Mom and I wanted to do something as a family during our weekend and we both decided to do a hike near Mt. St. Helens. We got Dad on board, Erika said she wanted to and would drag Zach along and Doug said that he needed to get out of the house and do something so he agreed to come. The night before I got all of my hiking stuff together and set it aside, got some of my non-perishable lunch items together and will make my sandwich the next day. Since we were going to forest land I had to purchase and print a NW Forest Pass for $5. Not a big deal. I set that aside with my other stuff that was ready to go.
The next morning we got up around 6, put our clothes on, made some sandwiches and put it all in the back of the Escape. Erika, Zach and I went and got Doug. But before we could leave the house, Erika couldn't find her phone so it made us late actually picking up Doug. Of course when we got there Doug made a giant effort to let us know that we were late. We told him what had happened. He threw his stuff in the back and now we were off to Mom and Dad's house. Along the way we would have to mail a package for Jenn, which I wasn't sure why she couldn't have mailed it?
We got into Rainier and Mom and Dad weren't quite ready yet...of course. We packed up Mom's Expedition, since it was big enough to fit everyone, locked the house, packed everyone into the SUV and we were finally off. We didn't leave until almost 8 and of course they made me drive. We drove west down 507 towards Tenino, into Grand Mound and onto I-5 south. You could hear mom and Doug discussing where to drop off the package at. We weren't sure when the post offices opened. We approached Castle Rock and I told them we could find the post office here and drop it off? Yeah? I had them look up the address for the post office. We arrived and I sat in the SUV. They told me to drive over to the grocery store because they wanted coffee. We all used the restroom before we left.
We left town and drove over the freeway onto Hwy 504 or the Spirit Lake Highway. This road was basically obliterated in the eruption. 25 miles of roadway and 7 of the 8 highways bridges were destroyed or buried underneath the enormous lahar that charged down the Toutle River valley. Kid Valley was the only area that survived because of its clearance from the mudflow.
We drove through the small town of Toutle. We reminisced on the times we came here to play against them in high school. The last time I came here to play we beat Toutle Lake in a double header fastpitch game almost 20 years ago. Since then, I've been here a few times over the years visiting Mt. St. Helens and grabbing geocaches with various people. We drove past the cement Sasquatch statue and I should have stopped for a group photo but I figured we might do it on the way back. We started up the grade.
I followed Nuvi's directions because I wasn't really sure where the parking area was for this particular trailhead. The landscape changes every time I come up here. The trees are getting taller, the plants are coming in thicker and overall it is recovering as fast as it can...even though it's been 39 years. This area is forever changed. We made the turn off of the highway and another turn into the parking lot of Coldwater Lake. We got there around 10 a.m. We used the restroom, got our hiking shoes on, gathered our packs, water, cameras, cell phones and off we went. The weather was decent. Warm with a slight breeze and high scattered clouds.
We started off at the Birth of a Lake Trail, which was on the boardwalk and took a few pictures.
We spent about 20 minutes here before we started onto the Lakes Trail (#211) Trailhead along the shoreline. There, we began our out and back hike along the lake on a well maintained trail. Along the way we stopped about three times to take pictures, eat some snacks and take some well needed water breaks. The scenery was gorgeous and the viewpoints of the lake were very scenic.
From this trail you can't see the mountain because of the hills blocking our view. We knew where it was but sadly we weren't able to see it. You barely could at the boardwalk. There were quite a few people kayaking in the lake and it centralized around the hummock.
The trail was pretty moderate. There were a lot of flat straight parts and some hilly gain elevation spots. There were a lot of Douglas Firs, Cedar, various mountain grasses, plants, shrubs, we saw rabbits, many kids of birds, bees, butterflies and insects. Most of the hike was flat and straight but there were some hills and climbs in elevation but we all were in pretty good shape so none of us really had any trouble. We did pass by a few hikers along the way.
A few places had small creeks we had to cross and there were small foot bridges in place to keep the erosion at a minimum, there was a larger area that looked like a washout almost at the end of the lake where a lot of water either comes through during the winter every season or had come through at some point because it was worn out. There were a lot of rocks, pumice, ash and hardly any vegetation in this one spot. As we got closer to the end of the lake, we noticed a lot more Alder trees around the edge of the lake.
The trail sorta ended at the end of the lake and we all decided it was a great time to find a spot to sit and eat lunch. It was about 12:45. We all made some sort of sandwich, chips, fruit and a drink. I brought my famous go to, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some Doritos. We ate our food and enjoyed the scenery. Throughout bites of food, we took turns throwing rocks at a rogue log floating in the lake. We took several pictures before cleaning up, putting our packs back on and headed back to the parking lot. We left around 1:15.
Since we already saw most of the stuff on the way in, we didn't stop as much on the way back, except for water. I did take a few pictures but for the most part we just walked and talked about various things. Mom's knee was starting to hurt so she slowed down and my feet were starting to hurt about halfway back. We did stop at the biffy (bathroom in the forest for you) and we all used it before we hiked on. As we got closer, I started to speed up because my feet were hurting more, we were almost there and I had to use the bathroom somewhat urgently.
We got back to the trailhead and the parking lot around 3. I used the restroom as quickly as I could while everyone else gathered at the Expedition to take their socks and shoes off. I met them there shortly after. I needed to trade my hiking shoes for some flip flops. We piled in and we all smelled pretty bad. I had everyone crack their window. We drove back towards I-5 down Hwy 504. I wanted to stop at a view so we could see the mountain today. We stopped at Elk Rock Overlook (was surprised there wasn't a geocache at this viewpoint) and took a group picture. The mountain had clouds hiding the top of it but we could still see it.
Everyone was pretty tired so we didn't get to stop at the cement Sasquatch statue like I wanted. Oh well. Maybe next time? We got on I-5 and asked what people would like for dinner. Mom and I usually go to Papa Pete's Pizza but no one wanted pizza. Okay, then what did everyone want then? No one said anything so I took everyone to Dairy Queen in Centralia. We ate dinner and then had ice cream. This is what you get when you don't answer my question when I am driving. I had a chicken basket and a strawberry sundae. It hit the spot after a long hike.
We stopped at the Safeway up the road so mom could get some potatoes for potato salad but they didn't have any she wanted. We got back on the freeway and got off at the exit for Tenino/Rainier. When we got to Tenino we stopped at Dave's Market. They didn't have her potatoes either. We just went home, dropped off mom and dad, traded our stuff into the Escape, petted mom's kitty Chloe and left to go home.
I went to my house first because Erika and Zach didn't want to go with to drop Doug off, so I dropped them off and drove to Doug's house. He said he had a good time but was glad to be home so he could shower and relax. He said he was probably going to be sore the next day. I agreed with him. This was probably the first physical thing he's done with us in a really long time. I needed to get one more cache for the 7 caches for 7 days streak. I drove into Hawks Prairie because there has been some new caches publish over the last two weeks. I grabbed Pink Flamingo Frost (GC8BRX2) which was over by the Dutch Brothers coffee stand. It didn't take me long to find it. I logged my name, got my picture and put it back. I went home and showered.
I made some popcorn and watched the Cougars beat New Mexico State 58-7. After the game, I was tired so I went to bed. I knew I was also going to be sore tomorrow but probably not as bad as Doug. I took some Tylenol PM, snuggled with my cat and got some Zzzz's.
Next Adventure: Sounders Weekend
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