Within the Blast Zone of Mt. St. Helens - Coldwater Lake

Ranger points to the location of our camp at Coldwater Lake near Mt. St. Helens

In September of 1968, my brother and I camped at Spirit Lake and then scrambled-climbed to the top of Mt Saint Helens. This was before the eruption in 1980.

Mt. St. Helens from Spirit Lake in 1968

Today I headed out to the mountain again, but this time it was to improve the trails near Coldwater Lake. I volunteered for a week with the Washington Trail Association. 

Saturday, July 16
It was a three hour drive from home, and I arrived 45 minutes early. However, as luck would have it, I couldn't find the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center! I drove up and down the highway, but the one likely road was gated. So I did the next best thing and waited at the boat launch, knowing that at some point the group would show up there to have our gear and food loaded on a boat to be ferried up the lake. Another lady also showed up and we both waited. Finally the Forest Service arrived and said there was a person at the gated road letting WTA folks in!  So we drove back up the road and, sure enough, Claire, our group leader, was at the gate. I was quite relieved!  We carpooled to the boat launch, ate lunch, and headed up the Lakeside Trail. 

The group loads the boat at Coldwater Lake. The boat ferried our packs, tools and food to our camp at the far end of the lake.

It was an easy four mile walk, especially since I didn't have to carry my pack. The wildflowers were incredible! There were fields of flowers everywhere. It took me just over an hour to get to our campsite. 

Wild flowers abound as I walked up the trail along Coldwater Lake

I helped Owen set up the cook tent. And then Claire arrived and said, "Um, we can't set our tent up on the beach." Oops...

We started to set up the cook tent on the beach. WRONG. We had to move it into the woods.

So, down came the cook tent, and we moved it to a spot nestled in the brush near a crystal clear stream. Everyone pitched in and helped set up. I cleared some brush around the tent and helped organize the kitchen. 

Toni fixes spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. She did a great job!

The great treat on this trip is that we have a dedicated cook! Toni will cook most of our meals. She even brought some of her own goodies!

We got our sump and latrine dug. These groups always dig a latrine when there are no outhouses or restrooms available. Here is what the latrine looks like. The logs are used as a seat. It actually works quite well.

 

Our latrine with logs as a toilet seat!

We had a wonderful dinner with an appetizer, green salad with oranges, spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread, and strawberries with whipped cream and chocolate bites! Wow!

After dinner, everyone pitched in to wash dishes. When done, the water is taken to the sump where the plastic tubs are rinsed. Here is a video where Owen explains the process.

I headed to bed just before nine. I think this will be a really fun group to work with this week!

Sunday, July 17
I didn't sleep well. It took forever to fall asleep, possibly because I was listening to the coyotes in the distance.

We had breakfast burritos. Toni is a good cook!

After doing dishes, Claire and Owen talked about tool safety as well as safety on the trail. 

Claire goes over tool safety. She is holding a McLeod which is used to scrape and rake the trail.

Owen talks about tool safety when carrying and using loppers.

We hiked to the connector trail to the South Coldwater trail. 

We worked on the Coldwater trail #230.

We spent the day removing brush and repairing the trail tread. We ate lunch while sitting on the bridge over Coldwater Creek. 

Lunch time on the bridge over Coldwater Creek.

While there, an enormous Blue Heron flew up the creek and buzzed the bridge. We saw several hikers, and it's always a pleasure to hear their "thank you's" for doing trail work. It makes it all worth while!

I took a "before" and "after" photo of part of the trail. It was really, really overgrown with brush.

What the trail looked like before our work.

What the trail looked like after clearing the brush and repairing the tread.

We stopped at 2:30 and were back to camp by 3. I took a bird bath and washed my shirt. It is so nice to have a second shirt to change into.

I decided to rest in my tent to get away from the flies, ants and mosquitos. 

My tent was nestled under the trees in a meadow of wildflowers.

