Tag: Mt. St. Helens

The Hummocks to Johnston Ridge – 07/01/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 3, 2023
1 Comment on The Hummocks to Johnston Ridge – 07/01/2023

On May 14, 2023 a washout along Washington’s SR504 below the Johnston Ridge Observatory closed vehicle access for the foreseeable future. We’d visited the observatory in August 2013 (post) and had planned on revisiting this July. While the washout made driving to the observatory impossible the trails in the area were not impacted. The shortest route was to start at the Hummocks Trailhead and take the Boundary Trail from its intersection with the Hummocks Trail to the observatory. We actually had this hike on our 2024 schedule for July so we swapped those (hoping that the road is repaired before then).

This would also be our second visit to The Hummocks having hiked the 2.5-mile loop in May of 2014 (post) before hiking a longer loop around Coldwater Lake. From the trailhead we set off on the left most trail (next to the large signboards).

While the loop did come in at 2.5-miles it was a little over 3/4 of a mile to the Boundary Trail.

There were a lot more flowers (and green vegetation) along the trail than there had been during our May hike.
Lupine

One of several ponds along the trail.

Interpretive signs, trail guide markers, and “Student Stops” are located throughout the loop.
A “Student Stop” marker surrounded by dwarf lupine. We aren’t sure what the these meant or what program they are related to.

An interpretive sign along the trail facing some of the hummocks.

Penstemon

Mt. St. Helens as we neared the Boundary Trail junction.

Trail guide marker #3 and an interpretive sign at the junction.

We turned left onto the Boundary Trail which began as a level path passing by more hummocks.
The lower left map shows the current closure area and open trails. In a nutshell, all the trails are open but everything off-trail to the side facing SR504 is currently closed.

The views of Mt. St. Helens were great.

The trail began to climb as it squeezed between a gap in the hillsides ahead.

View back to the hummocks from the gap.

Trees in the gap.

After exiting the gap we got another good view of the mountain before the trail veered left turning away from the mountain.

After another short level stretch the trail began to climb in earnest. While the climb never felt very steep the trail netted 1400′ of elevation gain over the next 3 miles to reach the parking lot at Johnston Ridge.
Heading away from Mt. St. Helens to start the climb.

Dwarf lupine was profuse below the ridge.

Scouler’s bluebell

Thimbleberry blossoms

Castle Peak above Castle Lake with Spud Mountain to the right and the North Fork Toutle River below.

Horned lark

Tiger lily

Savannah sparrow

Heading back toward Mt. St. Helens.

The North Fork Toutle River flowing between Spud Mountain (left) and Elk Rock (right).

Castle Peak and Castle Lake

Elk Rock on the left and Coldwater Lake on the right.

Coldwater Lake

Mountain bluebird.

At one point quite a bit of dust? kicked up from the South Fork Toutle River canyon.

The trail contoured along the hillside, occasionally entering a stand of trees or losing sight of the mountain behind a ridge.

Cardwell’s penstemon

A little over 2 3/4-miles from the Hummocks-Boundary Trail junction we came to a viewpoint at a ridge end where we could see Coldwater Peak and the top of Mt. Adams.
Coldwater Peak with Mt. Adams to the far right of the photo. The hiker ahead to the left of Coldwater Peak was from Belgium. He was here on work but using the weekends to explore the area. We would see him two more times, once from the observatory as he continued on the Boundary Trail and then as we were exiting the trailhead. He had done a loop using the Coldwater Trail (post) which by our calculations would have been at least 16-miles and that is assuming he didn’t detour to Coldwater Peak.

Mt. Adams from the viewpoint on our way back. The angle of the Sun earlier caused the mountain to look pretty washed out.

Mt. St. Helens from the viewpoint.

Variable-leaf collomia

The Loowit Viewpoint on the ridge ahead.

Paintbrush covered hillside.

The Loowit Viewpoint is located along SR504. The Boundary Trail passes by the viewpoint 3/4 of a mile from the Johnston Ridge Observatory.
Mt. St. Helens from the Loowit Viewpoint.

Mt. St. Helens crater.

As we continued on from the viewpoint we were under the watchful eye of some nosey locals.

Golden mantled-ground squirrel. These brazen con-artists often convince visitors they would starve without humans help. While this is definitely not the case and wildlife really shouldn’t be fed it happens all too frequently. (They are awfully cute though.)

The closer we came to the observatory the more paintbrush we began seeing.
A single plant.

A lot of paintbrush.

Daisies and paintbrush

Penstemon, yarrow, and Scouler’s woolyweed along with the paintbrush.

Paintbrush and penstemon along the trail.

The Boundary Trail turns to a paved path across from the parking lot for the observatory following the parking entrance road for approximately 450′.

Passing by the Johnston Ridge Observatory.

Before and after photos of the 1980 eruption.

We followed the Eruption Trail uphill to a mountain identifier then down the other side to rejoin the Boundary Trail.

Mt. Adams peaking over the ridges with Spirit Lake also visible (center).

Spirit Lake

The mountain identifier ahead on the left.

We could see where the repair work was happening on SR504 from this trail.

The rounded peak to the right is Goat Mountain (post).

Goat Mountain with a few patches of snow still showing up.

Rock Arch near Coldwater Peak.

Memorial for the lives lost in the 1980 eruption.

Junction with the Boundary Trail.

The views and flowers were so nice that we decided to continue on the Boundary Trail for a bit. The trail had been slowly losing elevation and after a little over a half mile neared a saddle where more elevation would have been lost. We decided to turn around there since shortly after climbing up from the saddle on the far side the trail would lose sight of Mt. St. Helens as it passed behind the ridge for a bit.

Pussypaws

Another view of the washout.

Our turn around spot. You can see the trail on far side of the saddle veering left behind the ridge.

Coldwater Peak from our turnaround spot.

We headed back to the Hummocks Trail, sticking to the Boundary Trail the entire way.
The Johnston Ridge Observatory from the trail. We hadn’t realized how much elevation we’d lost until we turned around.

Castle Peak and Spud Mountain on the left and the observatory above some colorful cliffs.

Penstemon

White crowned sparrow

Boundary Trail leaving the Loowit Viewpoint.

Snowberry checkerspot on penstemon.

Another checkerspot, this time on lupine.

Cedar waxwings

When we arrived back at the Hummocks Trail we turned left to finish that loop.

Mt. St. Helens and the North Fork Toutle River.

Between it having been 9 years since we’d hiked this trail and the difference in the time of year the scenery was very different.

The same view in May 2014.

Same spot, different angle 2014.

Monkeyflower

Maybe a yellow-rumped warbler.

Caterpillar

Dragonfly

Pearly everlasting

Arriving back at the Hummocks Trailhead.

The hike came in at 12.5 miles with just under 2000′ of cumulative elevation gain.

This turned out to be the perfect day for this hike. The weather was pleasant, the views and flowers great, and the road closure provided solitude at the observatory. In addition to the Belgian hiker we passed a couple near the small viewpoint on the way to the observatory. We passed a few more people on the way back but nearly half of those were volunteers with the Mt. St. Helens Institute. The only thing that the hike lacked was any larger wildlife. It was one of the only hikes we could recall at the mountain where we didn’t see at least one deer, elk or mountain goat. Maybe next time. Until then Happy Trails!

Flickr: Boundary Trail – Hummocks TH to Johnston Ridge

Tags Boundary Trail, hiking, Hummock Trailhead, Hummocks, Hummocks Trail, Johnston Ridge, Johnston Ridge Observatory, Loowit Viewpoint, Mt. St. Helens, mt. st. helens national volcanic monument, North Fork Toutle River, Washington, wildflowers

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Goat Marsh Lake and Kalama Ski Trail – 06/25/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 27, 2022
2 Comments on Goat Marsh Lake and Kalama Ski Trail – 06/25/2022

After a wet and mild Spring, Summer announced its arrival with our fist 90-degree temperatures just in time for the weekend. When it gets that warm we typically turn to the mountains for relief but that’s a little trickier this year due to there being quite a bit of snow still up in the Cascades. Even some of the lower elevation mountains are still in the process of melting out. For instance our original plan for this hike had been to visit Silver Star Mountain (post) via the Starway Trail, an approach that we haven’t done yet. While this mountain is accessible recent reports showed several remaining snowdrifts but more importantly the wildflower show is running late. To decide where to go I turned to my spreadsheet looking for hikes that I had scheduled in coming years around the end of June. Goat Marsh Lake was on the schedule for next year and while the Goat Marsh Research Natural Area is located with the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. It sits at a low enough elevation that there was a chance that snow wouldn’t be an issue. Using NOAA’s NOHRSC snow depth layer on the PCTA’s interactive map confirmed that snow shouldn’t be an issue at the lake or along the loop we were planning after visiting the lake using the Kalama Ski and Toutle Trails. With a forecast high of 78 degrees it would be warm but not unbearable so with that as our plan we got an early start and headed north to the Goat Marsh Lake Trailhead.

