How About While It's Snowing?
I did. Just two days ago. I'd say it wasn't pretty, but it actually was, if you don't think about the slipping and sliding, real chance of wrecking, turning over in ditches or potentially getting hurt.
Here, I'll show you what I mean.
Hwy 18 Eastbound
To get to Lincoln City from Salem, the most direct route is to take Hwy 22 to Hwy 18, and then get on Hwy 101. Compared to other routes through the coastal mountains, this way is a little more populated, a little less winding and up and down, but not without its dangers.
Especially when it snows.
Tuesday, January 26
11:35 AM
On the trip over to the coast, I was roughly 15 miles away from Lincoln City when I hit snow flurries. Elevation was above 500 feet, but at this point, nothing was sticking. The payment was wet, but nothing out of the ordinary for winter driving in Western Oregon.
The snow continued to come down even when I got onto the 101, which isn't that far from the ocean at all. A short while after that, it turned back into rain as the road got below 200 feet.
12:20 PM
I had two stops to make in Lincoln City, both to fill ATMs. Both went like clockwork. After that, I headed down to Newport than back east several miles to Toledo to fill the last ATM. I was also supposed to meet someone there to swap out a game that wasn't working properly.
In between Lincoln City and Newport there are glimpses of the ocean from the highway. The swells weren't as high as I've seen them in the recent past, which I took as a good sign as far as the weather was concerned. The winds weren't bad and the rain came and went on the way south.
The idea was to arrive about the same time as my co-worker. Despite stopping for lunch and eating it in the parking lot, I was still about 10 minutes earlier than he was expecting to get there. I went ahead and filled the ATM, checked on the games, and then moved the machine we were swapping out of its place in anticipation of moving its replacement in.
1:53 PM
All of that took less than fifteen minutes, but the co-worker was nowhere to be seen. It's easy to underestimate how long it's going to take to get somewhere, even with the Maps app, so I waited some more, knowing he was coming in a larger truck. Earlier, when I was in Lincoln City, he had told me he was on his way. I'd alerted him then to the possibility of hitting snow though I didn't know for certain which way the storm was coming in.
A half an hour after the time he said he would be there, I finally sent a text. He told me that just out of Philomath, a little town just west of Corvallis, the snow came down pretty heavy, and he decided to stop to put on snow chains. That took a while, but he was finally on the road again when my text came in. At that point, he was 40 minutes out.
I was glad he was safe and on his way, but none of what he was experiencing boded well for a return trip. Since it would be the shortest and fastest way back, it was my intent to go home on Hwy 34, the way he was coming over. But I didn't have any chains or studded tires, just the all weather ones on the van. They might call them all weather, but I knew that didn't include heavy ice or snow.
2:00 PM
I was talking with the employees of the business I was waiting at when another text appeared. This one's from the boss, telling me my my co-worker decided to turn around, and that I might want to check to see if it would better to head north again and come back the way I came in, rather than Hwy 34.
If it was bad enough for the truck with chains, I didn't know how I was going to fare without, even in the smaller van. I knew Hwy 34 would be more dangerous simply because there were more spots where the only thing between the road and a few hundred feet slide down the hillside was a guard rail. Depending on how far into the mountains I was, if I went off the road, it could be hours before a tow truck would arrive, even if they could get in.
I decided to head back north. I did so thinking that the snow had been falling there since late morning, so snow crews might already be out scraping off and sanding down the road. It meant adding another 40 miles and roughly an hour to my trip (at the very least), but it seemed like the safest way to go.
2:40 PM
The 101 was pretty much the way I'd left it. Some traffic, but nearly as much as other times. Rain was intermittent, but hardly any wind. I made it to Lincoln City and headed to Hwy 18. About five miles in, I hit snow again.
This time, it was heavier and faster and it was obvious it had been sticking for some time. Fortunately, the way east was plowed. Coming west looked like it had been a while since it had been scraped off. Cars coming from that direction were traveling pretty slow. As for eastbound traffic, I could barely see the car in front of me in the distance.
2:45 PM
That didn't last very long. Within minutes I came to a full stop, about a hundred feet from where the road ran downhill. I couldn't see very well from my vantage point, but somewhere down the hill I thought I saw a flashing light. At first, I was concerned, thinking it might be a wreck and that we were stopped waiting for it to clear. Who knew how long that might take. But then I realized the flashing lights were coming and going every so often, and I wondered if it might be a snow plow.
2:55 PM
I could see that there were at least 20 vehicles in front of me. Over the course of the next several minutes, at least that many lined up behind me. Occasionally, cars would come from the east, making me wonder why our side wasn't moving. If the road was clear on the side that looked worse than ours did, what was keeping us just sitting there?
As I said, it may have been the snow plow. Something happened, though, and the line of brake lights in front of me began to dim. Some relief washed over me, because sitting around watching the snow fall and then the windshield wipers clearing it off was getting tedious at best. Once I was done with any of my work tasks, regardless of where it was, the next thing I wanted to do was get home.