I probably would have taken a dip in the lake, except I forgot my towel. Darn!

Toni fixed salmon, asparagus, and Mediterranean couscous. For dessert she surprised us with a raspberry cheesecake!

I helped wash dishes and I gave everyone a couple of new riddles to think about.

Monday, July 18
I expected thunder showers last night, but we had none. Instead, there was a light drizzle, enough to wet down the bushes and make everything drippy.

We had oatmeal for breakfast and headed out to continue removing brush from the trail. I cut in a water diversion channel and graded the tread. 

Water had run down the trail and washed out a hole. We dug a channel for the water and re-graded the trail tread. I didn't get an "after" shot - darn!

As we moved up the trail, we came to some really brushy areas. It is amazing how much better the trail looks after we are done. By midday, the clouds collected and we got rain. My pants, shoes and shirt are wet, but I was warm as long as I kept working. 

We quit by 2:30 and were back to camp by 3. It had stopped raining, but no sun breaks yet. 

 

Chris and Rich hung wet clothes on their clothes line.

My WTA hard hat is covered in dirt and mud from digging along the trail in wet weather!

I changed into my dry shirt and wore my down jacket. I finally decided to lay down for a bit, and managed to poke a hole in my air mattress!  I used my repair kit, but didn't have the clear tape. So far it seems to be holding. 

I helped cook pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. Toni also cooked peppers, onions, fried potatoes and carrots. For dessert we had chocolate ice cream bars.

 

Pulled pork sandwiches with baked beans, along with fried onions, peppers, potatoes and carrots. Yummy!

By bedtime the sky appears to be clearing.

Tuesday, July 19
I slept well last night. Plus, my air mattress leak apparently is fixed!

We had scrambled eggs with sun dried tomatoes, sausage, and toast.

We headed to the trail shortly after 8. I did some tread work and others pruned and cleared brush. We got to a nice viewpoint and took our break and lunch there. 

 

Lunch break - left to right - Chris, Toni, Owen (near), Claire (away), Trista (hidden by bush)

I finished lunch early and took twenty minutes to hike up the trail. It's brush all the way to the top!

We quit at 2:30. We all are excited to have a day off tomorrow. I haven't decided where I am going to hike. I'd like to get a glimpse of Mt Saint Helens, but I don't know if that would be possible.

We had Pad Thai for dinner with a fresh green salad. Dessert was cheesecake and chocolate tapioca pudding.

We talked for an hour after dinner, telling stories. 

Rich talked about how the body changes as you get older. The nose and ears all get bigger, which led us to compare him to Mr Potato Head!

We talked about a beaver that Chris had seen in the lake. As it neared the shore it went under water and didn't come up. Someone suggested that it must have drowned. Claire said you'd have to punch the drowned beaver to rescue it. Just then, Owen lowered the back of his camp chair and, as luck would have it, dunked his head in the water carrying bucket that was behind him! We all erupted in a roar of laughter!

This certainly is my kind of group!

Wednesday, July 20
It was a mostly sunny day so I decided to head towards Harry's Ridge, a little over 8 miles away. 

 

Map showing Coldwater Lake in relationship to Mt. St. Helens and Spirit Lake.
I was headed to Harry's Ridge just west of Spirit Lake

I left camp at 6. The trail climbed steadily. As I got above the tree line, it was fun to see all the wildflowers. The jagged rock peaks added to the wonder. 

Above the tree line near Mt. St. Helens

I saw a large herd of elk in the distance. I could hear their hooves clicking on the rocks as they disappeared over the ridge.

At one spot the trail passes through a rock arch!

The trail passes through a rock arch!

There were fantastic views of Mt Saint Helens. I could see St Helens Lake, as well as Spirit Lake. In the distance I could see Mt Rainier and Mt Adams.

 

My first view of Mt. St. Helens

Another beautiful view of Mt. St. Helens

St. Helens Lake - lots of dead trees floating in the lake.