We parked a little up FR 8123 from the trailhead and walked back down to the start of the trail.
FR 8123

This was the Kalama Ski Trail (Trail 231) and part of the loop we were planning as well as the way to reach the Goat Marsh Trail in a quarter mile.

We followed this path to the junction where we turned right to visit the lake.
It appeared the trail had been rerouted at least a couple of times to cross this dry creek bed.

This trail led slightly uphill for 0.5 mile to our first view of the lake. Along the way we’d spotted a cow elk in the trees but she disappeared before we could take a picture.

Fence at the boundary for the Research Area.

Goat Mountain and Goat Marsh Lake.

The trail continued around the lake for a little over three quarters of a mile. We spotted two more cow elk and moments later noticed a whole heard, including several calves, further to the north.

Mt. St. Helens

Trillium

Vanilla leaf

Frog on a log.

The two cow elk in the middle of the grassy area.

Calves lined up, this one is a bit blurry due to them moving and the amount of zoom used.

The elk herd not zoomed in.

Zoomed

After watching the elk for a while we continued on.
Coralroot

Goat Mountain

Avalanche lilies

Mt. St. Helens

Marsh violet

Frog under a log.

Salmonberry

Sign near the end of the trail.

At the end of the trail.

Beaver lodge

Duck and ducklings

Geese out in the grass.

We returned to the trailhead and crossed FR 8123 to stay on the Kamala Ski Trail.

The road crossing.

We had a little trouble picking up the trail beyond the sign because there was also a campsite here with several use trails radiating from it. We used our GPS while we looked for the blue diamonds that would identify a ski trail. Heather was the first to spot one and we were soon on the ski trail heading toward Mt. St. Helens.
In the campsite trying to decide which way to go.

Once we found it the trail was pretty obvious, at least for a while.

Approximately three quarters of a mile from the road we came to a junction with the Blue Lake Horse Trail. The horse trail can be used to reach Blue Lake (post) to the north via the Toutle Trail or the same Toutle Trail to the south near the Kalama River (post) which we could have done here to shorten our loop. Instead we stayed straight on the ski trail.

We had remarked several times during our Ashland vacation about the lack of mosquitos, and really insects overall, but that was not the case here. While they weren’t a big issue it was noticeably buggier here than it had been in Southern Oregon. The local birds were busy doing their part to reduce the number of bugs.
Gray jay with a snack.

Western tanager. Right after this photo he flew straight at us snatching an insect out of mid-air.

Four tenths a mile from the horse trail the ski trail made a turn away from the mountain and headed SE.

The trail became a little more overgrown then came to a series of dry creek beds where we again had to hunt for signs of the trail.

Butte Camp Dome in front of Mt. St. Helens.

Crossing another dry bed.

Where is the trail?

In one of the creek beds. We were using the GPS along with looking for cairns and/or flagging.

Goat Mountain

You can’t really make them out in the photo but there is a pink flag and a blue diamond (on a downed tree) near the edge of the green trees.

We were now entering the section of trail that the NOHRSC indicated there could be some lingering snow patches.
There was another short brushy section before the forest opened up.

One of the strangest snow sightings we’ve come across.

My theory was bigfoot hung this.

The NOHRSC estimated 2″-3.9″ of snow and that seemed to be about right.

Unlike in the Siskiyous this melting snow had produced a fair number of mosquitos so we hustled through this section even though it was scenic.

We encountered the first other hikers we’d seen when we arrived at the junction with the Toutle Trail (Approx 3 miles from the Goat Marsh Lake Trailhead). The junction was unsigned and they were considering which way to go to find the Loowit Trail. We pointed them north (left from the direction we were coming, straight for them) on the Toutle Trail and then turned south (right) ourselves onto the Toutle.
Looking back at the junction from the Toutle Trail. The post with no sign is the continuation of the Toutle while the trail on the left is the ski trail.

We followed this trail south for half a mile passing through a beargrass meadow that appears to have bloomed heavily last year and a lava flow with excellent views of Mt. St. Helens before dropping to FR 81 at the Red Rock Pass Trailhead.

Last years beargrass.

Strawberry

Phlox

FR 81 below the trail.

Trail sign at the trailhead.

We crossed FR 81 and continued on the Toutle Trail.

After 100 yards we came to a familiar fork where we had turned uphill in 2019 on our Cinnamon Ridge Hike linked above.
Raven flyover

The fork.

We were going in the opposite direction of what we’d done in 2019. Bugs were a bit more of a nuisance here so we kept a steady pace as we made a little climb then descended to McBride Lake and the Kalama River.

One of several side creeks we crossed.

Trillium

Avalanche lily

Violet

Goat Mountain beyond McBride Lake.

Sourgrass

Valerian

Solomonseal

Saxifrage

A little west of McBride Lake the Toutle Trail crosses the Kalama River on a closed road bed.

Kalama River from the road bed.

Our original plan was blown up here. We had intended to follow the Toutle Trail to the start of the Kalama Ski Trail and then take that trail back uphill to the Goat Marsh Lake Trailhead. The problem was I had already forgotten about the Blue Lake Horse Trail and when I had glanced at the GPS and saw a trail extending north from the end of the road bed I mistook it for the ski trail so we followed the road bed a quarter mile to FR 81. (We had a paper map with us but didn’t pull it out to confirm.)

The Blue Lake Horse Trail on the far side of FR 81.

When we crossed FR 81, two things that should have tipped us off to our mistake. First the sign clearly said “Blue Horse Trail” and second instead of blue diamonds there were orange diamonds with arrows marking this trail.
The sign did show FR 8123 which was the road the trailhead was on so that fed into us not realizing our mistake at first.

We followed this trail for a third of a mile before we realized what we’d done. We stopped and considered our options. We could back track three quarters of a mile to the Toutle Trail or a third of a mile to FR 81 and follow one of them west to the ski trail. Another option was to continue uphill on this trail to the junction we’d passed earlier and retrace our steps on the ski trail from there back to the trailhead. All of those options meant adding distance and retracing steps. Heather suggested another option, simply heading cross-country for FR 8123 and the trailhead.
An orange diamond on a tree ahead.

The forest was definitely conducive to cross-country travel so we struck off in a WNW direction. The cross-country hike was about as easy as we could have hoped for and after 0.7 miles we arrived a FR 8123 just 0.2 miles from our car.
Where we left the horse trail.

Typical terrain for the cross-country walk.

It seems like every time we go off-trail we come across a mylar balloon. We’ve really come to despise those things. We packed it and the ribbon out.

The trickiest part was crossing this dry stream bed but we fortunately came to it at a spot that was perfect for crossing.

FR 8123

Coming up to the Goat Marsh Lake Trailhead (and our car) on FR 8123.

I had estimated a 10-12 mile hike with only about 800′ of total elevation gain and we came in at 10.8 miles.

Our track with the cross-country portion in orange.

While it had been a warm day, the combination of shade provided by the forest and a fairly steady breeze, it hadn’t been too hot. The hike had provided a lot of diverse scenery and great views of Mt. St. Helens. The wildlife was a big bonus along the Goat Marsh Trail too. It seems like we can always count on hikes in Mt. St. Helens area to be great ones. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Goat Marsh Lake

Tags Blue Lake Horse Trail, Butte Camp Dome, elk, Goat Marsh Lake, Goat Marsh Lake Natural Research Area, Goat Marsh Lake Trailhead, goat mountain, hiking, Kalama River, Kalama Ski Trail, McBride Lake, Mt. St. Helens, mt. st. helens national volcanic monument, Red Rock Pass, Red Rock pass Trailhead, Toutle Trail, Washington

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Norway Pass – 08/29/2021

After spending the night in our tent at Badger Lake (post) Heather’s foot was feeling better enough to give the Norway Pass hike a go. We were up nice and early thanks in part to an owl who visited the lake just before 4am. After a breakfast of Mountain House’s Spicy Southwest Skillet (our current favorite) we packed up and started our hike back to Elk Pass.
The view from the trees surrounding our campsite as we prepared to leave.

