Almost Mt Margaret from Norway Pass, Oct 15th

The Boundary trail AKA Trail #1 in Washington is one of those long trails with multiple access points and destinations in between. It runs for over 50 miles and was originally designed as the limit or border between the Mt Rainier National Forest and the Columbia National Forest. Today it marks the southern border of the Cowlitz Valley District covering, for the most part, the southern side of Mt St Helens. On the western side, the trail starts at Norway Pass going uphill to the pass which opens to some of the most spectacular views of Mt St Helens and Spirit Lake. It then continues around connecting with the Johnson Ridge Observatory that looks straight into the volcano crater. I saw these views once before when I hiked this trail by myself several years ago and then ago when I backpacked the Mt Margaret Backcountry which uses a portion of this trail to close a loop. Thinking of the views and possible fall colors, I organized a hike there not expecting a big surprise. Being early winter I was expecting bright yellows and reds along the trail but what we were not expecting was snow. As we drove to the trailhead, we passed several patches on the road and found a thin layer at the trailhead. That didn’t stop us but made the hike a bit more interesting. Right from the start we were slipping and sliding on the snow making our progress a bit slower than expected. The colors were what I predicted, bright yellows and reds contrasting with deep blue and patches of white. It was almost a magical scenery as we gained elevation looking at Meta Lake and south towards Mt Hood. Then we reached Norway Pass which opened to this view


We had perfect weather with some clouds on the sky but no wind and generally warm. We continued on the trail getting our shoes and socks wet on the melting snow as we gained elevation. We made several short stops at different viewpoints to take pictures and enjoy the scenery. As we gained elevation, the snow got deeper so some of us put on traction devices to help with the sliding. Snow was a bit slushy but it still helped a bit. Towards the northern side of the route, where the trail climbs towards a saddle to the junction with the Whittier trail things got a bit more difficult and eventually we lost the trail. Instead of following the route to the saddle, we hiked up a small knob with great views of Mt Margaret and St Helens to one side and some of the lakes of the Mt Margaret Backcountry area on the other. We looked at the map and compared what we were seeing with the trail ahead and noticed nobody had gone that far so the snow was packed and heady going forwards. Closer to Mt Teragram, just before Mt Margaret, we could see the trail was not only covered in snow but it was also shinny indicating it was probably frozen solid. That area is slanted so falling from there was a risk we didn’t want to take so instead of continuing, we made that our stopping point and started heading back. We made a shot stop at a nearby ridge and walked a bit off-trail to a view point where we found some rocks to sit on and have lunch with a pretty decent view. The route back was the same retracing the same views which had only a minor change. With no wind, Spirit lake became completely calm reflecting the Mt St Helens on it. I don’t recall ever seeing this but clearly an image I wont forget.


You can see the rest of the pictures here

Interactive map

To see the full map, click here

Coronary Ridge, Oct 8th

So I thought a short hard hike would be a good thing after a full day of trail work in Bend. The part that I didn’t consider was that Bend is three hours away from home. Ok, let me back up a second here. Some of you may know that after the Eagle Creek fire I heard my calling and I’ve been volunteering with Trails Keepers of Oregon. It’s a great organization that does trail stewardship. For the most part they organize work parties in the Gorge and around Mt Hood but are trying to expand statewide. Following this effort, they participated in a trail maintenance summit organized by the Mountain Biking Community so they had this event which included a morning with interesting lectures and the afternoon working on a trail in a nearby park that will be opening later this year. It was a great experience but to participate, I had to leave my house at 5AM on Saturday and didn’t get back until about 7PM. I was super tired and needed some sleep so went to bed early to wake up early again on Sunday for this hike. Fortunately, the drive to Kings Mountain is short and the hike is not that long – it’s just steep. Weather was not perfect but at least it wasn’t raining still, it made the lower part of the trail very eerie as we were walking through clouds. Once we got to the junction where you veer off to Coronary Ridge – which I was amazed to be able to recognize as soon as we got there, the skies cleared up a bit. We huffed and puffed up that mountain and got to the sign pretty quick Views were still magnificent even though we could not see that far. As we continued thru the ridge, we walked thru overgrown sections of the foot path collecting all the water from the leaves. By the end, when we got to the Kings Mountain trail my pants were drenched. I guess I should have thought about grabbing the gaiters that morning. I was pretty warm from the exercise so decided to just keep pushing uphill towards the summit of Kings. As I climbed my pants dried up completely so when we got to the picnic table, just below the summit, I was completely dry.
We made our last push to the signpost and signed the logbook before retracing our steps to the open meadow for a quick bite to eat. Once we started getting cold, we packed our stuff and headed back down, this time taking the Kings Mountain trail all the way to the car. Once down, we celebrated the achievement of the day with a picture and then stopped for well-deserved lunch and the corresponding beer. As you might guess, I crashed as soon as I got home and didn’t open my eyes until Monday morning.