Well, it wasn't to be. The cars in front of me may have sped up to a whopping 10 miles per hour before we stopped again, about 200 feet from where we started. It brought into view a road sign on the right.
SNOW ZONE
Chains required.
Then something about it being okay for lighter vehicles to use studded tires.
Didn't matter. I didn't have any of that.
From then on, I started paying better attention to the vehicles coming from the opposite direction. Namely, their tires. I don't remember seeing a single one which had chains on them, which meant I wasn't alone. I did end up passing a few trucks and semis that were putting on chains in various places, however.
3:20 PM
We started and stopped a couple of more times, but finally the line got moving for good. Regardless, speeds did not top 20 mph for several miles, on a road that I was used to at least doing the 55 speed limit if not a little more. Part of me didn't mind it.
Though this was the second winter I've been making these near weekly treks to Lincoln City, this was the first time I'd encountered snow. I'd counted myself fortunate to miss any foul weather there might have been in the passes. This time, though, I wasn't as lucky.
With the lower speeds and somewhat plowed lane, I felt a little more comfortable with my circumstances. With as many cars as there were on the road, I was at once relieved and concerned. On the one hand, if I managed to end up stalled or in a ditch, there would be plenty of folks who would see it and who would either provide help or send for some. On the other hand, all those vehicles also increased the chances of some of us crashing into one another. I felt I should keep my distance from the ones in front of me. I can't say the same about those who were behind me, however.
I was able to safely take pictures while we were moving. One of the few benefits of going so slow was having the opportunity to appreciate the scenery in the snow. It's quite beautiful when it's accumulating and contrasting with the green of the firs. Even so, under the stress of driving, not knowing just what the conditions were from moment to moment, it was hard to enjoy it.
3:40 PM
After that first downhill, the road was flat for quite a ways, but then eventually we got to another descent after going up hill for a while. Ascending wasn't so bad, but I was afraid, even at our reduced speeds, that descending might be tricky. It wasn't. Staying back helped, and the fact that this was an area with a passing lane (though unplowed) did, too, because it felt like there was ample room in case something happened.
Since the eastbound side was covered up, this was an area where a couple of vehicles stopped to put on chains. Though, I'm not sure why the blue pickup truck was pointed west on the eastbound side, other than he had spun out and decided it might be better to chain up.
3:48 PM
As we crept along, I started to worry about our pace. There aren't any street lights out there, just the headlamps and taillights of the vehicles sharing the highway. My van has tinted windows on both the driver and passenger sides, but after that, other than the windshield, there are no other windows. I have side mirrors that allow me to safely pass from one lane to the other.
However, when it gets dark, its harder to see out the side windows because of the tinting, making the side mirrors less effective, too. I don't see well in the dark, anyway, even under the best of conditions and wearing my glasses.
At the rate we were going, it would be dark well before I got to Salem, where I figured the roads would be the best from there on out.
I decided to take a look at the Oregon TripCheck site, something I probably should have done earlier. When I did, I wondered if I'd made a big mistake. The map showed a long red line for nearly the entire trip. What it didn't indicate was how quickly that slow traffic might be moving, if at all.
The route below it, Hwy 34, was green from Newport to about halfway. Then it had areas of red and orange. Again, without knowing just what that meant, I could be stuck in line for hours waiting for the road to be cleared, or I could be heading at the same speed I was now in those areas. All I knew was that my co-worker had chained up then turned around. I didn't know what that meant as far as his estimated time of travel.
In hindsight, I should have texted him. I thought about it, but while I might be an area with reception at the time, he might not be. And he might have a much greater need to concentrate on the road than being distracted by attempts to get information.
4:12 PM
The line of vehicles crawled on.
Well after two hours since leaving Toledo, I saw the first of several snow plows heading east. That side needed it most, so it was good to see it being worked on. By now, speeds had improved to about 25 mph, but that was the extent of it. The bad thing was, we were still on Hwy 18, which is basically a 20-25 mile stretch of road. Normally, it took about half an hour to transverse. At that point, it had become an hour and a half.
Finally, I got to where the road divides into two lanes on both sides. That was heartening in three ways. One, it meant that some of us could move a little faster if we felt we could. Two, it also meant we were nearing the turn off for Hwy 22, which is more or less the halfway to Salem. Three, it was also where most of the hills were now behind us.
4:31 PM
Well, two out of three positives isn't bad.
As I approached the turn off to Hwy 22, I could see that the road transitioning from one to the other wasn't plowed. Even closer, I could see red cones set up to discourage traffic from heading in that direction. That didn't stop a couple of trucks from making the turn and thus plunging into the unknown. I thought about it for several seconds. My hesitation, put me dangerously close to an SUV which didn't seem to care about where I was or my dilemma. It wanted to continue on Hwy 18.
After a few more seconds of indecision, I finally went past the turnoff, and my decision was essentially made for me.
