South Coldwater Trail — Saturday, Jul. 23, 2011

South Cascades > Mount St. Helens

The trail was in great shape. Well maintained.This trail is very dry so take along plenty of water. I never encountered any other hikers along the way,although there were a couple of cars at the trail head. The weather was beautiful as I made my way towards St Helens Lk. My goal was to climb to the top of Coldwater Peak, which I did reach. The views were awesome! Could see Mt.Adams,Rainer,Hood,the Goat Rocks and of course St. Helens looming huge in front of me.There were just a few bugs to speak of,not bad at all.I also saw upwards of 100 elk,25+ of them were bulls. Overall,this is a great day hike. Nice to see the Mt. St. Helens area recuperating an growing back to beautiful conditions. Take the hike on a beautiful sunny day as yesterday and you won't be disappointed.