mention of the “crossing log” being swept away at twin bridges over the winter. Indeed it did move downstream a bit, and is no longer accessible from the west river bank. However, with the way the river channels have changed, there is an easy footpath to cross the rocky riverbed just downstream from the log. Turn left to the river just before the wooden outhouse, and walk up the riverbed to the location of the log, where you’ll again meet up with the trail. We’ll be flagging this area soon to guide visitors.

Also, the Barlow Pass gate was damaged by an automobile in November 2023. Our normal lock system is not operational and the gate is currently chained shut. We’ll post an update here when members will again be able to use their gate key to access the first mile of the Monte Cristo Road.

Monte Cristo Letterpress Documents

Fred Cruger of the Granite Falls Historical Society recently scanned 2600+ pages of correspondence between the mining corporation at Monte Cristo and their counterparts in Everett, WA and beyond. The letters were painstakingly reproduced by Forrest Johanson over a period of years, resulting in a renewed copy of the 100+ year old hand-typed originals. Browse through this content and re-live the day-to-day operations (and troubles, mostly) encountered in the Monte Cristo Mining Area.

Thanks Fred and Forrest for preserving and sharing this content!

tinyurl.com/MonteCristoLetterPressDocs

Some samples of the content you’ll find:

2024 Winter Social

We had a great turnout for the winter social. About 40 persons in attendance, including some new and recently joined members. We had a great dinner and lots of conversation, followed by a short presentation of news and events relating to MCPA, followed by Louise Lindgren’s presentation on historical artifacts in the Monte Cristo Mining Area. I hope to be able to link to some of that content herein soon.Thanks to everyone who attended and hope to see everyone again soon.
We’ll be having our annual meeting and lunch in the June time frame. Watch here for details.

2024 Winter Social February 17

Come gather with MCPA members at Jennings Barn in Marysville on Saturday February 17.

We’ll have a potluck dinner starting at 5:30, then we have several topics of information to share beginning about 6:00.

We’ll discuss current news relating to MCPA and the Monte Cristo Area, and our work plans for the 2024 season. Louise Lindgren, founding MCPA Member, will be sharing a presentation on an exhaustive artifact study she completed in 2006.

October 21, 2023 Work Party

Join us October 21 at 9:00 AM Barlow Pass Gate, WEATHER PERMITTING, for our final 2023 work party. Feel free to contact us as the date nears if the weather looks inclement. However, if skies are clear…we’ll plan to be there.

Work will likely include trail work on the bypass trails between the clayslide and twin bridges. Some of us may also venture into the townsite to complete work there.

September 16 Work Party

Join us September 16 at 9:00 AM Barlow Pass Gate for our next 2023 work party.

As this could be the last work party of the year, we’ll be enjoying a group lunch at 12:00 at the MCPA Picnic Table at the snowslide area about 1/2 mile down the MCPA county road.

We’ll have a grill and salmon burgers, fixings and drinks available. Feel free to bring a side dish, snack or dessert to share.

Work will likely include trail work on the by[ass trails between the clayslide and twin bridges. Some of us may also venture into the townsite to complete work there.

August 19 Volunteer Work Party

Join us for our 3rd work party of 2023; Saturday August 19. Meet at Barlow Pass gate at 9:00AM – look for MCPA members in yellow vests.

We’ll be doing trail and road maintenance on the lower parts of the Monte Cristo Road, and also have some supplies that could be carried into town. Some may venture into the townsite to install additional interpretive signs on the MCPA lot. There is always brushing and trail work to be done around the townsite should you want to venture there.

We typically work until around 3:00 however you are welcome to stay however long you want to.

July 15, 2023 Volunteer Work Party

Join us for our 2nd work party of 2023; Saturday July 15. Meet at Barlow Pass gate at 9:00AM – look for MCPA members in yellow vests.

We’ll be doing trail and road maintenance on the lower parts of the Monte Cristo Road, and also have some supplies that could be carried into town. There is always brushing work to be done at the townsite should you want to venture there.

We typically work until around 3:00 however you are welcome to stay however long you want to.

First 2023 Volunteer Work Party June 17

Our first 2023 Volunteer work party will be Saturday June 17.  Meet at 9:00AM at the Barlow Pass gate. 

Work parties will continue to be hosted each 3rd Saturday of the month. 

Plans for the first work party include trail work on the first 1.5 miles of county road, and possibly hiking supplies into the townsite.

MCPA Annual Meeting & Lunch June 10 2023

We will be holding our 2023 Annual Meeting Saturday June 10. 

It will be in person at 12:00 Noon behind the Verlot Service Center at 33515 Mtn. Loop Highway Granite Falls, WA 98252.

Join us for lunch at noon (Bring a dish to share) and the meeting following shortly thereafter.

We’ll discuss our work accomplished last year, plans for this year, current state of the Monte Cristo road, trail and log crossing, provide a fiscal report, and introduce the Board of Directors. 

The Mountain Loop Highway opened from Deer Creek to Barlow Pass May 19, so you can plan on a short trip up the highway too, if desired.  The Loop is not yet open from Barlow Pass to Bedal.

We’ll also be hosting our first 2023 work party on Saturday June 17.  Meet at 9:00AM at the Barlow Pass gate.  Work parties will continue each 3rd Saturday of the month.  Plans for the first work party include trail work on the first 1.5 miles of county road, and possibly hiking supplies into the townsite.