Spirit Lake. Mt. Rainier in the distance

I found a lovely spot for lunch and watched the clouds move around the mountain. 

On the way back to camp, I noticed a radio repeater tower on Coldwater mountain. The repeaters are used to relay radio messages from isolated areas. Claire had a radio that could call out for help if needed.
 

Radio repeater tower on Coldwater mountain

There is beautiful ground cover along the way, as well as beautiful flowers.

 

Lots of ground cover growing in the rocks

A chipmunk chided me for invading his territory.

A chipmunk checks me out from his log hideout.

As I headed down the trail, a red hat was hanging on a log. Apparently someone had lost it during their 100 mile marathon run on the Cascade Crest Trail.

Cascade Crest Trail 100 mile Marathon Run - I can't imagine running 100 miles over these hills!

I returned to camp by 11:30. My shoes were damp from all the brush alongside the trail. 

I noticed the zipper on my mosquito netting is not working correctly. It would zip, but the zipper would not hold the net together. I used safety pins to hold the netting shut. I think it's time to look for a new tent.

Tonight was steak night, and Toni did a great job. Antipasto salad, pan fried broccoli with pasta and Meyer lemon cookies for dessert.

It is a calm evening. The lake and mountains are beautiful. 
 

The mountains towered over our campsite.

Thursday, July 21
We had clear skies last night and it was almost a full moon! 
 

We had almost a full moon last night. It was starting to set when I got up at 5AM.
You can see the blue tent tarp over our eating area

However, it was a bit cooler at night, and with little or no breeze, I had condensation on the inside of my tent.

We had French toast and bacon for breakfast, and then headed out to do more brushing on the trail. It is a longer hike now to get to the worksite, so we all get a workout before we even start working!

I used a McCloud and it really clears the brush quickly. We made a lot of progress, completing 3 long switchbacks. 

 

Typical working scenario for clearing brush. Chris and Trista use loppers; Claire is using a grub hoe.

For some reason the horseflies were out in force, buzzing around but fortunately not biting. Towards the end of the day we found a perfectly built birds nest.

We got back to camp a little before 3, and everyone headed to the beach for a swim. The water was just the right temperature to be refreshing! I washed my shirt and pants, which I dried in the warm breeze.

 

The water was warm and felt great after a long day of trail work.

A beautiful day for a swim in Coldwater Lake

We had pork tacos for dinner with real guacamole, sour cream, black beans, lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, etc. They were delicious!

After dinner, Rich showed us how to tie a "munter" knot and a Prussic knot. 

 

Munter knot

He teaches knot tying for the Mountaineers and has a fixed line in the stairwell of his house. He uses a lawn mower as a weight on a hillside to show the effectiveness of his knots.

Friday, July 22
Rain! The wind came up sometime after midnight and then I heard raindrops hitting the tent. By 5 there was still a drizzle.

After egg McMuffins for breakfast, we headed for the trail. My feet were wet immediately. I'm thinking that waterproof boots might be a good investment. 

Rain-soaked bushes ensure that you are going to get wet while working on the trail in the brush!

It rained-drizzled all morning. I couldn't wear my raincoat because I was too hot wearing it. We ended up finishing another long switchback and headed to camp around 1:30. I changed into a dry shirt and wore my flannel and raincoat. My pants got damp under my rain pants, so I crawled into my sleeping bag. It feels so good to be toasty warm!

The skies seem to be clearing, but I think the weather is just teasing us.

For dinner, Toni fixed chicken with pan roasted potatoes, carrots and mushrooms, topped with gravy. In addition, we had a garden salad. What a yummy meal !

Several times, we've been visited by a "jumping" buddy as we sat near our cook tent. The bunny will come out of the woods, sit for a moment, then realize that we're there, and jump in the air before running off!

A little bunny often visited our campsite.

