regehr
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- Mar 28, 2012
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too bad about the increased usage!
how did you find the drive to the top in your Subaru?
Maze questions---Sweet Alice Canyon, etc
- Thread starter RyanP
- Start date
how did you find the drive to the top in your Subaru?
RyanP
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- Mar 1, 2015
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The drive to the top was fine in my Subaru. I personally wouldn't recommend it for a standard 2WD passenger car though (AWD crossover seems like the absolute minimum to me). There is no way I would bring an AWD crossover any further than the top of the switchbacks (it got a lot rougher right after that).
regehr
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thanks!
the one time I've been down/up the switchbacks it would totally have been possible to get down in a Subaru, not sure about up-- but was quite some time ago
maperson543
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- Jan 14, 2024
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Updating this post as I exited out Sep 2023.
Exit out of Sweet Alice is very do-able. It's also well-cairned. The backpacker mag route is different than the cairned route. I surveyed both and walked both for a while. I would follow the cairns. Backpacking waypoints are good to get you to the canyon and 3/4 of the way in, but once the canyon starts to close down and once you start realizing that you have to slowly make it up, then follow the cairns. Don't follow the backpacking mag waypoints.
For the future person who does this: you'll know what I mean when you experience it. Canyon starts to close. Backpacking mag waypoints go left/NE running on the north canyon wall, but the cairns go right/SE running on the south canyon wall. I followed the backpacking mag ones to see where they go and there is a big ledge I could not get up and over. Maybe if you can get up and over it would've been easier than the cairns, but I trusted the cairns and it was a pretty safe route. Strenuous (as always is when getting out of a canyon), but safe.
There are Definitely one or two long steps/leaps where a larger stride is helpful. If with another person, you can pass packs. But overall a well laid exit out of Sweet Alice.
Exit out of Sweet Alice is very do-able. It's also well-cairned. The backpacker mag route is different than the cairned route. I surveyed both and walked both for a while. I would follow the cairns. Backpacking waypoints are good to get you to the canyon and 3/4 of the way in, but once the canyon starts to close down and once you start realizing that you have to slowly make it up, then follow the cairns. Don't follow the backpacking mag waypoints.
For the future person who does this: you'll know what I mean when you experience it. Canyon starts to close. Backpacking mag waypoints go left/NE running on the north canyon wall, but the cairns go right/SE running on the south canyon wall. I followed the backpacking mag ones to see where they go and there is a big ledge I could not get up and over. Maybe if you can get up and over it would've been easier than the cairns, but I trusted the cairns and it was a pretty safe route. Strenuous (as always is when getting out of a canyon), but safe.
There are Definitely one or two long steps/leaps where a larger stride is helpful. If with another person, you can pass packs. But overall a well laid exit out of Sweet Alice.