The Clear Sky Clock location for the Suiattle Valley is centered on the bridge over the Suiattle River, near the 10 mile mark on FSR 26, and at the turnoff to FSR 25.
The Suiattle Valley has fairly dark skies, although the light dome from Darrington grows every year. Luckily, most of the valley is forested and not suitable for observing. The blue line below shows the way to the only drivable site I know of out of the valley floor with a good view of the sky. The other (red) road is (fortunately) currently not accessible by car or logging truck In the valley floor, a good place is on the main road in the middle of an obscenely large clear cut at about 7 or 8 miles.
A good winter observing location is in the giant clearcuts on FSR 26 around the 8 mile marker. This spot often seems to avoid the river mist, and PrairieMountain hides the Darrington lights.
This is the one shown in blue. The end of FSR 2642 on the ridge of Suiattle Mountain is about 1300m altitude (4,300 feet for non-metric holdouts Burma, USA, and Liberia).The ridge obstructs the west horizon, but also the light dome from Darrington. If you do want to observe to the west, stop before the road crosses to the east in the last kilometer.
To get there, take the FSR 2640 (signed Grade Creek), and then basically every "up" that isn't soon blocked off. The dirt road was graded in 2003 and is in good condition.
CURRENTLY WASHED OUT!!! The flood last November washed out the bridge over the Suiattle River. Access from the south side is also washed out.
This is the one shown in red. Nice daytime views of the lower Suiattle valley are also there at the end of FSR 2510. The end sits on a ridge between Prairie and Whitechuck Mountain, at about 1,500m.
To get there, take the South Suiattle Road (FSR 25) from the Suiattle bridge. Take FSR 2510, signed Conrad Creek. Thence, at any junction of drivable roads take the center path. The top is at 48N 15.218', 121W 27.084'.
This is the view from this location. Or click here for a bigger one.
The USGS 7.5' quads (and the Topo!/National Geographic maps that use them) predate these roads. The Green Trails (Snowking and Sloan) show all of 2642 and most all 2510. The Delorme Atlas is for all practical purposes useless in the valley. The best roadmap for the valley is the one published by the Forest Service—who better would know than that same agency that put all these stupid roads there in the first place and actually loses money by spending more on sweetheart road deals with big timber than it takes in on timber fees. Sigh.
