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Copyright © Dan A. Nelson/The Mountaineers Books Vanson Peak
There's an awful lot to see here, although the trail mileage may look low to some. You'll find expansive meadows full of wildflowers, berries, and possibly big black-tailed deer. You'll be able to visit a beautiful mountain lake, and climb a stunning peak to panoramic views. And you'll explore some glorious ancient forests. All within a couple miles' radius.
From the trailhead, head southeast across the gentle slope that leads you into the public land. The trail runs for about 0.75 mile before it splits. Here, you have a choice to make: lake first, then peak; or peak first, then lake. I'd suggest the peak first. Go left at the trail fork and climb the moderate slope of Vanson Peak. Most of the forest is still intact here, though parts of the upper mountain have been seared clean. The trail doesn't run to the true summit, but you can scramble up to the 4948-foot summit to find the awesome 360-degree views. Look over the Goat Creek valley, Goat Mountain, Mount Whittier, Mount St. Helens, and the deep cut of the Green River Valley. From the summit, drop down the east flank of the peak to a trail junction at about the 1.8-mile mark. Turn right and begin looping back toward the trailhead. However, in about 0.1 mile take a detour, dropping down a side trail to Vanson Lake. Enjoy the refreshing waters of this mountain tarn, then angle west up into Vanson Meadow before working your way back to the northwest on faint trails to rejoin the main path. The final 0.5 mile of walking is the trail that got you started.
Driving Directions:
From Randle, drive west on U.S. Highway 12 for just over 11 miles, and turn left (south) onto Kosmos Road. Take a left at the T intersection at the bottom of the hill, and follow this road past Riffe Lake toward Taidnapam Park and Campground. Go past the campground, over the bridge, and then right onto Forest Road 2600. Follow this for several miles, staying on the primary road at each fork. The road weaves around several drainages and valleys. Recent Trip Reports
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Vanson Peak
— Sep 22, 2012
— Loren Drummond
Overnight
Features:
Fall foliage
Issues:
Road to trailhead inaccessible
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We had planned to overnight at Vanson Lake or Deadman's Lake, but because of the high fire danger, t...
We had planned to overnight at Vanson Lake or Deadman's Lake, but because of the high fire danger, the access road to the Vanson Peak trailhead is closed. You can still get to the Peak or Vanson Lake, but it will be a longer hike in from the Green River trailhead. http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/green-river
Road status: The roads to the trailhead are all privately owned by Champion Timber. If you plan to head here, call or visit the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District station: (360) 497-1100. Note - they are generally only open during the week this time of year, so try to call before the weekend. They'll have the latest maps and road information from the landowner. Weather: It was cool and cloudy on Sept. 22, but not cold yet. Nice fall weather for hiking/backpacking. The smoke wasn't too bad on the roads (until it closed) or in Randal, but that seems to be changing day-to-day. Safety note: we did see a few hunters headed into the forest here, so make sure to take good hunting season hiking precautions. Wear orange, put your dog in orange, and make yourself heard.
Green River, Vanson Peak, Goat Mountain
— Aug 24, 2012
— Littlebird
Multi-night backpack
Features:
Wildflowers blooming | Ripe berries
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Got a late start on Friday afternoon to start a three day, two night 20 mile loop starting at the Gr...
Got a late start on Friday afternoon to start a three day, two night 20 mile loop starting at the Green River Horse Camp. All of the trails showed signs of being used by horses, some poop and flies, but we never saw an actual horse. The Green River Trail and Vanson Peak trail appear to be lightly used and a little overgrown in some places, but still easy to follow. Camped the first night on the Green River as night was closing in. Trail was dry and fresh water was available from the river
On the second day we trekked up to Vanson Peak using the "easy way" by going past the turn off to Vanson Lake and doubling back to hike a half mile up to the summit. The "easy way" was still quite steep. Though there were multiple small streams crossing the path on the hike up, we barely got the soles of our boots wet in crossing, I imagine the water is much higher earlier in the season. Beyond the Peak there is no water, much to our dismay, so make sure you carry enough to get you to your destination. Spent our second night at Deadman's lake. Water was clear and warm, perfect for swimming. There were some large flies, I assume because of the horses, but virtually no biting insects! Plenty of lakefront campsites on the sunny side of the lake, we shared the water with 4 other groups after not having seen a soul all day. I assume they came in via the shorter Goat Mountain trail. Still, plenty of space between campsites so they weren't intrusive. Third day we headed out on the final leg of our journey over the Goat Mountain trail. There's a steep uphill to start right beyond the lake, which was hard on our tired legs, but beyond that it's fairly flat with some amazing views. Huckleberries and strawberries were all ripe along the ridge and wildflowers were in bloom. After hiking along the ridge there is a punishing descent back to the trailhead. First part of the descent is along forested, steep, dirt switchbacks, the final part is quite dusty with loose gravel. I can't imagine hiking up that part of the trail, given how slippery it was. Goat Mountain trail clearly gets significantly more traffic than Green River or Vanson Peak. If I were to do this hike again I would park my car at the Goat Mountain trailhead parking lot and hike the mile down to the Green River trailhead at the horsecamp at the beginning, rather than at the end when your legs are already shot. Multi-night backpack
Issues:
Overgrown | Bugs
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Our WTA weeklong work party camped at Vanson Lake and worked the Vanson Ridge and Peak trails. The ...
Our WTA weeklong work party camped at Vanson Lake and worked the Vanson Ridge and Peak trails. The ridge trail is completely cleared, brushed, tread widened, drainages cleaned or installed, and birms removed where advantageous. This trail is in great shape up to the ridge.
