What a great hike! The weather couldn't have been more perfect and the views outstanding. Our destination was Mt Margaret. We could see not only St Helens, but Rainier, Adams and Mt Hood too. Trail in excellent condition. We scrambled to the top of Mt Margaret which was no problem.

Lots of color and ripe blueberries. We also saw a patch of lupines in their prime. A very odd weather year indeed.

No water available on the trail, but not much of a problem this time of the year. Slow going due to photo taking and berry eating.

Plan B, due to too much snow on our planned Wonderland Trail hike (17 mile section from Fryingpan Creek to Box Canyon), we hiked Norway Pass/Mount Margaret. What a great choice it was. My partner for the day was Goober Canari.

We arrived at the parking lot, which had 8 to 10 vehicles already, to sunny skies and a nice breeze. Roads are all paved to this trailhead although the edge of Road 26 is crumbling in places but we made it easily in a Jetta. There are bathrooms at the trailhead. We hit the trailhead at about 9:45 AM. There is an immediate fork and we went right, (left goes east on the Boundary Trail). Most of this trail is in the open, although there are a few spots shaded by trees. LOTS of wildflowers during the entire hike as well as ripe huckleberries, yum. The trail is never real steep but steady uphill. Trail begins to switchback up and a fork reached where Norway Pass is to the right. The last section before Norway Pass is along a north facing slope so it was nice and cool. We met a few other hikers at the pass where the trail from/to Independence Pass is also located. That trail is currently closed due to a washout but a couple of ladies told us that they went in about ¼ of a mile and that there are really great views there. The trail to Mt Margaret was visible on the ridge in the distance, it goes around, slightly down, and back up. We eventually came to a spot where a peak came into view. We crossed a small flat snowfield, and following footprints, kept going straight. This took us to an outhouse. The trail stopped after that. What we ended up doing was going cross country up the slope of what we thought was Mt Margaret. It wasn’t, but we summited a lower mountain that we ended up referring to as Little Margaret. What we should have done was to go left near the end of the snowfield and the trail continued on. A solo female hiker (Danielle) that we passed earlier figured this out and we climbed down and met her at the trail fork to Whittier Trail (embarrassingly misspelled Whitter on the nice new sign!). We figured out that the next peak on the trail was, in fact, Mt Margaret and proceeded on the trail which goes around its flank. Two high snowfields must be crossed and I helped out Danielle with a trekking pole to make it across; the second snowfield was steeper. The snow was soft so we could kick steps. We followed the trail around Mt Margaret and found a path leading to the summit. After following the path a ways up, there is a red arrow pointing both left and right painted on the large rock wall. You should go right. It is mostly a path but some minor scrambling to the summit. A better route from the trail would be to cross the snowfields, and then head straight up to the summit. It is no harder and is shorter. There is an old survey marker on the summit. Views at the summit are of Mt Rainier, Adams, tip of Hood, and of course Mt St Helens and Spirit Lake. At least 2 other lakes could be seen. I noticed a haze in the lowlands that appeared to be from the recent wildfires (Big Hump wildfire in Olympics and wildfire north of Mt Hood). The haze appeared to lessen as the day went on. The trail continuing westward is also visible as it skirts several more mountains. We descended the shorter route I mentioned above with no trouble and rejoined the main trail. As we carefully re-crossed the first (steeper) snowfield Goober made it across and I was just finishing when we heard Danielle slip behind us. She slid about 25 to 30 feet before stopping at some dirt/gravel exposed in the snow. If she had slipped a little earlier the slide would have been more like 150 feet, although it seemed to flatten out at the bottom. She twisted her ankle but was otherwise ok. I let her borrow my hiking sticks for the hike back. We encountered another couple that saw it happen and they were also on their way to Mt Margaret (without sticks or ice axe). We watched them approach the 2nd snowfield but then hike all the way down and around, a good choice. Better safe than sorry. I would still recommend either trekking poles or better yet an ice axe. Boot traction devices might also be wise. The snowfields aren’t that long but one missed step and it could be bad. We watched Danielle for a little bit and she was making steady but slow progress back. Our return trip down was uneventful. Now is a great time for this hike – I haven’t seen this many wildflowers on many hikes. The slopes are growing back slowly in the blast zone. Pretty much every western Cascade wildflower, scarlet paintbrush the most plentiful. Also lots of lupine higher up. Bugs were not bad. Enjoyed some fine chilled beverages and salty snacks courtesy of Goober Canari at picnic tables by parking lot. The relaxation in the shade, breeze, and scenery topped off a great day.

The hiking gods once again were smiling as I was graced with perfect weather for my first hike at Mt. St. Helens. Its hard to believe its been 30 years since the eruption and I have never been this close to the mountain.

One of the great things about hiking in the blast zone this time of year is that it is essentially a giant meadow hike with very few trees but lots of low shrubs and bushes that are all turning color with the cool fall season taking over. The trail is fairly gentle up to Norway Pass and is only slightly more demanding all the way up to Mt. Margaret as much of the hike is on ridge line.

At Norway Pass I could hear the elk bugling below in the meadow, I could see fresh tracks, I could even smell them from time to time but could I see them? No! I did meet a young deer hunter who directed me to a trail he had just scouted that had goats and elk nearby. The trail, Whitier Ridge, is described in one of my guide books as more thrill ride than trail certainly lived up to its reputation. It was a narrow, steep, icy, goat path that was not where this solo hiker wanted to be. Once I spotted my first goat, I turned tail and headed back to the main trail. I ran into the hunter later on my way out and told him that I missed out on the elk. He promptly pulled out his field glasses and spotted a nice bull elk in the meadow below for me to view.

The trail all the way to my turnaround point 7 miles in at Mount Margaret was in great shape. Views at that point are spectacular with the open mouth of St. Helens directly in front of you, Mt. Hood beyond, Mt. Adams to your left and Mt. Rainier in back of you. There are a good handful of lakes to see from a distance on the trail up. Bear Pass, about half way up has camp sites and a solar privy with a million dollar view of Rainier. Several side trails spur off the main trail including a backcountry loop trail that takes one close to several of the small lakes nearby (but across the Whitier Ridge trail.)

The trailhead was almost exactly 3 hours from my home in Renton but it was well worth the early start to my day to hit the trailhead to see the sunrise behind Mt Adams and watch the hills of color ignite as the sun hit them throughout the morning.

We did the Norway Pass - Mt. Margaret section of Boundary Trail #1 north of Mt. St. Helens (we didn't go farther west than Mt. Margaret).

The final persistent snowpatch on the east side of Margaret has not yet melted off the trail. It's about 15 yards across, was slushy rather than icy, and was not terribly steep. Thus, ice axe not needed, but reasonable care should be taken. Otherwise, the trail is in good shape, but (as usual in late August) dusty.

Main flower show pretty well gone in the lower part of the trail (still a few late summer bloomers), but there were still some nice fields of lupine after the camp about 4 1/2 miles in, and especially on the east side of Mt. Margaret.

Berry crop not spectacular (yet, anyway), but our berry enthusiast came home with a pretty good supply. Bugs minimal to non-existent.