We started doing the double wash of the Tupperware containers, in preparation for leaving tomorrow. I went through three pairs of sox this evening trying to dry out my shoes. Hopefully they will dry a little bit tonight so I won't have wet feet on my hike out tomorrow.

Saturday, July 23
It didn't rain last night, thank goodness! I got up just before 5 and packed up my tent.

I got out the Tupperware that was washed last night. Trista and I hand dried them with towels. Toni fixed a delightful breakfast of quesadillas with bacon, topped with fresh avocado, sour cream, salsa and fresh tomatoes. We also had sausage links.

I helped wash all of the dishes (twice) and then closed down the latrine and sump. Everyone worked together to breakdown camp and move everything to the beach where the Forest Service boat will pick it up at 10:30.

We all posed for a group picture before heading up the lake on our hike out. 

Left to right - Front - Chris, Toni, Claire
Left to right - Back - Rich, Trista, Owen, Bob

 

Everyone is heading back up the lake, walking through fields of flowers!

I arrived at the boat launch in time to meet the boat arriving with our gear.

This has been a wonderful trip. 
We made a huge difference in the trail that we worked on. 
I am so thankful to have met everyone on this trip and hope to work with them sometime again. 

5 Months before start - Training, researching, worrying

I just realized today that it is about five months before I will be starting my adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Five months.
It is both a long time and a short time away.

It's been a long time preparing my body.
I have been walking EVERY DAY for the last seven years.
Walking before work.
Walking during my lunch break.
Walking on weekends and on holidays and vacations.
Walking up steps, hills and along wooded trails.

Enchanted sun rise out on the trail

The trail around Oak Lake as the sun rises.

This year, I have averaged 14 miles per day; half the distance of a good day on the trail.
I am happy with my progress.

This morning I followed my normal weekend "walking routine":
I arose early (very early) and walked on the treadmill for two hours.
I set the speed at 3.7 miles per hour on a slope of six degrees.
By the end of my work out, I am drenched with sweat.

I take a short break and remove my shoes and socks.
My feet feel hot to the touch!

After my feet cool off, I put on a new pair of socks and switch to my trail runners.
I grab my pack and hiking poles and head out to meet my walking buddies.
I am fortunate to have friends who like to walk on weekends, rain or shine.
We meet just as it gets light and head for the trails near Lake Sawyer.
My walking buddies have a good pace, and we cover just over six miles in the next two hours.

By 9 AM I will have walked my fourteen miles.

The trail was flooded this morning. I am getting used to walking in wet shoes.

But five months until the start of my PCT hike is a short time as well.

I still need to get the rest of my gear: a light-weight warm jacket, rain pants, and windbreaker.
I need to decide where my resupply towns will be.
I need to determine where to send food, and where to buy it.
I need to decide on my start date.
I need to get food and pack / label boxes.

There are permits to obtain, a plane ticket to buy, and lists / reminders to make.
I need to have my wife take over paying the bills and helping with my blog.

So many things yet to do.

Five months.

White Pass to Chinook Pass via the Pacific Crest Trail

The Pacific Crest Trail crosses highway 123 at White Pass and runs north for almost 30 miles to Chinook Pass at highway 410. This section of trail is perfect for a two day overnight hike. My plan was to hike at least to the Mount Rainier National Park border, camp for the night, and then head out to Chinook Pass, where my wife was to meet me at noon on Saturday.

The weather is year, and this month (September), has been fabulous. And the third weekend in September was no exception.

Friday morning started out overcast, but the forecast was for clearing skies and warmer temperatures on the weekend. Unfortunately, I had to work for a few hours in the morning on Friday, so I didn't get home until 8:30 AM. I quickly changed clothes, packed up and headed to White Pass. As I neared the pass, I saw a huge patch of blue sky. When I arrived at 10:45 AM, there was nothing but sunny skies, perfect weather for hiking the PCT.

The chart below shows the elevation for my hike on Friday. I covered about 23.7 miles in 9 hours, hiking from the Clear Creek trail head at White Pass to Anderson Lake.