From the ridge to the peak we were able to get some tread and brushing done but the last 10 yards at the summit is densely overgrown. The views from the peak to Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams are stunning and the rocky outcrop is breathtaking - especially if you have vertigo! Some of our party made it to Dead Man Lake and noted that the lake has a very nice beach and good campsites. Others of us bushwhacked our way around Vanson Lake which proved difficult and not very rewarding. There are lots of newts, frogs, and toads in the area and the flies are vicious. One remaining problem is a clogged culvert on the trail between Vanson Lake and the junction to the Vanson Ridge trail. We cleared some of the debris but there is still alot of muck in there. Multi-night backpack
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Overgrown | Bugs
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We backpacked for 3 nights/4 days in this area. We started on a Monday and only saw 4 people the ent...
We backpacked for 3 nights/4 days in this area. We started on a Monday and only saw 4 people the entire time.
We started out at the end of FS Road 2750. The first day we hiked to Vanson Lake (about 7 miles) and camped in a nice spot right on the lake. At mile 1, the Leona Falls were spectacular. The trail continues for another mile with gentle ups and downs. At mile 2 is the junction for Vanson Lake. The trail is very lush and green with many gorgeous streams and waterfalls to easily cross. It climbs pretty steadily to the Vanson Lake cutoff. There the trail is about 3/4 mile steeply down to the lake. There are several short cuts before the main trail to the lake. There is a sign for the main trail to the lake which is a much safer grade to get to the lake. The second day, we hiked 3 miles to Deadmans Lake and camped right on the Lake again in a very nice large spot. This was a perfect spot to bathe and wash clothes as the water was warm. We still had not seen any people so we had the whole lake to ourselves. The trail is up and down the whole way in an open forest on a nice ridge with many views of Mt. Rainier. After we set up camp, we took our daypacks and hiked Goat Mountain Ridge which was the highlight of our trip. Most of the way was open with gentle ups/downs and wildflowers every where. At the top of the ridge, we could see Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens. We also had a great view of the blast zone from the 1980 eruption of St. Helens. It was spectacular!! The third day, we hiked 5.5 miles to Tumwater Lake. Most of the hike was a gentle uphill through a thick dry forest with many down trees to navigate over/around. About halfway there, we broke out of the forest onto an open ledge with amazing views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens. Again, the wildflowers were spectacular. The lake was relatively low with only a few patches of snow. It was difficult to find a flat spot for our tent, but we made do on the edge of the lake. There were quite a few mosquitos but they didn't seem to be biting too bad. We went to sleep to the sound of owls and frogs. The fourth day, we completed our loop back to the trailhead by hiking 6 miles through lush green forests again and many more streams, waterfalls. We had to cross the river twice but it wasn't too deep or wide. After one crossing about 3 miles from the trailhead there were 3 downed trees together that were very difficult to climb over.
Vanson Ridge #213.1,Vanson Peak #217.1,Goat Mountain #217
— Jul 23, 2000
— HammerHead
Day hike
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Well we made the trip back up to Deadmans Lake, Goat Mtn, Vanson Peak area, which are now located i...
Well we made the trip back up to Deadmans Lake, Goat Mtn, Vanson Peak area, which are now located in the Mt St Helens Monument, 20 years after my brother and myself had just left our camp at Deadmans Lake at 8:32 am Sunday morn May 18th 1980. This time the trip was a little less eventfull but a wonderful trip just the same. We tried to find the tree that we sat under for an hour with pumice, ash and lightening stricking all around us but the 20 year growth of the trees made it difficult. We came close just by judging how far we ran from lake trying to outrun the ash cloud coming behind us. We remembered how still and quiet the air was just before the eruption, not a bird was chirpping, not a wind was blowing. Then a 100' from leaving the camp our ears started feeling tremendous pressure just like you had shot up in the air about a mile. It was like the feeling you get when you take off in a big plane and start climbing only 10 fold. It was of course the large amount of air the landslide was pushing as it slide down the mountain. At that time we still had no idea what was going on. We had the shoulder of Goat Ridge between us and Mt St Helens. 10 seconds later we heard what sounded like a jet plane flying overhead. The sound then got more intense and my brother, who was ahead of me, turned around to comment on the situation and looked up behind me over Goat Mtn Ridge and saw the huge billowing ash cloud coming over the ridge. We both said a couple of choice words and started running up the trail heading north, full packs, cameras packed in our packs. Within 3 minutes ash and pumice began to fall on us and we realized that we couldn't outrun it so we found a tree to crouch under. At that same time the lightening began so we decided it would be a good thing to take our aluminum frame packs off of us and set them away from us. Just then a bolt hit real close and I found my brother laying on top of me. I said what are you doing, get off of me. He said he didn't know how he got there but thinks he just got hit by that last bolt. We pulled out an extra t-shirt we had with us, poured some water on it and started breathing thru it. Within minutes there was so much ash falling the it completely blocked out any sunlight. If you put your hand right in front of your face, I mean centimeters, you couldn't see it. That lasted for about 50 minutes. Then it finally got light enough to see the trail so we decided this was time to start hiking again --- rapidly. 4 1/2 miles later we were back at the truck, which by then was filled with about 4 inches of ash. We finally made it back to Morton and made a phone call home to let the family members know we were all right. You see at that time we still had no idea what really happended other than there was an eruption, but we had no idea the people we had seen down in the Green River valley from our vantage point on Goat Mtn the day before had been killed. A month later I was able to fly over Deadmans Lake and the area and found out that not more than a quarter mile from where we were sitting under that tree by Deadmans Lake trees where blown down from the blast. We were glad that the Lake didn't live up to its name. |
 A view of the Mount St. Helens blast zone from Vanson Peak. Photo: Rock Ranger
2010
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