We had decided not to follow the Boundary Trail all the way back to Elk Pass opting to cut over to a forest road after the first two miles near the Mosquito Meadows Trail junction. Sullivan mentions doing this stating that it is “slightly quicker, but a bit tedious”. Our hope was there would be less elevation gain because we’d done a fair amount of up and down on the trail the day before.

Mt. St. Helens catching some morning light.

Mt. Rainier without a whole bunch of smoke.

There were a couple of paths near the trail junction where people had cut over to the old forest service road which was only about 10 yards away (but hidden by trees from the trail). We turned left at the first of the paths and quickly popped out onto the road.

We turned right on the roadbed and followed it downhill just under half a mile to FR 2551 which is still in use.

We snagged a few black caps along the road to as a post breakfast snack.

FR 2551

We turned right onto FR 2551 and were pleasantly surprised to find that there was very little elevation change (just a slight gain) over the 1.7 miles back to FR 25.
The very top of Mt. St. Helens from FR 2551.

Sullivan had labeled this stretch with the word slide which had caused a little apprehension in deciding to try this return route but despite the obvious slide(s) that had occurred here the road was in decent shape.

Not sure what kinds of birds were in this tree but there were a lot of them.

FR 25 at the end of a long straight away.

We turned right again at FR 25 walking along the shoulder for 150 yards to the Boundary Trailhead.

The Boundary Trail crosses FR 25 near the road sign ahead. The picture was taken from FR 2551 at FR 25.

We pulled our day packs out, refilled our water with some extra we had left in the car and drove north on FR 25 to FR 99 where we turned left heading for the Norway Pass Trailhead. A short connector from the trailhead leads to the Boundary Trail.

We turned left at the Boundary Trail and climbed for just over a mile to a signed junction with the Independence Ridge Trail. A couple was taking a break at the junction and another hiker, from the Mt. St. Helens Institute, coming down hill stopped to ask them if they were debating on which way to go. They weren’t and she said good because the Independence Ridge Trail is “dicey”.

Paintbrush

Buckwheat

We could hear a waterfall in the valley below.

The top of the waterfall.

Penstemon and pearly everlasting.

Looking back over our shoulders to Meta Lake.

Mt. Adams also from over our shoulders.

Aster

Switchback at the Independence Ridge Trail junction.

The Boundary Trail climbed less steeply beyond the junction with the exception of an up and down to cross a dry stream bed.

Heading down to the stream bed.

Penstemon

Monkeyflower

As the trail made it’s final climb to Norway Pass Mt. Rainier was visible beyond the ridges to the north.

Norway Pass (the low saddle to the right) from the trail.

Orange agoseris

Approaching the pass.

To get a good view of Mt. St. Helens we had to descend on the trail a short distance beyond the pass.
IMG_4431_stitch

After admiring the view we headed back stopping along the way to debate what these flowers were and whether or not they were non-natives (we believe they probably are).

With much of the 2.2 mile return hike being downhill we made good time back to the trailhead where we changed and then started the long drive home.
Mt. Adams and Meta Lake from the trail.

This hike was just 4.4 miles but gained nearly 900′ of elevation making it a good workout with great views.

The hike out of Badger Lake had been 4.2 miles so combined it was an 8.6 mile day. Knowing that we had now hiked at least portions of all 100 featured hikes in another of Sullivan’s books was the icing on the cake of a fun but tiring visit to Mt. St. Helens. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Norway Pass

Tags Badger lake, Boundary Trail, Boundary Trailhead, Cascades, Elk Pass, hiking, Meta Lake, Mt. St. Helens, Norway Pass, Norway Pass Tralhead, Spirit Lake, Washington

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Harmony Falls, Loowit Falls, and Badger Lake – 08/28/2021

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 2, 2021
5 Comments on Harmony Falls, Loowit Falls, and Badger Lake – 08/28/2021

After having spent a week in SE Oregon checking off a few of Sullivan’s featured hikes in that region we turned our focus back to the Northwest Oregon/Southwest Washington guidebook where just 3 featured hikes remained. All three hikes were located on the NW side of Mt. St. Helens, a three and a half hour drive from Salem. These last three hikes were a good example of some of the things we’ve had to work out on what counts toward being able to check off a hike. Due to their distance day hikes were out and a limited number of nearby rooms meant we needed to get creative. Our plan was to do portions of all three hikes on Saturday starting at Mt. St. Helens and ending with us backpacking in to Badger Lake and the finishing up on Sunday by driving back to Mt. St. Helens to complete one of the three options Sullivan has for his Spirit Lake hike (4th edition hike #29).

One of the quirks with Sullivan is that while he has the 100 featured hikes he often gives multiple options. Typically the second option is an extension of the shorter option but sometimes the options go in different directions or are even completely different hikes starting at different trailheads. Two of these last three hikes had three options. For Spirit Lake the shortest option, Harmony Falls, started at the Harmony Trailhead while the other two, Norway Pass and Mt. Margaret, began at the Norway Pass Trailhead. We had hiked up Mt. Margaret on a previous trip coming from the other direction (post) so we didn’t feel we needed to do that option but the other two options would be new to us so we planned on doing them both starting with Harmony Falls and saving Norway Pass for Sunday.

From the Harmony Viewpoint a 1.2 mile trail leads 700′ downhill to Spirit Lake.

Mt. St. Helens from the viewpoint.

As has been the case this Summer there was a good deal of haze surrounding us but we had blue(ish) sky overhead. There were also a fair amount of wildflowers blooming, at least compared to what we had seen in SE the previous week.

Pearly everlasting

Penstemon

Paintbrush

Mt. St. Helens

IMG_3805_stitch

Prior to the 1980 eruption of the mountain Harmony Falls was a 50′ waterfall but most of the falls were buried as was the lodge that sat near the base of the falls. Now there is only a small cascade along the trail.
20210828_084401

20210828_085006 Mt. St. Helens and Spirit Lake from the end of the trail.

As we were making our way back we were doing our best to try and identify the various rock formations and peaks across the lake.
Coldwater Peak (post) is easy with the white equipment on top.

The Dome

Mt. Margaret

Mount Teragram

After finishing this 2.4 mile hike we continued driving toward Mt. St. Helens on FR 99 and parked at the Windy Ridge Interpretive Site where the road is gated and only open to research vehicles.

We were now working on featured hike #28 – Windy Ridge. Again Sullivan had three options, this time all starting from this parking lot. The shortest option was a .2 mile round trip up a steep set of stairs to the Windy Ridge Viewpoint at the northern end of the parking lot (see photo above). We set off across the lot to tackle this one first.
<img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51413600517_e0b437d3fb_c.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="IMG_3847">The interpretive site and Spirit Lake.

Mt. St. Helens.

Aside from a little section near the top the stairs were nicely spaced making the climb better than it looked from the bottom.

In addition to Mt. St. Helens both Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier were visible from the viewpoint although on this day the haze was an issue.
Mt. Adams

Mt. Rainier

The interpretive signs at the viewpoint did a good job of identifying different features that were visible which we appreciated.

The Johnston Ridge Observatory was visible across Spirit Lake on a far hillside.

It’s often hard to tell if you’re seeing dust from rockfall or steam from one of the vents.

After reading the signs and taking in the views we headed down the stairs and to the other end of the parking area where we walked past the gate and followed FR 99 for 1.8 miles to a sign for the Abraham Trail, the return route for the longer option.

Butterfly on ragwort

Butterfly on pearly everlasting

Lupine in the pearly everlasting

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Might be Oregon sunshine

Penstemon

The longer option would add approximately 2.2 miles and 500′ to our hike and visit the Plains of Abraham. As with Mt. Margaret we had visited the Plains of Abraham (post) previously so we were going to stick to the shorter option. Beyond the junction with the Abraham Trail FR 99 dropped to a small parking area for research vehicles where two trails began.

To the left was the Windy Trail and to the right was the Truman Trail. Our plan was to take the Windy Trail and hike a clockwise loop returning on the Truman Trail.

We followed the Windy Trail just over a mile to the Loowit Trail where we turned right.