In the meantime, the SUV and the cars in front of it essentially left me in the dust. Or snow, if you prefer. It was the first time in two hours I couldn't see anyone in front of me. Again, mixed feelings washed over me. I did speed up to around 35 mph, though, while being mindful of the folks still trailing me, a little too close for my tastes. I don't know what they would have done if I suddenly had to slow down.
I'm glad I never had to find out.
4:50 PM
By missing the turn off to Hwy 22, I might have avoided a situation where I could get stuck or worse, but it thrust me into another predicament. I had traveled this road before, but only a handful of times, and never to get back to Salem, but to another destination farther north. I was familiar with the road to an extent, but not nearly as much as Hwy 22. And, snow had a way of changing things anyway, so that even well known roads looked alien to some degree.
As I went, I was consulting the map app on my phone to get the best route. The app was telling me that in a few miles I should get onto a road I'd never been on. The good news, it would take me east, which is where I wanted to eventually go. Bad news, I had no way of knowing what the conditions of the road would be like until I got there.
As it turned out, this became the one decision I actually regret making. The map app, in giving me estimated times of arrival for various routes, could only tell me what it would take to travel them under normal conditions. It couldn't tell me what the roads would be like, or how much longer it would take in an adverse situation.
Like a road yet to be plowed.
Which was exactly the situation I found myself in on this 5.8 mile long road out in the middle of farm land that the map app had me turn on.
For virtually the entire way, I did not drive faster than 20 mph. I was back to one lane in each direction. There weren't a whole lot of cars on the road, but there were enough coming toward me that I would have to move to the right as I ended up in the center because I didn't really know where the edge of the road was, or if there was a ditch there.
Of course, I didn't want to find out.
Behind me, there were cars that seemed to be doing their best to keep up with me. I don't know why they insisted on staying so close, but they did. Instinctively, I wanted to slow down, let them pass, but there wasn't anywhere to safely do that.
This was actual snow, a good inch or two deep, not recently plowed or compacted. There were tracks in the snow from the cars that had passed in front of me, but instead of providing more traction, it only made it worse.
The dash light indicating slippery when wet would flash on and off for several seconds at a time, and I could feel the tires slipping while the vehicle would try to veer to one side or the other. I managed to keep straight, without fishtailing, but only after considerable effort and fortune.
It took for ever just to move that first 1.8 miles. Worse, the road had turns that under normal conditions slowed traffic to 20 mph. In other words, nearly 90 degree bends. I was down to under 20 in those turns but I wondered if my inertia would make me drift. Each time, I went into the bend and came out of it still on the road.
5:15 PM
It's amazing how time seems to slow in moments of heightened awareness. I was as about as intune with the vehicle and the road beneath me as I've ever been in my life. Every foot was important. Too fast, I could spin out. Too slow, and I could get stuck.
For me, time was still passing, but slowly. In reality, it took roughly 20 minutes to go nearly six miles, but I felt every second of it.
Finally, agonizingly, I made it to the end of the unplowed stretch of road. The next part was supposed to be a highway again, but it wasn't as much of an improvement as I was hoping for. It had been a while since a plow truck had come through on either side. Plus, by now, it was getting dark, and I was still supposedly over 25 minutes away from Salem. Which put me even farther away from my final destination.
5:25 PM
I have no idea when sunset took place, but it wasn't quite dark yet when I came upon the car sitting off of the side of the road. It's lights were on and it didn't look like it had skidded or crashed, so I kept going.
Other vehicles along the way had not fared as well. It was unsafe and the vehicles too quickly appearing for me to take pictures of them, but I saw at least three cars off in steep ditches. One, a Ford Explorer, was sitting nearly on its side. Another, a smaller compact, was partially covered by snow so it was harder to tell it was even there. All of them looked abandoned.
5:40 PM
With only the last vestiges of daylight left, I was close enough to Salem that I finally started to relax. It didn't hurt that the snow on the road had already melted. There was definitely water on the road, but for the first time since leaving Lincoln City, I could feel the tires gripping the surface.
The worst of it was over.
It was another half an hour and well after 6 PM before I pulled into the driveway of my home. There, only traces of the snow in the grass remained, so I at least knew there had been some accumulation.
All told, from the time I left Toledo to the time I got home, a little over four hours had passed. A trip I could normally do in an hour and ten minutes under normal conditions on Hwy 34, had taken me nearly four times as much. It was definitely the long way back, but the slower speeds added the most time.
Wednesday, January 27
10:30 AM
As it turned out, I was called in to help the co-worker I was supposed to meet the day before, only this time, at a much closer destination. He asked me how my return trip was and after I told him, he said instead of traveling for more than four hours as I did, he'd ended up stranded for at least two, until the roads were safe enough to travel on. Then, it was another two hours to his house.
Except for the unplowed road, I decided the way I went was better for me. I don't do well just sitting around, waiting for something to happen. Even if it does take a while, I prefer to be on the go, even if it's at a snail's pace.
So. Have you ever driven from Lincoln City to Salem?
I hope it wasn't in the snow.
All images courtesy of Glen Anthony Albrethsen