Elevation Profile of my hike from White Pass (on the left) to Anderson Lake.

The first couple hours of the hike pass through deep forest and skirt by a number of lakes and ponds. Although there is steady elevation gain, the trail was relatively easy going and the miles passed quickly.

I stopped briefly at one of the many small ponds along the way.

At about ten miles from White Pass, I arrived at the beautiful Snow Lake. This would be a great destination for a shorter two day camp out. Of course, I was on a mission to make it to the National Park border, so I didn't linger.

I noticed that the leaves are starting to turn colors as fall approaches.

Reds and yellows signifying the approach of Autumn

From Snow Lake, the trail continues to descend. I finally stopped to get water at a lovely creek which had a wooden bridge. I find that it is important to stop every four to five hours, take off my shoes and socks, and let my feet cool down. It does wonders.

Wooden footbridge over a lovely stream

From the footbridge, I headed on down the trail, which drops continually as it approaches the Bumping River. On the way down I could hear the stream that I had just crossed as dropped through a narrow canyon and a series of water falls.

As I was walking down the trail, trying to pay attention to the roots and rocks, all of a sudden behind me I hear the pounding of hoofs. They were approaching very quickly and I reacted by hunching down because I thought something was going to run over me. However, when I turned around, there was NOTHING there! I don't know if I had surprised an elk, or if one had come running out on the trail, or what.

I can just see the news headline now, "Unwary PCT hiker run over by a rampaging bull elk."

Needless to say, my heart was racing and I was paying much more attention to the woods around me as I approached the Bumping River.

The river crossing was fairly easy, as there were logs strategically placed between boulders in the river. However, during the snow melt, this might be a hazardous crossing.

The trail rises continually from the river. With legs getting tired, I trudged on up the trail. I passed a young lady who was RUNNING the trail, and another group of three women who were headed toward the river.

About halfway up the mountain, I saw a huge bull elk in the field. I only noticed him because it must be mating season and he was letting out a high-pitched bugle. He quickly ran off once he saw that I was watching.

I finally reached the crest of the mountain and noticed that the sun was starting to set. I remembered that there was a lake and campground "just up the trail", so I scurried along, figuring that I would get there in time to make camp and have dinner before dark.

What I forgot to do was look at my map.
The lake was still about six miles away.
As the sun dropped lower, I walked faster.

The sun won the race.

As it was getting dark, and having just passed the American Lake trail junction, I met a group of teenagers coming up the trail. They wondered if I had seen a lake nearby. I said, "Um, no I hadn't, but there was a trial to American Lake just around the corner." What I didn't mention was that it was still over a mile to their destination, and they didn't appear to be equipped for hiking in the dark. In fact, most of them didn't appear to be carrying any camping gear at all! I hope they made it.

Within minutes, I put on my headlamp and again trudged on up the trail, kicking myself for not having stopped sooner at a campsite. At 8:30 I finally stumbled into camp. I have never felt so tired in my life. I had just put in 23.7 miles on the PCT, after having walked another eight miles at work.

I had just completed my first-ever 30 mile day!

There were two other campers in the campground, but I quickly found a flat spot and set up my tent. I was too tired to eat dinner, and waited patiently until my SPOT device finished sending it's signal.

As I was just drifting off to sleep, I heard this loud bugling elk in the field next to the lake. Every hour or so, it would belt out another scream. Don't they ever sleep? I sure didn't!

Click to hear a sample of an Elk bugle.


In the morning, I waited until the sun was up before breaking camp. The tent collected a bit of condensation during the night, mostly because there was very little breeze and not enough air movement to evaporate the moisture.

Here is my camp.

My camp site at Anderson Lake campground. Note to self: don't much on breakfast during the photo shoot.

The other campers were packing up as I was eating my breakfast sandwich (my sandwich that I couldn't eat for dinner last night). One fellow came over and looked at my tent, asking if it was a ZPacks? I said that it was and he was interested in how the bathtub portion was attached.