Paintbrush and dwarf lupine

Pearly everlasting

The Loowit Trail junction.

The Loowit Trail immediately dropped into a gully to cross a small stream.
Spirit Lake from the junction.

In the gully.

We continued another 0.4 miles before arriving at Big Spring which was a big surprise.

Another gully to cross.

Big Spring is in the willow thicket.

We knew that there was a spring but more often than not the springs wind up being small trickles or big mud puddles but not Big Spring. This was a good sized stream beginning almost right next to the Loowit Trail.

The stream flowing over the Loowit Trail.

A pink monkeyflower at the spring.

Looking back at the willows and Big Spring.

Another half mile of big views and a couple of gully crossings followed Big Spring. We were excited to spot mountain goats lounging on a ridge between the mountain and the trail along this stretch.
Coldwater Peak to the right.

The Sugar Bowl lava dome.

IMG_3996_stitch Spirit Lake from the trail.

The first goats we spotted are on this ridge above the lone tree.

The Loowit Trail crossing two gullies in a short stretch, one red one black.

Dropping into the second gully.

From the second gully we could see quite a few more goats on the ridge.

A half mile from Big Spring we arrived at another trail junction.
Approaching the junction with the side trail to Loowit Falls.

Sign for Loowit Falls.

We stayed straight here following the pointer for Loowit Falls for another half mile.
Loowit Falls (right side of the photo) was visible for much of the half mile.

Looking back at Coldwater Peak and Spirit Lake. (The top of Mt. Rainier is barely visible peaking over the top of the ridges.)

As we neared the falls we noticed another small herd of mountain goats on the hillside.

We could also see the hummocks (post) off in the distance to the NE, pieces of the mountain that slid off during the 1980 eruption and settled in the debris flow creating odd mounds.

Loowit Falls looked bigger than I had expected. We took a good break at the viewpoint with a couple of other hikers and a pair of young Forest Service workers.

Spirit Lake from the viewpoint.

After our break we returned to the Loowit Trail to continue the loop.

Paintbrush

Dwarf lupine

Just under three quarters of a mile from the Loowit Falls Trail junction we arrived at the Willow Springs Trail junction.

Here we left the Loowit Trail by turning right on the 0.8 mile long Willow Springs Trail.

Mt. St. Helens from the Willow Springs Trail.

Heading toward Spirit Lake.

The Willow Springs Trail ended at the Truman Trail where we again turned right.

We followed the Truman Trail for a mile and a half back to the research vehicle parking area, re-crossing the gullies and streams we had crossed on the Loowit Trail.

The Dome above Spirit Lake

Vehicles ahead in the research parking area.

From the parking area we followed FR 99 (mostly uphill until the very end) 1.8 miles back to the Windy Ridge Interpretive Site. The haze was improving as the day wore on and we could now at least make out some snow on Mt. Adams.

Mt. Adams to the left.

Mt. Adams

Look out for snakes, not the poisonous kind just don’t want to step on them.

Some sort of sulphur butterfly on pearly everalsting.

Our 10.7 mile track from the Windy Ridge Interpretive Site

We hopped in the car and drove back to FR 25 where we turned south to reach the Boundary Trailhead at Elk Pass.

The 53.7 mile long Boundary Trail’s western end is near Norway Pass where we planned on hiking the next day while the eastern end is located at Council Lake near Mt. Adams. The section of the trail that we planned on hiking was a 4.3 mile segment from Elk Pass to Badger Lake. From the signboard at the trailhead a short spur led away from FR 25 into the trees before joining the Boundary Trail.

We turned left on the Boundary Trail and promptly arrived at FR 25 which we then crossed.

This trail is open to both mountain bikes and motorcycles which probably explains why it was only briefly one of Sullivan’s featured hikes (#30 in his 4th edition). The forest was pretty and quiet (no motorcycles during our visit) but the trail showed a lot of wear from tires.

One plus was a good variety of berries along the way and there were a few flowers as well.
Salmonberries

Blueberries

Huckleberries

Mushrooms (the flowers of Fall)

I was really surprised to still be able to make out the remains of the petals on these trillium.

These bunchberries with a few petals left were near the trillium above.

Candyflower

At the 2.3 mile mark we passed the Mosquito Meadows Trail on the left.

At this junction Heather told me to go on ahead and find a campsite then hike up Badger Peak without her if I wanted. Her plantar fasciitis had flared up on the way back from Loowit Falls and was struggling a bit. We had planned on hiking up to the summit after setting up camp and I didn’t want to wait for morning because the rising Sun would have been directly behind Mt. Adams. (Sullivan’s short option for this hike was to the lake and back while the longer option was to the summit.)

The trail gained a little over 600′ over the next two miles which doesn’t sound like a lot but nearly all the elevation was packed into two short sections of the leg.

These thimbleberries weren’t ripe but a short distance further were a lot of ripe ones. I thought I might have to hike back and retrieve Heather from them.

A brief glimpse of Mt. Rainier from the ridge the trail was following, it looked like a lot of the smoke had blown away.

Two miles from the Mosquito Meadows Trail I arrived at a junction with the Badger Peak Trail.

Before I headed up that trail though I needed to hike on to Badger Lake to find a campsite (and get rid of my full backpack). Beyond this junction the trail passed through a meadow crossing Elk Creek and arriving at the lake on the far side.

Aster

Elk Creek

Pink monkeyflower along Elk Creek

Lupine

The trail near Badger Lake was particularly torn up and there were several signs posted admonishing motorcyclists to stop driving off trail.

Torn up hillside near the lake, it only takes one or two idiots to cause a lot of damage (the same goes for hikers/mountain bikers).

The little puddle in the foreground is not the lake, it is further back.

I found a tent site back in the trees near the meadow and dropped my pack off and hung my hunter orange shirt so Heather couldn’t miss it. Then I grabbed my day pack and hiked back to the Badger Peak Trail and headed uphill.

This mushrooms was at least as wide as a salad plate.

It was 0.8 miles to the summit with 700′ of elevation to gain which meant the trail was pretty steep. In addition the motorcycles had gouged a deep trough in the center of much of the trail which was uncomfortably narrow to walk in. It turned out to be for the best that Heather had decided to skip the summit.

A columbine

The view was nice though and the sky around Mt. Adams had also cleared up greatly from earlier in the day.

A hiker from Boise was at the summit when I arrived. She said she had been planning on staying up there until sunset but was having second thoughts due to the chilly breeze and not wanting to have to hike down the trail in the dark. I helped her identify the different mountains as this was her first time to the area. She was on a driving expedition as was thinking of heading to the Olympic Mountains next.
Mt. St. Helens was hard to make out with the combination of haze and Sun position.

Looking south toward Mt. Hood (I could make it out with the naked eye.)

Mt. Hood in the haze.

Mt. Rainier

Mt. Adams

The Goat Rocks were also hard to make out due to the smoke.

Western pasque flowers, aka hippies on a stick, below the summit.

I headed down after a short break and found Heather finishing setting up our tent.

We took our dinner over near Badger Lake and then turned in for the night. It had been a long day with a lot of hiking. For me it was a 19.4 mile day with approximately 3800′ of elevation gain and Heather was in the 18 mile range with over 3000′, no wonder her plantar acted up.

The last of the sunlight hitting Badger Peak.

We hoped her foot would be feel better in the morning so the hike out wasn’t too miserable and so she might be able to do the Norway Pass hike. For now though we just needed to get our sore bodies to let us fall asleep. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Harmony Falls, Windy Ridge, and Badger Lake

Tags Abraham Trail, Badger lake, Badger Peak, Big Spring, Boundary Trail, Dark Divide, Elk Pass, Harmony falls, hiking, Mt. St. Helens, Spirit Lake, Truman Trail, Washington, Windy Ridge, Windy Ridge Interpretive Site

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Cinnamon Ridge – 7/20/2019

It had been a couple of years since our hikes had taken us to the Mt. St. Helens area. We didn’t want to go a third year without making a visit so we picked the 14.1 mile Cinnamon Ridge Loop Hike described here in the Oregon Hikers field guide. A shorter loop was also described in Matt Reeder’s “Off the Beaten Trail” guidebook.

We started at the Kalama Horse Camp Trailhead and consulted the signboard map to confirm our route. (We had a paper map, a downloaded pdf track, and our GPS with us, but you can never consult too many maps.)

We set off on the Toutle Trail just to the right of the signboard.

After a short descent the trail crossed an unnamed creek. Ripe berries were everywhere.

Two tenths of a mile from the trailhead we came to a junction with the Cinnamon Ridge Trail, our return route. We stayed left on the Toutle Trail.

Toutle Trail

Candy sticks

A short distance later we stayed right at a junction with the Kalama Ski Trail.

Beyond this junction the trail approached the Kalama River as it passed through the forest.

Yet another junction followed about three quarters of a mile later just after climbing away from the river via a switchback. Again we stuck to the Toutle Trail.

The trail was now a good distance above the river avoiding a series of slides.

Pinesap

Pinesap and a puffball

Just over 2 miles from the trailhead we arrived at the third and final junction signed for the Kalama Ski Trail where we also stuck to the Toutle Trail.

There had been plenty of ripe huckleberries and lots of pinesap but not too many flowers. There were a few lousewort and twin flowers though along this section of trail.
Lousewort

Twin Flower

At the 2.5 mile mark we came to a Forest Service Road.

Reeder’s shorter/easier loop utilizes this road which he lists as FR 8122 (our maps showed it as 8022). He also has you hike in the opposite direction so we would have been coming down the road to this junction then returning to the horse camp the way we’d come on this hike. Since we were doing the longer loop we crossed over the road and continued on the Toutle Trail which was once again closer to the Kalama River.

Along this stretch we noticed a few really large mushrooms.

20190720_083611

Approximately 1.2 mile from the road crossing we crossed a second road bed where the trail hopped to the opposite side of the river.

A good sized frog jumped off the trail in front of us here.

As we neared McBride Lake (now more of a wetland) we obtained our first glimpses of Mt. St. Helens.

Mt. St. Helens beyond the remnants of McBride Lake.

We averted disaster when a rough skinned newt charged Heather but it was only a bluff.

The trail climbed through a nice forest as it passed McBride Lake on its way to Red Rock Pass.

Cars parked at Red Rock Pass

We didn’t go all the way down to Red Rock Pass as the Cinnamon Trail headed uphill at an unsigned junction about 100 yards above the trailhead.
Cinnamon Trail on the left and Toutle Trail on the right from the unsigned junction.

While the Toutle Trail had gained almost 1200′ in the 5.7 miles from the trailhead to the Cinnamon Trail junction the Cinnamon Trail gained nearly 700′ in less than a mile. Although the climb was never particularly steep it provided a good workout. It also provided some nice views of Mt. St. Helens and our first (and best) look at Mt. Adams.

IMG_3735_stitch

Things leveled out a bit after gaining the ridge where the trail passed through a variety of scenery.

Fungus on a stump.

After a little of two and a half miles on the Cinnamon Trail we came to a small meadow with a view south to Mt. Hood.

Just beyond the meadow the trail reached a saddle with a view NW to Goat Mountain.

The trail continued to follow the ridge west and then south as it passed around a butte.
The butte ahead (we didn’t want to have to climb that.)

Trail wrapping around the south side of the butte.

On the far side of the butte we arrived at another saddle.
20190720_113203 Toad near the saddle.

Mt. St. Helens from the saddle.

The trail stuck to the north side of the ridge for a bit allowing for some good views of Mt. St. Helens and another Mt. Adams sighting.
Goat Mountain

Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams

Another frog.

At the 4.5 mile mark of the Cinnamon Trail we arrived at the first of three successive road crossings (all of the same road).
Crossing #1

Crossing #2

Crossing #3

Approximately a quarter mile from the third road crossing the trail began to descend through a small meadow with a few cat’s ear lilies.

Soon we were dropping down along a narrow ridge where we were able to see the top of Mt. Rainier beyond Coldwater Peak.

The sun was glinting off of the equipment on top of Coldwater Peak (post).

The trail continued to descend crossing over another old roadbed before reaching FR 8022 (or FR 8122 per Reeder) 6.2 miles from Red Rock Pass.

old road crossing.

Dropping to FR 8022(8122).

We crossed this road onto an old roadbed which we followed for four tenths of a mile.
Goat Mountain from the roadbed.

Goat Mountain and Mt. St. Helens

Ripening berries

Rock slide along the roadbed.

Shortly after passing through the rock slide the roadbed ended and we were back on a trail.

Pinedrop

The trail descended for another mile and a half eventually coming back within earshot of the Kalama River but not close enough to provide many views until we arrived at a footbridge across it.

From the bridge it was just 100 yards to the end of our loop and .2 miles from the trailhead. The 14.1 miles combined with nearly 3000′ of elevation gain make this a challenging hike. Despite the difficulty and lack of any real big WOW moments it was a really enjoyable hike. There were plenty of positives; the ripe berries, the river, mountain views, a little wildlife (including some grouse which as always gave us a start when they flew off.), a few wildflowers, and some nice forests to keep us entertained the entire way. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Cinnamon Ridge

Tags Cinnamon Ridge, Frog, goat mountain, hiking, Kalama Horse Camp, Kalama River, McBride Lake, Mt. St. Helens, mt. st. helens national volcanic monument, Red Rock Pass, Toad, Toutle Trail, Washington

Hiking Indian Heaven Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Falls Creek Falls and Indian Racetrack

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date October 18, 2018
5 Comments on Falls Creek Falls and Indian Racetrack

One week after spending a day hiking in California at the Lava Beds National Monument (post) we visited our neighbor to the north, Washington. On our itinerary for the day were a pair of hikes north of Carson, WA. We started with a visit to Falls Creek Falls.

We parked at the trailhead at the end of Forest Road 57 where only one other car occupied the large parking area at 7:15am. The dim morning light coupled with some low clouds made it hard to capture the fall colors with the camera but our eyes had no problems appreciating them as we set off on the trail.

We quickly passed a trail on the left which would be part of the loop we were planning on doing here and stayed straight toward the falls.

At the .4 mile mark we arrived at a short suspension bridge over Falls Creek.

Beyond the bridge the trail climbed gradually for a mile to a junction. Along the way there were several views of the creek.

At the junction we stayed right and continued to gradually climb for another .3 miles to three tiered Falls Creek Falls. The first views are of the upper and middle tiers through some trees.

The lower tier comes into view near the end of the trail at which point most of the upper tier is lost due to the angle.

We spent a few chilly minutes admiring the falls before heading back to the junction.

Here we veered uphill to the right climbing fairly steeply for about two tenths of a mile to the Falls Creek Trail.

Before continuing on the loop we turned right on the Falls Creek Trail to visit a viewpoint or two above the falls. After .6 miles on this fairly level trail we spotted a side trail heading out to the first viewpoint. We started to head out this spur but then noticed a tent set up there (we found the owners of the other car) so we continued another quarter mile to the second viewpoint.

The view from the top was just out over the valley, but a steep scramble trail led down to the top of the falls from here. We checked to see if the ground seemed muddy or slick, but it turned out to be in good shape so we made our way down to the creek just above the falls.

From the viewpoint we returned to the loop and continued down the Falls Creek Trail 1.7 miles to another bridge over Falls Creek which we hadn’t seen since the viewpoint. Despite the creek not being visible from the trail the scenery was not lacking due to the surrounding forest and fall colors.

At the far side of the bridge we turned left for a little over half a mile completing the loop and returning to our car, and a much fuller parking lot.

After the 6.3 mile hike here we were ready for the second hike of the day to the Indian Heaven Wilderness and Red Mountain. We drove back toward Carson and eventually (after missing the turn the first time) turned east on Warren Gap Road (Road 405) at a pointer for the Panther Creek Campground. We followed this road for a little under two miles to Forest Road 65 where we turned left for 8 miles, passing the parking area for Panther Creek Falls (post) along the way, to a junction with FR 60. We turned right here and followed this road for two miles to the Pacific Crest Trail and a small campground.

We followed the PCT north climbing gradually through the forest which looked quite different from the forest along Falls Creek just a few miles away.

A little over 1.75 miles from the trailhead we passed one of the small Sheep Lakes.

A quarter mile later we entered the Indian Heaven Wilderness.

Although there wasn’t as much fall color along this trail as there had been along the trails at Fall Creek there was some and there were also some interesting mushrooms to be seen.

This may named be Green Lake

As we hiked through a meadow we spotted the lookout tower on Red Mountain to the SW which was to be one of our stops on the hike.

