We wanted to complete a hike a part of a day visit to St. Helens and this was a good choice. Even on a Sunday afternoon the parking lot was fairly empty and we only saw four other people while out on the trail.
There was more shade on the trail than expected, but do bring sunscreen, a hat, and plenty of water on this dry trail.
We met an overnight backpacker. There is a campsite about 3 miles into the hike, not to far from the junction with the Lake Trail (to circumnavigate Coldwater Lake) and 230 (which will take you to the Boundary Trail).
We decided to venture beyond the junction. Hiking about another 1.5 miles led to a saddle with a really nice view of the volcano and Johnson Observatory (below and to your right). This had an additional gain of about 700-800 feet in elevation.
In total, we figured we hiked about 9 miles round trip with a gain of about 2100 feet.
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