A beautiful day to be out of town. Drove from the Tri-Cities to the trailhead off the Bumping River Road, arriving a little before 10. The trail was in good shape with only blow downs to report. These were all easily maneuvered around/over/and or under with little delay added. There were only a few small patches of snow on the trails and these should be gone by next weekend. The view from the old lookout site on top of Goat Peak included Mount Rainier peeking above the clouds and Chinook Pass in full view below the clouds. The Goat Rocks and Mount Adams were hidden but pretty much everything else was out in the bright sun. Back to the cars by 4 and off to a nice dinner and home.

Hiked American Ridge from the N trailhead for about 5 miles in. No snow and trail is in good condition. Of course there are the expected winter deadfall trees (@ 2 dozen) across the trail since crews haven't cleared it yet. But nothing not easily gotten around. Didn't quite go to Goat Peak but looked like a good bit of snow on the N side of the peak yet. #959 Trail was clear of snow most of the way to the top of the Ridge from Cougar Flat trailhead. A few very small patches of snow left, but should be gone soon. Maybe 15 blowdown trees across the trail, but nothing major. From top of the ridge hiked on up to Goat Peak (from S side). Most of the snow is gone but several patches still need to be crossed on the switchbacks near the top. The top is clear. Sad to say, the cannister containing the comments notebook seems to have been taken, so if someone going up there could replace it, this would be a boon to all mankind. Looking S from Goat Peak, there looks to be a fair bit of snow on the ridge yet so I'd expect to still run into snow there in the higher parts of the trail.

Backcountry Horsemen of Washington - Lewis County Chapter Goat Creek Trail # 205 has been cleared past the Tumwater Mountain Trail #216 junction to Dot Lake. Snow level begins just past the lake. After National Trails Day chapter members took stock up the trail to clear it after the trail repairs. Some report that the falls' name is ""Cathedral Fall"". See photographs at - www.pbase.com/bchw/goatcreektrail

About two miles to start of serious snow, with quite a few blowdowns, though most aren't too bad. Snow beyond is well consolidated and I had some old tracks to follow, but it did slow me down. Went east on the ridge 10-15 minutes from the junction to a great view of Tahoma. Probably only 30 minutes more to Goat Peak, but I'd had one snow patch too many. Opportunities for bike stash loops involving the American Ridge abound on Bumping River and SH 410.

This trail harbours one of the secret treasures of the South Cascades. It is not difficult hiking, but the trail maintenance is neither predictable nor easy to check on. While it is in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, it is hard to reach a staff person by phone who knows its status. The next challenge to hiking there is finding the trailhead. Drive east on Highway 12 five miles past Morton and turn right on Kosmos Road. Take an almost immediate left turn on the Campion Haul Road and follow it to the bridge over the end of Riffe Lake. (Taidnapum Park is just before the bridge, it has a well maintained restroom, if you are so inclined.) After crossing the bridge, turn right onto a dirt road. Go exactly 8/10 mile and turn left on unsigned FR2750. Drive 3.6 miles through private forest on a currently poorly maintained gravel road (potholes, ruts) to the trailhead and park on the left. This trail is sometimes popular with the Backcountry Horsemen, so there is lots of parking space. It is clear that someone came through and cleared the trail this spring, but there was a wash-out about a half mile in that needed more work the day that we were there. The secret treasure appears at about one mile on the trail. I'm not going to say what it is, but I have never seen anything quite like it elsewhere and the site is identified as 'an exquisite site and unique in the Mt. St. Helens Monument' in the one guidebook that I have found that describes this trail. We continued to the split in the trail at 2.25 miles, and took the left branch to the ford, about another quarter mile around the corner. While we sat there eating our lunch we heard a Crack! and looked up to see a large snag descend through the trees about a tenth of a mile from us. When we headed back up the trail we found a 30"" diameter tree trunk (measured by my trekking pole) blocking most of the trail. We cleared away the branches that obscured the trail and checked the upper trail before leaving the area. Only the rotten parts of the snag had landed on the upper trail, so it remained quite passable.