Harry's Ridge is one of the best hikes you can do at Mount St. Helens National Monument! The…read morestarting point is at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, so throughout your entire time on this trail, you'll spot Mount St. Helens and find other gems along the way. We hiked Harry's Ridge on a Saturday afternoon after visiting the Johnston Ridge Observatory. I would highly recommend hiking Harry's Ridge as soon as you get to the visitor's center as this hike was a little over eight miles round trip, and you'll want to stop at different points for the views. Although it's a longer hike, it's not steep/difficult. It just takes some time. My favorite part about Harry's Ridge is that you can still see the trees that have collapsed from the eruption into Spirit Lake, even after all these years! Pretty incredible to think about, and reminds you of the history of Mount St. Helens. And if you haven't figured it out yet, this trail is named after Harry Truman, the beloved man who refused to leave Mount St. Helens even after several warnings of the eruption. On this trail, you'll see a memorial of all those who passed from the eruption. We hiked Harry's Ridge in the fall, which was a nice time to visit because we saw the fall colors along the trail. We purposely wanted to see the sunset from here, which was stunning. However, it does get super dark and the observatory does close by a certain time, so plan accordingly. As we were leaving the trail in the dark, that's when the animals came out, so we spotted a lot of elk. It was a memorable trip - and would recommend all who are visiting the Johnston Ridge Observatory to hike Harry's Ridge.

Perfect place to see Mt Helene faraway any case eruption happens…read more Be careful with all surroundings

This is an excellent Sno-Park giving great access to Mount St. Helens. Typically used for…read moresnowmobile trailer parking, we visited in the fall and parked our 37' motorhome in order to Basecamp for some hiking on the local trails. Due to the weather, we didn't summit the mountain, but there were trails leading from the overflow lot to the summit. The main lot is closed during the summer but the overflow lot stays open and has a lot of space for big rig parking. THE ROAD to get here is paved but has some large bumps that were marked with painted warnings when we came through. Take it slow and all is well.

This is where you go to climb Mt St Helens in the winter/when it still has lots of snow on it…read more The parking lot is nice enough, but there aren't really good spots to camp. It can be done. I've seen it done. But it's not ideal. The summer route, while much more dusty and crusty, starts a few hundred feet higher on the mountain at the climber's bivy.

This is a great first-summit and a great intro to mountaineering! (the South Spur route)…read more The hardest part of climbing Adams is waiting for the road to thaw out, it keeps snow well into summer. There is excellent camping at a large flat area below the false summit, known as "the lunchcounter". There is also incredible glissading from said false summit. In good conditions you can glissade all the way from the summit back to camp, YES! Make sure you take a blue bag, no shitting above treeline!

After looking at Bear Creek Mountain on my a map for the last couple years, I finally decided to…read morehike it---two weekends in a row and by two different routes. The first time I did it was from the Section 3 TH. This was a super easy hike, a bit too easy if you're looking for a workout. But it's amazing that you can basically drive up to 6000' and then once you get up on the ridge of Bear Creek Mtn you have THE BEST VIEW of the Goat Rocks!! After this hike I wanted to do it again, but with more of a workout, so I went for the trail from Tieton Meadows. This was unique because the trail has basically been abandoned (there are no signs for this trail). But it's on topo maps. This trail (#1126) was abandoned due to limited access from a road closure due to a bridge failure on Tieton River Rd. in 2011. The road remained closed until 2018. Once I crossed the Tieton river (there's two different downed-tree bridges) so didn't get wet at all, the route-finding began. I basically followed anything I could find...mostly cut trees for access, and pathways/bridges in the bogs of this meadow. Eventually I made it from the valley floor to some pink ribbons & I assumed these were the markers for the trail upward---I roughly knew where the trail would begin up because of drainage/water sources on topo maps. This is when the fun began. You can find full details of the hike in this video: https://youtu.be/RkLSB05lv9k

This trail is the begging of an ascent of the South side of Mt Adams. Sometimes called "Southern…read moreSpur". Waiting for the gravel road to melt out is the hardest part of accessing this trail. It starts in the trees an eventually peters out and gives way to snow, and the lower parts of the mountain. Once you're nearing the lunch counter, this is no trail, bro. You gotta route-find for yourself!

Believe it or not, this old mountain has a glacier on it!…read more It's probably the easiest glaciated mountain in the NW to reach the summit of. It's located in the scenic Goat Rocks Wilderness (I've never actually seen goats here though, woe is me) and you'll spend a little time on the PCT. This mountain can be done in a day or a weekend. Once the snow has melted, colorful wild flowers dot the alpine meadows around the mountain. There are worse places to camp.

Our group had a great hike up to the top of Old Snowy. I made it to about a mile beneath where I…read morewas very happy to hang out and enjoy the view of Goat Lake and Mt. Rainier. Gorgeous flowers up here and an outstanding view of Mt. Adams and ST. Helens as well. Lots of folks on this trail though. There were even dogs and a couple of horses. DIdn't see much wildlife up there except for a marmot and pika. Lovely day hike up here though.

I would describe Gifford Pinchot National Forest like Endor meets FernGully. It feels like stepping…read moreinto another world. As you drive through the forest, you will see tons of spots for dispersed camping, but not just pull outs, spots that people have genuinely taken the time to create. There are fire pits and places for chairs and tents, as well as short walking paths to the water. Some of the spots are even directly on the water and all of them are lovely. The sound of the flowing water and the green misty canopy of trees, made our stay here absolutely magical. We made s'mores and wandered the paths... I even stumbled across a tiny little fairy house hidden in the woods. It made me feel like a kid again and it's essence. Perfectly captured the spirit of this place. It's one of the most beautiful forests I've had the privilege to explore and I can't wait to come back. If you need bathrooms or showers or water hookups or electricity or even a cell signal, this is definitely not the place for you... But if you want to find an enchanting natural surrounding that reminds you of the beauty of this Earth, I definitely recommend venturing here.

I have to, driving through this forest after leaving the Mt. Rainier area and headed towards Mt…read more Saint Helen's on the NFD 25, which is closed during winters by the way, was quite a sight. The forest is stunningly beautiful and there's not short of beautiful green trees, rivers, streams, snow capped mountains, lakes, and wildlife. It's like stepping into another world, truly, and one's left with an utter sensation of vulnerability to the forest. It was a long drive from the 12 heading south on the 25 to reach NF 90 that eventually turns into the 503 heading west. It was worth the two hours plus, and I will certainly not forget all the views and stops we made along the way.

This is the winter route up Mt St Helens. (MSH)…read more I've climbed MSH 4 times. Always by this line. The glissading down from the summit is spectacular. If conditions are ripe, you can glissade almost all the way back down to camp (if you choose to make a camp, you don't have to, I'm not telling you how to climb your climb) Why is the route named this? I'm not certain about the "worm flows" part, my guess would be it has something to do with the lava or lahar flows after MSH blew its top. As for the Swift Glacier, that's a glacier that *used* to be on the mountain...and might still be there, but I doubt it...