Johnston Ridge from the Hummocks Trailhead

We drove up to the Hummocks Trailhead at Mt St Helens Volcanic National Monument to hike up to Johnston Ridge, about 10 miles round trip with 1,900 ft of gain. We had the trail to ourselves until after we reached the Observatory on Johnston Ridge.View of Mt St Helens reflecting in the window at the Observatory on Johnston Ridge.

We took the short 0.9 mile leg of the Hummocks Loop Trail to the Boundary Trail. A couple of ponds were along the trail.

View of Mt St Helens from the start of the Boundary Trail at the far end of the Hummocks Loop.

Views of Mt St Helens as we hiked up the Boundary Trail.

Ground squirrel near the trail.

View from the Lowest Viewpoint:

View from near the Observatory on Johnston Ridge

Mountain goats seen below the observatory (all zoom photos):

View near the Observatory:

zoom looking into the crater

We had some great views on our hike back down the trail, before the clouds moved in

Looking back at the Lowest Viewpoint and in the distance to Coldwater Peak.

looking east to the top of Mt Adams behind another ridge

zoom of Mt Adams

view towards Coldwater Lake

some of the wildflowers seen along the trail today:

  

 

  

 

 

 

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.