We turned left off of the PCT 1.2 miles after entering the wilderness at a sign for Indian Racetrack.

This trail led a half mile through the forest to the large meadows at Indian Racetrack where up until 1928 tribes indeed raced horses.

We turned left in the middle of the meadows toward a trail sign for the Indian Racetrack Trail.

This trail climbed for .8 miles, steeply at times, to a road on the shoulder of Red Mountain. An opening just above a saddle along the way provided a nice view of Mt. Adams to the NE.

We followed the road uphill for .3 miles to the lookout gaining views of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier along the way.

Lemei Rock and Mt. Adams

Near the lookout Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson could be seen to the south in Oregon.

We took a nice long break at the summit gazing at Washington’s trio of volcanoes and talking with a fellow hiker from Vancouver who had tried to reach the lookout earlier in the year but had been turned back by snow.
IMG_4555_stitch

Mt. St. Helens

Mt. Rainier

Mt. Adams

From the lookout we headed back down the road and followed it all the way back down to FR 60 a total of 3.4 miles from the tower.

We were a half mile from the Pacfic Crest Trail so we road walked, uphill, back to our car. In hindsight it might have been nicer to do the loop in reverse in order to start with the road walks and finish the hike with a gradual descent. Either way it was a great hike, but we had been expecting it to be a 7.5 mile loop based on our guidebook, but our GPS (and our legs) put it at 9.2 miles. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Falls Creek Falls and Indian Racetrack

Tags Falls Creek Falls, Falls creek Falls Trail, Falls Creek Trail, hiking, indian heaven wilderness, Indian Racetrack, Indian Racetrack Trail, Lemei Rock, Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Red Mountain, Red Mountain Lookout, Sheep Lakes, Warren Gap Road, Washington

Bend/Redmond Bull of the Woods/Opal Creek Central Oregon Hiking Mt. St. Helens Newberry Crater Old Cascades Oregon Throwback Thursday Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Throwback Thursday – Odds and Ends

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 7, 2018
3 Comments on Throwback Thursday – Odds and Ends

With this Throwback Thursday post we will have covered all the trails that we hiked prior to starting this blog and have not been part of a subsequent hike that was featured here. We are combining several hikes in one for a couple of reasons. The remaining hikes were all relatively short, some we have few if any pictures, and one was done on the same day that we did another hike that we did again after we started the blog.

Many of our earliest hikes were centered around Bend, OR and were part of vacations prior to 2010 when we first started to be serious about hiking. These were hikes of opportunity more than conscious efforts to go on a hike.

One such was the 3 mile loop around Suttle Lake. We were staying at one of the cabins at the Suttle Lake Resort and decided to take the trail around the lake. The level hike offered views of the lake and of bald eagles and osprey as they soared over the lake watching for fish. On that hike we didn’t even carry a camera.

Another camera-less but worthwhile hike was the Lava River Cave. This mile long lava tube south of Bend is a great stop for kids and adults and can easily be combined with a visit to nearby Lava Lands or the High Desert Museum.

In 2007, while in Bend on vacation in July, we hiked up Pilot Butte. A mile long trail in the middle of town leads up to the top of the 4148′ summit which offers view on a clear day north to Mt. Adams in Washington.
Mountain locator on Pilot Butte

It was a bit hazy during this visit but the snowy peaks of the Cascades from Mt. Bachelor to the Three Sisters were still visible.
Mt. Bachelor, Tumalo Mt., Ball Butte, Broken Top, and the Three Sisters

On that same trip we took a stroll along the Deschutes River Trail from the Mt. Bachelor Village upriver to a footbridge and returned on a loop via Reed Market Road.

Geese on the Deschutes River

Scarlet gilia

Deer along the Deschutes River Trail in Bend, OR

Deschutes River

Grand Collomia

The hikes weren’t all in Central Oregon. On 7/27/2009 we completed the 1.8 mile round trip to Henline Falls from the Henline Falls Trailhead. The trail is approximately 45 minutes east of Salem and features an old mine shaft near the waterfall.

Abandoned mine shaft

Abandonded mine shaft

We also started up the nearby Henline Mountain Trail (trailhead) that day but were not in decent enough shape to make it very far.

The final short hike along Lava Canyon near Mt. St. Helens was done after our first hike to Ape Canyon on 9/17/2012. We went back to Ape Canyon in 2015 (post) but that time we did Ape Cave for the other hike.

After finishing our Ape Canyon hike in 2012 we walked from the Ape Canyon Trailhead .25 miles to the Lava Canyon Trailhead.
Trail map near Lava Canyon

A .4 mile trail leads down to the start of a short half mile loop.
Lava Canyon Trail sign

We stayed left at the start of the loop staying on the west side of the Muddy River. A footbridge led across the river above Lava Canyon Falls which was below the trail but mostly obscured.
Lava Canyon Trail sign at the start of the loop

Lava Canyon Falls

Just .2 miles from the first bridge the loop crosses the river on a suspension bridge.
Suspension Bridge over Lava Canyon

Suspension Bridge over Lava Canyon

Upstream from the suspension bridge the Muddy River careens down Triple Falls.

A .3 mile trail returns to the footbridge along the river along the eastern bank.
Muddy River

Muddy River

Upper Lava Canyon Falls

Henline Falls, Henline Mountain, and Lava Canyon are all in our future plans and reliving these and all our other Throwback Thursday hikes has been a lot of fun. Even though the information is dated hopefully they have provided some additional ideas for places to visit here in the Pacific Northwest. As always check with the managing agencies for current trail conditions before heading out. Happy Trails!

Tags Bend, deschutes river trail, Henline Falls, Henline Mountain, hiking, Lava Canyon, Lava River Cave, Mt. St. Helens, Oregon, Pilot Butte, Suttle lake, Washington

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Mount Margaret Backcountry – Obscurity Lake to South Coldwater Trailhead

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 22, 2016
1 Comment on Mount Margaret Backcountry – Obscurity Lake to South Coldwater Trailhead

Waking up to a third tent at Obscurity Camp wasn’t our only surprise in the morning. I awoke at 4:30am to find nearly clear skies above the lake save for one small finger of cloud creeping over the ridge behind Obscurity Lake. We were getting an extra early start due to the forecast of possible Thunderstorms after 11am. The clear sky was encouraging, but it wasn’t long before clouds began creeping into the basin from all sides.

By the time we were on our way we were hiking through fog.

It was a fairly steep climb out of the Obscurity Lake Basin but as we neared the saddle between Obscurity and Panhandle Lakes beautiful blue skies appeared through the fog giving us some hope for views.

There were some views if we looked up but when we crested the saddle it was evident that the view of Panhandle Lake would not be clear.

Down we went back into even thicker fog. The trail crossed a couple of nice streams with marsh marigolds as it wound around the lake.

As we neared the lake we spotted a mountain goat lounging just above the trail.

It sized us up and kept a close eye on us as we passed by.

We decided not to go down to the lake figuring the view couldn’t be much better than what we had along the trail.

We continued on toward Shovel Lake. Once again the trail climbed out of a basin but instead of dropping back down toward Shovel Lake the trail passed above it along a ridge. On the far side of the lake was Mt. Whittier making this one of the most dramatic lakes in the backcountry but we never saw it.
The thickest layer of clouds lay right over Shovel Lake, but as we climbed the ridge we eventually rose above the clouds.

We were pretty excited when we realized we could see the top of Mt. Rainier in the distance.

The trail to Shovel Lake was near the top of the ridge which meant we would have had to descend a half mile back into the clouds to visit this lake. Once again we passed figuring it left us one more thing to come back for.

From the Shovel Lake Trail junction though we had a great view of Mt. Adams, which appeared to be wrestling with the clouds.

The trail continued up the ridge to a saddle where it was joined by the Whittier Ridge Trail.

From this saddle we then began our descent toward Coldwater Lake. First up was Snow Lake.

We had finally found a lake without clouds and as an added bonus we had a great view beyond to Coldwater Peak.

The trail swung out around the lake and as it did so we gained a little glimpse of Mt. St. Helens as well.

This time the trail went right by Snow Lake giving us an up close look.

The other nice thing about Snow Lake was the climb out of the basin was short and not steep. We quickly crested the saddle above the lake and began to drop into another mass of clouds.

From Snow Lake it was 3.4 miles to the Coldwater Trail and a footbridge over Coldwater Creek. We were passing through the cloud layer for the first part of this section so we couldn’t see much. The trail itself was brushy with thimbleberry bushes and vine maples.

The tread was also narrow and washed out in spots but passable.

We eventually got under the clouds and could see Coldwater Creek below us.

We were also seeing more wildflowers again and finding ripe berries, including our first thimbleberries of the year.

Trailing blackberry

Thimbleberry

Red huckleberry

We passed a couple of small waterfalls along side streams, one on either side of the valley.

The trail then passed above what appeared to be a nice fall along Coldwater Creek but didn’t provide much of a view.

Just after passing the waterfall the trail entered a forested area.

Hedgenettle

From there to the Coldwater Trail junction the trial alternated between small meadows and woods with occasional views back to Coldwater Creek.

Another trail crew from the Washington Trails Association was working on the Coldwater Trail on the far side of the footbridge when we arrived there. We stopped on some rocks above the bridge for a snack break and watched them as they worked.

We were now on familiar trail, at least in theory. When we had hiked the loop around Coldwater Lake in May 2014 much of the vegetation was only beginning to produce leaves.
Coldwater Trail

This time the trail was crowded with plants.

The wildflowers were out in force as we drew nearer to Tractor Junction.

A male grouse flew out of one of the meadows and landed in a nearby tree. It was the first one we’d seen in full display and was quite colorful.

IMG_2360 (2)

The views were much better than they had been the day before at Tractor Junction and along the 3.2 miles from there back to the trailhead. Coldwater Lake was clearly visible and Mt. St. Helens even made an appearance.

For the second day in a row we’d escaped without dealing with any rain showers and the thunderstorms had not materialized before we’d made it back to the car. Despite the sometimes cloudy conditions it had turned out to be a really nice trip. The views we did miss out on can now be our excuse for return trip sometime in the future. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/albums/72157670492933452

Tags Coldwater Creek, Coldwater Lake, Coldwater Peak, Coldwater Trail, hiking, Lakes trail, male sooty grouse, mount margaret backcountry, mountain goat, Mt. St. Helens, Obscurity lake, panhandle lake, shovel lake, snow lake, sooty grouse, South Coldwater Trail, Thimbleberry, Washington

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Mount Margaret Backcountry – South Coldwater Trailhead to Obscurity Lake

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 21, 2016
7 Comments on Mount Margaret Backcountry – South Coldwater Trailhead to Obscurity Lake

The only backpacking trip that we had planned for this year which required a permit was an overnight stay in the Mount Margaret Backcountry near Mt. St. Helens. The area is part of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, displaying the effects of the 1980 eruption. The lateral blast from the eruption shattered trees toppling thousands of acres of forest.

Camping is limited to designated sites at eight backcountry camps where the maximum group size for camping is four. Pets and pack stock are prohibited in the Mount Margaret Backcountry and fires are not allowed. We made our reservation for Obscurity Camp on March 19th, the day the permits became available.

One drawback of a permit system is not having any idea what the weather is going to be like on the days you reserve. We were looking at the chance of showers and maybe even a thunderstorm as we were hiking out, but we liked our odds and we had spent a whole $6.00 on the permit so we decided to give it a go. It was a wet drive to the South Coldwater Trailhead which is located along the Spirit Lake Highway (SR 504).

Starting at Norway Pass would have made it a shorter hike but where is the fun in that? It also would have been a longer drive. Our plan was a lollipop route using the South Coldwater Trail 230A, Coldwater Trail 230, Boundary Trail 1, and Lakes Trail 211. We had been on some of the trails in 2013 during a May hike around Coldwater Lake, but that hike had been early enough in the season that there had been very little vegetation and almost no flowers. It was evident from the flowers at the trailhead that we’d be seeing different sights this time around.

We were under the clouds as we set off on the trail which passed through a short section of woods before emerging into wildflower filled meadows.

Although the clouds limited the view we were able to see back down to the South Coldwater Creek Valley where we spotted several elk.

The trail then crossed over the ridge we were climbing providing views of Coldwater Lake.

The wildflowers were thick along the trail, but we were starting to enter the cloud bank and quickly losing our visibility.

The trail continued to climb along the ridge passing a couple of pieces of old machinery that is left over from the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens.

We were now in the midst (or mist) of the clouds. At least it wasn’t raining and despite the low visibility there were still plenty of flowers along the trail to see and there were a couple of snowshoe hares out having breakfast.

The hares weren’t the only ones enjoying some snacks. A variety of ripe berries offered us a nice selection of treats.

After 3.2 miles we arrived at Tractor Junction. Named for another piece of nearby equipment, this junction marks the end of the South Coldwater Trail at it’s intersection with the Coldwater Trail.

We turned right at the junction and headed toward the Boundary Trail which was just over 2 miles away. After .2 miles we passed Ridge Camp, one of the designated camps in the area.

The wildflowers were once again impressive along this trail, but the visibility was even worse. We focused on finding as many different flowers as we could.
Tiger lilies

Lupine, paintbrush and yellow wildflowers

Large patch of paintbrush

Arnica

Bugbane

Corydalis

Columbine

Scouler’s bluebell

An aster or fleabane

Pussypaws

Mock orange

Bistort

Another type of aster or fleabane

Violets

Orange agoseris

Spirea

Cat’s ear lily

Avalanche lily

We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the junction with the Boundary Trail overlooking St. Helens Lake. We had suddenly found a little blue sky and some better visibility.

Coldwater Peak was to our left and seemed to be acting as a cloud break.

While we were watching the clouds swirl around the back side of Coldwater Peak we noticed a mountain goat on the cliffs below the summit.

We took a nice long break at the junction watching the mountain goat and the ever changing clouds. When we finally set off again we passed by Coldwater Peak in sunlight.

We had some great views of St. Helens Lake below us as we passed the spur trail to Coldwater Peak after .4 miles.

The trail the continued around the lake with views opening up to Spirit Lake below St. Helens Lake.

For the next 3 plus miles the clouds came and went as the drifted over the ridge down toward Spirit Lake.

There was more snow along this section of trail and we started seeing more flowers that bloom soon after snow melt.

Cinquefoil

Cusick’s speedwell

White heather

Avalanche lilies

Cat’s ear lily

We crossed our first snowfield near The Dome, which was mostly hidden by the clouds.

It was a bit of a shame that we couldn’t see more of the surrounding area because the peaks and cliffs we could see where really neat.

The view downhill was a little better and we got a decent look at the outlet of St. Helens Lake, a log jam on Spirit Lake, and some elk in the valley.

We had skipped the .6 mile trail up to the summit of Coldwater Peak not wanting to make that climb with our full packs on a day when the visibility wasn’t great, but when we reached the shorter spur trail to the summit of Mt. Margaret we decided to head up. Unlike Coldwater Peak we had not been up this trail before so even if we didn’t have a view we couldn’t pass it up. The view from Mt. Margaret turned out to not be too bad. We could see Spirit Lake fairly well and the Boundary Trail below the peak. Other nearby peaks occasionally emerged from the clouds.

We could see some spots where mountain goats had been on a nearby ledge but no goats, just a swallowtail butterfly.

We took a nice long break and had some lunch on Mt. Margaret. As we were preparing to start hiking again we could hear people coming up the Boundary Trail, lots of people. Heather counted nearly 30 folks emerging from the trees below. We made it back to the junction with the Boundary Trail just as the first of these other hikers were arriving. The majority of them turned out to be members of the Mazamas, a nonprofit Mountaineering Education Organization based in Portland, Oregon.

After passing through the Mazamas we crossed another nice snowfield and reached a junction with the Whittier Ridge Trail.

The Whittier Ridge Trail was not on our to-do list on this hike. The trail is narrow and in places along exposed cliffs where the rocks had to be blasted to create a trail at all. Recent reports from members of the Oregon Hikers forum reported some snow still along the trail as well and with little visibility it wasn’t even tempting. We continued on the Boundary Trail getting our first view of some the lakes in the Mt. Margaret Backcountry.
Boot and Obscurity Lakes

We had been gradually descending since Mt. Margaret and the visibility was getting better the lower we got.

Along the way we spotted another mountain goat not far above the trail.

As we got closer it crossed the trail and disappeared over the hillside leaving us with just it’s smell. (And boy did it smell)

We had been working our way around Spirit Lake and were now just to the NE of it. Mt. St. Helens lay directly behind the lake but only the lowest portions were visible. What we could see was Windy Ridge on the Mountain’s flank.

Two miles from the Whittier Ridge Trail we arrived at the junction with the Lakes Trail at Bear Pass.

The Lakes Trail descended from Bear Pass toward Grizzly Lake.

A trail crew from the Washington Trails Association was busy brushing out the trail and restoring the tread along this section. They were doing some impressive work and we thanked them as we passed by.

Between Grizzly Lake and our final destination at Obscurity Lake were more wildflowers including a few we hadn’t seen yet that day.
Partridge foot and paintbrush

Penstemon and candyflower

Pink monkeyflower

Blue-bells of Scotland

Fireweed

Bleeding heart

As we approached Obscurity Lake a waterfall was visible along the outlet creek of the lake.

We finally arrived at Obscurity Lake after almost 16 miles of hiking.

We thought the hard part was over but then we went in search of the designated camp site. We found one tent pad already occupied and began looking for a second one. When I had made the reservation on the Recreation.gov website there had been 2 available permits for up to 4 people. There were several areas where tents had obviously been placed in the past but we couldn’t find any other tent pad or post marking another designated site. The hikers from the other tent said they had not been able to find a second one either so we picked what seemed like the most likely spot where there was no vegetation to trample and set up the tent.

We hoped that we had picked the right spot and figured if we hadn’t and a ranger came along we’d just ask them where the other designated site was and move there if we had chosen poorly. Oddly enough a third tent had appeared when we awoke the next morning. I don’t know if they were possibly with the Forest Service, but if they weren’t someone was not where they should have been.

Regardless of the confusion over the camp sites the day had been pretty spectacular. The showers had never materialized and between the wildflowers, wildlife, and scattered views we did get we’d been totally entertained. The clouds just made us more eager to come back again someday in the future so we could see what we missed this time around. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/albums/72157668318616563

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Ape Cave and Ape Canyon

We are in the midst of revisiting several trails that we first hiked in 2012. Next up after our return trip to the Table Rock Wilderness we headed to the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument for a second hike on the Ape Canyon Trail. In 2012 we had done a second short hike along Lava Canyon after finishing the Ape Canyon Trail and this time we decided to add a visit to Ape Cave to the agenda.

At 12,810 feet long Ape Cave is the longest known Lava Tube in North America. It is also one of the more popular places to visit in the monument so we decided to tackle this trail first in an attempt to beat the crowds. A staffed information booth awaits at the trailhead, but we had arrived before it opened for the day.

A short paved trail leads to an kiosk with signboards and the lower cave entrance.

An above ground trail leads past the lower entrance to an upper entrance (or exit).

We decided to hike up to the upper entrance and then descend down the lava tube to it’s end 3/4miles past the lower cave entrance. The trail to the upper entrance passed through the forest before skirting a lava flow and passing some smaller lava tubes that were not part of the cave.

The trail actually did pass over the cave three times before arriving at the site of the upper entrance. We walked passed the entrance initially following a well used path about 50 yards too far before realizing our mistake. There was no sign marking the upper entrance and the hole was much smaller than the lower entrance. It took a moment for us to spot the metal ladder barely sticking up from out of the dark hole.

Climbing down the ladder was interesting as the first 17 steps angled downward before the ladder suddenly dropped straight down for the final 10 or 12 rungs.

The cave extends another .1 miles or so beyond the upper entrance so we turned north and walked to the end before turning around and heading for the lower entrance.

The cave was really neat. The rock surrounding the tube was full of colors and different textures. White portions of rock reflected our headlamps imitating rays of sunlight along the walls and ceiling.

A third of a mile from the upper entrance the trail past under a skylight where green ferns and mosses grew on the rocks.

The lower entrance was another 1.1 miles beyond the skylight. This section of the lava tube was a workout. Ten different rock falls required scrambling over and around piles of lava rock and a pair of lava falls, drops of around 8 feet, proved a challenge to descend. The second lava fall was particularly difficult requiring us to slowly lower ourselves down using small nubs on the cave floor as handholds. The scenery of the cave was worth the effort and we wondered if climbing up would have been easier than coming down as we had.

It was fairly slow going but we eventually made it to the base of the staircase leading down from the lower entrance.

We headed down the lower end of the cave which was, as the sign said, a relatively easy walk. We turned around when the cave had become small enough that we would have had to crawl to continue any further.

We had started to run into a few more people near the end of the lower cave and on the way back to the lower entrance the number of people increased dramatically. We exited up through the lower entrance and headed for the car.

In hindsight we should have descended through the lower entrance as it seemed like it would have been easier to ascend up through the cave and it would likely have avoided the crowds that had formed later in the morning in the lower cave.

We drove from the Ape Cave parking area to the Ape Canyon Trailhead for our second hike of the day. On our previous visit we had taken the Ape Canyon Trail to the Loowit Trail and then followed that trail to a junction with the Abraham Trail which covered a total of 12.7 miles. Our second hike that day at Lava Canyon was only 1.3 miles for a 14 mile total. This time around we had already done nearly 5 miles at Ape Cave so the plan was to stop at a spring along the Loowit Trail in the Plains of Abraham. The small parking lot at the Ape Canyon Trailhead was full so we parked along road 83 and walked to the start of the trail.

We were on high alert as we started the trail due to warnings about local wildlife.

The Ape Canyon Trail starts in the forest next to a lahar created by the Muddy River when the mountains 1980 eruption sent a large portion of the Shoestring Glacier down the valley. Our previous visit had been on a clear day in Mid-September where the views across the lahar to Mt. St. Helens were spectacular.

We were not to be so lucky on this day with our Mt. St. Helens views but the temperature was pleasant and we hoped to see more flowers this time than we had previously.

We did see more flowers along the lower section but we were a little late due to the weather we’d been having this year.

The trail passes through an old growth forest starting at the 1.4 mile mark then climbs a series of switchbacks as it heads up a ridge toward the Loowit Trail. We passed a few viewpoints that had provided impressive views on our first visit but today we had to rely on those memories to picture the mountain.

After 4 miles the trail enters the blast zone from the 1980 eruption. The trail spends winds a half mile through the blast zone above forested Ape Canyon.

A narrow slot at the top of the Canyon frames the creek below and apparently Mt. Adams in the distance. I say apparently because we have not been able to confirm this on either of our visits. In 2012 the Cascade Creek Fire was burning on the slopes of Mt. Adams filling the sky with smoke and clouds were now playing the same role on this day.

The trail ends after 4.5 miles at the Loowit Trail which circles the entire mountain.

We turned right here heading for the Spring .8 miles away. This section of the Loowit Trail passes through the Plains of Abraham, a pumice plain with a barren looking landscape which is really fascinating. Heading NE Mt. St. Helens looms on the left across the broad plain while hills on the right reveal the force of mountains eruption. Trees lay blown down on the hillsides facing the mountain while other sides are striped away exposing various layers of rock. Other areas green with trees and other vegetation.

Flowers are sparse but some still manage to bloom in what looks like the most improbably conditions.

One thing that didn’t change from our previous visit was being greeted by a marmot as we crossed this section. We couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same furry little guy.

When I had added this hike to the schedule I had hoped to find flowers near the spring where we would turn around, but with the timing being so far off this year due to the weather I wasn’t sure what we’d find. It wound up working out even though things were beginning to dry out. We spoted several different types of flowers including a nice clump of bluebell-of-Scotland.

It was no apline wildflower meadow but considering the area it was an impressive display. What surprised us was the lack of water from the spring. Despite it being September on our previous visit a small steady stream of water was flowing down the rocks and into Ape Canyon, but this time the only water was a small pool left filling a depression in the rock.

2012

2015

After resting a bit, and starting to get chilly due to a nice breeze and cooling our sweat, we headed back down. The clouds had only lifted a little as we passed the lower viewpoints and small pockets of blue sky teased us from above the mountain.

It had been a long but interesting day of hiking. It was also our first visit of the year to one of the major Cascade mountains and it had been a good reminder of just how much we enjoyed our hikes on them. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157655789278375

Tags ape canyon, ape canyon trail, ape cave, bluebell of scotland, cave, hiking, lahar, lava tube, Loowit Trail, marmot, Mt. St. Helens, mt. st. helens national volcanic monument, shoestring glacier, Washington