Mount Margaret via Norway Pass at Mt St Helens

 We drove down to the northeast side of Mt St Helens to the Norway Pass trailhead to hike the Boundary Trail to Mount Margaret. This is an 11.4 mile rt hike with 2,375 ft of elevation gain. I really like how this trail meanders over ridges to give us many different views of the area. The trail starts in the blast zone, all the growth has occurred since the eruption of Mt St Helens 30 years ago.

 There were lots of flowers in bloom, mainly in the lower sections of the trail.

 Looking southeast to Meta Lake has the trail goes up towards Independence Ridge

At 2.2 miles and 1,000 ft of elevation gain, we reached Norway Pass, a beautiful place to enjoy the view of Mt St Helens and Spirit Lake

 From Norway Pass, the trail begins climbing open slopes south of Norway Pass in long sweeping traverses. We had one patch of a very narrow rocky trail exposed rock.

 In this section, we had continues views of Mt St Helens and Norway Pass below us.

 The view from further up the ridge, on the way up toward Bear Pass (we had great views of Mt St Helens, but Mt Rainier and Mt Adams were covered in the clouds).

Shortly after passing the junction with the Lakes Trail at 3.1 miles,  we went over a ridge with views down to Grizzly Lake and Mt Rainier far to the north.










 There was still some snow at the Mount Margaret backcountry camp, 4.4 miles from the trailhead and about 2,000ft of elevation gain).











From the camp, the trail is fairly level and has great views to the south, with views of Mt St Helens and Mount Margaret.

 To the north, we could look down to Boot and Obscurity Lakes and Mt Rainier hiding in the clouds.

 We looked to the west and the gap, where the Boundary Trail continues toward Mount Margaret, we saw a mountain goat running across the gap (zoom).

Looking across the gap at the large rocky pinnacle in front of Mount Margaret and one of the larger snow fields we would cross.











I was glad I brought my microspikes.













From the gap, it is 0.7 miles along the Boundary Trail to the small saddle at Mount Margaret.

 The Boundary Trail continues on the left to Coldwater Peak and Johnston Ridge, we took the short 0.1 spur trail on the right up Mount Margaret.

 View of Mt St Helens and Spirit Lake from the trail up to Mount Margaret

We did the short scramble up to the "top" of Mount Margaret 

Looking back on the trail to the north from the top of Mount Margaret.

Pano to the south from the top of Mount Margaret (we could see the bases of Mt Adams and Mt Hood in the distance, the clouds continued to cover their summits).

 Pano to the north and east from the top of Mount Margaret.

 Zoom looking to the southwest to Coldwater Peak and St Helens Lake.

 After a nice break at Mount Margaret, we headed back along the trail, looking up at the rocky pinnacle before the gap.

 As we continued hiking back, a look along the trail of Mt St Helens, Mount Margaret, and the Rocky Pinnacle.

 As we continued back and were heading down toward Norway Pass, I noticed a familiar ridge line in front of Mt Adams: Juniper Ridge in the Dark Divide with Juniper Peak, Sunrise Peak and Jumbo Peak where we hiked a couple of weeks ago!







Nearing the trailhead, we came across a grouse














and her chick!

we saw lots of butterflies today, this is the only one that was still enough for me to get a picture.

some of the many wildflowers we saw along the trail: