I dubbed this the "Best of the Dark Divide Roadless Area" hike because the loop took us past huge, ancient Douglas-fir trees in the French Creek and Quartz Creek valleys and then into open views of Mount Adams, the Goat Rocks and Mount Rainier from the Boundary Trail.

This loop was 10.9 miles with nearly 3,000 feet of elevation gain and 2,700 feet of elevation loss. Plan on a long day, but it is worth it.

From Randle, we drove south on Roads 23 and 28 (paved) about 10 miles total and then Road 29 (gravel) for the last 15 miles to the end. The spur access to the Boundary Trail starts where the road ends and has been converted to trail. It is about .5 mile to the intersection with the Boundary Trail. We crossed the ridge-top Boundary Trail and continued down the other side into the head of French Creek. There are no signs for the French Creek Trail; we just followed the obvious path. The true trail starts in about .25 mile when it drops down into a recovering clearcut, then eventually into virgin forest.

This is where the big trees begin. One after another, huge, ancient trees on both sides of the trail. We couldn't help exclaiming over many of them and trying to capture their images in pixels. The French Creek Trail was built by the Sierra Club a few years ago and is in good shape. Although it is designated only for hikers, horses and mountain bikes, motorcycle riders have been using it and have logged out all but three trees that had fallen across the trail.

At about 2 miles, the valley flattens out and there is a nice campsite next to French Creek. We ate lunch beside the creek, then continued another mile to the junction with the Quartz Creek Trail. This intersection is unsigned but obvious.

We turned left and began ascending upward back to the ridgetop and the Boundary Trail. The Quartz Creek Trail, possibly a relict of miners in the late 19th century, is narrower and much steeper than the French Creek Trail. Like the French Creek Trail, this one is designated non-motorized but shows obvious signs of motorcycle use. The use is less than on the French Creek Trail because this one is much more challenging.

At about 6 miles into the hike, we reached the junction with the Boundary Trail. We turned left again, this time in a deeply rutted trail because it is open to motorized use, and headed towards Dark Meadows. Views began to open up as we neared the meadows: Juniper Ridge, Mount Adams, the Goat Rocks. The huckleberry bushes were loaded with fruit and lots of American robins and dark-eyed juncos feeding on the berries.

From Dark Meadows, the trail climbed steeply through a saddle and down the other side back to the junction with the spur trail and then back to the car. As we neared the end, we had views of Mount Rainier down the McCoy Creek valley.

My friend Jan and I enjoyed the company of a stellar group of Mountaineers as we battled the clouds on a hike from Johnston Ridge Observatory along the Boundary Trail to Harry's Ridge and Coldwater Peak. We were a regular United Nations on the trail -- we had hikers who grew up in Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Sri Lanka!

Ours were the only cars in the parking lot at 9:00 a.m. The clouds were thick all day long and sunbreaks were few and far between, although I managed to get quite a sunburn from the reflected light. As we hiked we marveled at the continuing greening of the area -- there were trees and saplings above shoulder level. We even enjoyed frequent stops for huckleberries and wild strawberries!

The trails are in good condition until the upper part of Coldwater Ridge, which is very brushy and has several eroded sections. Two hikers in our group turned back before the "Hole-in-the-Wall", and another stayed put at the junction of the Boundary and Coldwater Peak trails.

It was a perfect day in the Cascades, the high peaks an archipelago above the marine air layer on the west side. The clouds below melted away as we started our hike and the breeze was light.

From the Johnston Ridge Observatory, we hiked 8 miles round trip via Boundary Trail #1 and Harry's Ridge Trail #1.7 for lunch at the end of the ridge. This hike has about 1,400 ft elev gain including an uphill return to the trailhead.

The cold afternoon wind, powered by the thermals, picked up as we settled in for lunch -- soon everyone was wearing a jacket and the pant legs were zipped back on. In addition to Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams was visible across Spirit Lake and Mount Hood could be seen through Windy Gap to the left of the volcano. The high ridges of the Mount Margaret backcountry block views of Mount Rainier.

Wildflowers are exploding in the blast zone in this 30th growing season since the big eruption, particularly hillsides of paintbrush and shrubby penstemon. Cascades penstemon also is abundant.

From the end of Harry's Ridge, we had a direct view into the throat of the crater. I was surprised to see that Loowit Falls has moved, probably as a result of the two lobes of the crater glacier merging. The right canyon where it once fell is nearly dry, while the waterfall in the left canyon now is dominant and appears to be the headwaters of the Toutle River.

Triple Banger @ St. Helens 5-22-09
I packed a bag and headed out Friday morning. I arrived at the Spirit Lake Visitors center at 9:30. Only saw a couple of people and hoped this was going to be a trend all day…I did the small trail around the ponds and got some good photos of flowers and birds. Saw a boat and fisherman in the pond, totally out of place and I’m sure illegal, there were signs everywhere no fishing/hunting. Mountain was behind the clouds at this time. I was headed to coldwater lakes now and make a few stops along the way. Chatting with so many nice people at every stop. I arrived at Coldwater Lake around 10:30 and took more pictures and soaked in the views. I noticed some large charter buses in the parking lot. After speaking with a friendly fisherman he said they were a junior high group from Bellevue. I talked to the group leader about where the hummocks trailhead was and she warned me that she brought 400 students with her and there were more kids on the trail I was headed to.. I took a deep breath and said it can’t be that bad…I set out around 11:00 on the Hummocks trail which is located across the highway from the Lakes trail. Hummocks is a nice easy 2.5 mile loop with great views and diverse areas, ponds, meadows, lava formations, rocks, river, mountain views.. pretty much everything you would like in a trail except 400 students. I only had to move over once in the beginning and then the last ½ mile I had to say excuse me 50 times, I think that is what they were broken up in groups of.. It was funny to see the Bellevue mom’s in there “hiking” clothes. I made a quick side trip a few miles on the boundary trail to avoid one of the groups, it was worth it. When I was done I headed back across the street to walk the lake loop trail. Saw another sweet old fisherman and his dog Jack. The color of his lake is jade right and truly spectacular. I didn’t want to leave and was figuring out if I was going to drive home or stay the night somewhere.. originally I was going to do some trail on the South side of the mountain but after further review the only thing open is the ape caves and I will save that for a trip when I’m not solo. I was very interested in seeing the Lava Canyon area but the bridge is out and might be many months before the heli a new one in the ranger told me. The wildflowers are just starting to poke out so if you want a flower show wait a while. But it’s nice because there are not many bugs yet. All together I got around 5-6 miles in. This area reminded me a bit of Painted hills, Grand Canyon, and Rainer all rolled into one.