You can see the rest of the pictures here

Interactive map

To see the full map, click here

Two hikes in one day part II: Bunker Hill, Sep 30th

Once we got back to the trailhead from Falls Creek Falls, we took a short break to eat before jumping back in the car to drive from that railhead to the starting point of this hike. That drive took about half an hour as we missed one turn and then overshot the trailhead. Bunker Hill doesn’t have a real trailhead as I’s a short hike up a butte that veers of the PCT, so you can start from anywhere you can get on the PCT, even from Mexico or Canada if you wanted to do a long hike. If you wanted a trailhead with a bathroom, you could start from Trout Creek which adds a couple of miles to the hike. The way I had chosen to go in was just off NF-417 on the Old Bunker Hill road as it was the closest entry point to reach the hill. The reason we overshoot when we drove by is because, as I mentioned, there’s no trailhead. The PCT just crosses this road and that’s it. Once we saw the crossing, we had to backup and find a parking spot on the side of the road to leave the car. Once we did, we walked back to where we saw the crossing and got on the trail. Right from there you get a full view of Bunker Hill and I must say, if any hike can give you an idea of what it is before you get there is this one. When you read “Bunker Hill” what comes to mind? Probably something like this


The first part of the hike is pretty much crossing that field as you approach the hill. Once you get in the forested area, a trail sign indicated where you need to veer of and leave the PCT to start climbing. The hike itself is not very interesting as it doesn’t have views along the way on the numerous switchbacks you go thru. The top also has limited views but there’s a spot that is a must if you are doing this hike. Towards the top (there’s no sign, but you’ll know you are getting there) there’s one last switchback to the left. At the corner, there’s a user path to an opening that stands on top of a rock formation. Even if you don’t continue to the top, it’s ok. This is the reward for this hike as you can stand on top of the rocks and see the Wind River Valley to the north. We had a cloudy and rainy day so we couldn’t see any further, but I believe that, on clear days, you get a view of Mt Adams from that point.


We did reach the top where the only thig to see is the remnants of an old fire lookout tower (only the concrete pillars are left). From there, it was just retracing our step back down which we had to do at double time to beat the incoming rain – ad we did it just in time

You can see the rest of the pictures here

Interactive map

To see the full map, click here

Two hikes in one day part I: Fall Creek Falls, Sep 30th

There are hikes I’ve known of their existence for a while because every now and then, fellow hikers post comments or pictures. Some of those are in my list but I hesitate to do them mostly because they are short or too far or both. This is one of those is relatively short and far. At some point, it occurred to me that maybe combining this with another short hike close by or along the same route could solve that problem and in the case, I found such a hike in near Bunker Hill. I’ll tell you about it in my next post though. For now, let me tell you about Fall Creek Falls. If you are having trouble with the name, you’re not alone. I also thought that Falls was not a good name for a creek especially if there where falls on it. Anyway, this hike is almost like a walk in the park, especially if you only do, as most people do, the lower trail. It’s a very gentle walk in the woods without a lot of views (or any for that matter) until you start approaching the waterfall and see the top tier from the distance. Once you get there though is when you realize that pictures don’t do justice to this waterfall. The trail ends at an open spot that servers as the best viewpoint to see the entire waterfall. The top tier is an umbrella tie falls that reminded me of Ramona Falls Al that water lands in a pool you can’t see before plummeting down to the lower pool. It’s just an impressive sight.

From that view point, you can walk down to the lower pool, or around and over some boulders for different angles so it’s easy to guess that this place would be crowded on hot summer days. WE did have it to ourselves but only because we were there early. On the way back, instead of just heading back like most do, we took a connector trail that climbs up to the ridge and reaching the upper trail. This trail doesn’t offer many views either with the exception of a couple of sports. One of them is just northeast of the waterfall but it doesn’t allow you to see it completely. It does open to the valley and some people have used this spot to camp out (judging from the fire ring). Further up the trail there’s another viewpoint that literally on top of the waterfall. Again, you can see it due to the steep angle. There’s a user path going down the ravine that reaches the creek right before t disappears down the canyon that we didn’t explore as it was slippery. The trail continues deep into the forest and as far as I know, it goes into some dirt roads which didn’t offer anything interesting so we turned around at this point and stayed on the upper trail as it came around the horse trailhead and back down to the parking lot forming a loop. It’s definitely worth going and I think even if you don’t combine with another hike.

You can see the rest of the pictures here

Interactive map

To see the full map, click here