I found out that he had walked much of the PCT last year!
His trail name was "Patches", and he said I should check out his Facebook page, "Patches Pal".

Here is his Facebook picture:

His pack base weight was nine pounds! He had a light weight tent, air mattress, and Gossamer gear pack. He never filtered his water and never got sick. He ate mashed potatoes for most of his dinners and didn't send food to himself on the trail. He looked forward to his "town" days, and always was sure to get a good dinner and breakfast before heading back onto the trail. He also suggested that I take it easy the first week or so of my through hike. He said many people over do it, try to go too far, and end up with blisters or worse.

Gee, everyone seems to have a different way supporting themselves on the trail.
Mashed potatoes... yum!

He was hiking north, planning to finish the PCT this year.
Good luck, Patches! Thank you for the tips!

The walk from Anderson Lake to Chinook pass was just over five miles, so I made it a leisurely hike and arrived just before 11.

At the parking lot, two ladies were doing trail magic for the PCT through hikers.

They had a cooler with pop and beer, and had pizza. They put out signs on the trail, and within a few minutes there were three hikers sitting around enjoying the food.

The first one to arrive was called "The Ambassador", a name given to him because he has the gift of gab and finds it easy to get hitches to and from the trail.

He said that he saw more snow in the Goat Rocks then he did in the Sierras. That is amazing to me. He was also wearing a skirt, which I didn't notice because they looked more like shorts. But, he unfastened them, and it was indeed a skirt. He just loved it! He helped himself to a beer and a slice of pizza, and signed the guest register.

Soon two other through hikers joined him. The first one had walked the Appalachian Trail last year, and said that the PCT was much easier than the AT. He was also the one who asked the trail angels if she had any "weed". She said no.

The other hiker was a pretty young woman from the east coast. She was wearing a pretty sun dress, and looked like she was just out on a sunny jaunt through the forest. Her trail name was "Handstand", given to her on her first day of hiking at Lake Morena. She got up in the morning and was so cold she started doing handstands to keep warm. Another hiker yelled out, "Hey, your name is handstand." The name stuck.

She asked me my name, and I told her I didn't have one yet, but I call myself "Bobaroo".Who knows if that is what I'll be called as I hike the trail next year? I fear that someone will see my pack askew on my back and I'll get the name "hunchback" or "lopsided". It would just be my luck!

Valorie arrived at noon, and dropped me back at my truck at White Pass.

What did I learn on this adventure?

1) I carried too much food again. My lunch was eaten on the trail (macadamia nuts), and I ended up eating my dinner sandwich for breakfast. So, in retrospect, I wouldn't have needed the dinner and breakfast that I brought, and none of the other lunch items. In fact, since I didn't heat any water, I would not have needed my stove either.

2) I need to pick my destination at the start of each day, making sure I understand the mileage and degree of difficulty. My destination at the start was to make it to the Mount Rainier boundary. That was fine, but the boundary didn't have a place to camp or a source of water. That was another six miles down the trail as the sun plummeted behind the mountains.

3) I can walk for over 30 miles in a day. However, I really felt it in my feet and legs. I was so tired all I wanted to do was get in my sleeping bag and rest.

4) If I manage my water better, I don't need to carry so much. Water is heavy. Patches told me that he carried two 32-ounce bottles during his PCT hike, and that was plenty. In the desert, he simply filled up at every water source and carried an extra two-liter bladder.

5) Every PCT hiker works out a plan and routine that fits their style. Patches didn't send food to himself, but bought along the way. I wonder how he did the Sierras? Also, this is the second through hiker who mainly ate mashed potatoes for dinner. Patches added beef jerky and gravy to change up his menu.

6) Providing Trail Magic for hikers sounds like it would be really fun. The folks doing it at Chinook Pass had been doing it for over ten years. They hear stories from the trail, and meet awesome people.