Coldwater Lake Trail

We drove to the Coldwater Lake Boat Dock to hike part way along the Coldwater Lake Trail in Mt St Helens Volcanic National Monument. We hiked about 1/2 way along the lake and back for a 4.4 mile roundtrip hike with about 200 ft of overall gain. We only saw one other person on the trail this morning. View of Mt St Helens and the west end of Coldwater Lake from the Coldwater Visitor Center.

We saw lots of flowers in bloom by the parking area at the boat dock.

View of Coldwater Lake from the west end of the lake near the boat dock. The lake side trail goes along the north side of the lake.

View of Mt St Helens from a short ways up the trail.

This appears to be a hummock in the lake.

We saw some tall lupine growing along the trail.

View of the hillside to the north, shows evidence of the blast zone, with few trees growing.

Looking back to the west, along the trail.

Lots of vibrant colorful flowers along the trail.

butterfly on a lupine

Tiger lilies growing in the meadow.

The meadows were full of flowers.

We enjoyed our hike this morning, gorgeous and peaceful.

Butterfly on a tiger lily.

Parts of the trail was in the trees.

There were several stream crossings on this trail.

The monkeyflowrs grew near the stream crossings and other wet areas.

A waterfall along the trail.

This view was near where we decided to turn around today, looking towards the east end, and

looking back to the west end of the lake.

Butterfly on a pea

Part way back along the trail, there was a small section the extended into the lake, with views to the east end, and

views to the west end of the lake.

View of Mt St Helens across Coldwater Lake as we neared the trailhead.

some of the wildflowers we saw along the trail this morning.

  

 

  

 

 

 

Silver Star Mountain via Grouse Vista Trailhead

Today we drove to the Grouse Vista Trailhead in Yacolt Burn State Forest to hike up to Silver Star Mountain. This was 6.4 miles round trip with 2,000 ft of gain. We saw lots of wildflowers in bloom, from along the forest trails to the open spaces, great day!

The first mile or so is in the forest going steeply uphill with lots of rocks and gravel on the trail. After 0.8 miles, the trail leaves the Yacolt Burn State Forest and enters the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We saw lots of bunchberries in bloom.

Further up the trail, where the trail levels off for a bit, there were paintbrush and peas lining the trail.

When the trail split at 1.5 miles, we took the trail on the right, the south side of Pyramid Rock. This section lasts about 1 mile and has great views to the south, where we saw Mt Hood and a hazy Mt Jefferson.

After rejoining the main trail we saw many avalanche lilies in boom.

There was only one snow patch to cross today, and it was shortly before the end of the trail.

Distant views of Mt Rainier and Mt Adams to the right of the top of Silver Star Mountain.

Before heading to the top of Silver Star Mountain, we first went to the lower peak.

To the south we saw Mt Hood and a hazy Mt Jefferson, and

to the northeast, we saw Mt Rainier and Mt Adams.

Lots of paintbrush in bloom as we headed up to the top of Silver Star Mountain.

A great variety of wildflowers in bloom on Silver Star Mountain, Mt St Helens seen to the north.

There were some beargrass in bloom.

Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier and Mt Adams, all to the north to northeast of Silver Star Mountain and

to the south, Mt Hood and Mt Jefferson.

zoom of Mt Hood

zoom of Mt Jefferson

zoom of Mt Adams

zoom of Mt Rainier

zoom of Mt St Helens

We took our lunch break here, enjoying the views and the wildflowers.

On our hike back down, we stayed on the main trail the whole way, going to the north of Pyramid Rock.

With all the wildflowers in bloom, we saw many bees and 

butterflies along the trail.

some of the many wildflowers we saw in bloom along the trail today: