Kalama River Trail to Goat Lake Marsh sort of and Blue Lake (Mt St Helens SW side.

My plans were to hike from a Horse Camp at the base of Mt St Helens, to Goat Lake Marsh. I started at the horse camp, but got set off onto the wrong trail. I wound up climbing up and up and up for a few miles before I realized I was on the wrong trail. It was a very nice trail and reminded me of the Salmon River Trail near Mt Hood. I finally gave up and headed back to the horse camp and found the right trail. By then my legs were jello from the climbing. The main road continued beyond the Horse Camp to the Goat Lake Marsh trail head. So I decided to take the easy way. Drive. The hike to the lake(s) was very nice and as I approached the first end of the lake, Mt St Helens was poking through the clouds. It was amazing to see. The lakes were so peaceful and calm. I hiked further to the other end of the lake and saw Osprey and many other birds. I ate lunch and reviewed my maps to see where the Kalama Ski trail was located. I saw it on the map, but could not find it on foot. So I decided to drive to Blue Lake trail head. That area is a large washout. It looks like either left over from when Mt St Helens blew, or a massive slide due to snow. I will be researching to find out. The pics below are pretty cool. The trail to Blue Lake was tricky and required a lot of walking on rocks. The trail seemed to change from year to year as snow melt pushed water through the area. The Cold Spring River flows out of Blue Lake and is crystal clear and cold. On a hot day, it would be fun to cool off in it. There are views of Mt St Helens along the trail, but none from the lake itself. The lake is small, but it is very clear and pretty. I will return to explore this area again someday.

This is the Trail Head at the Horse Camp. Not too confusing, until I got further down the trail and the split , split my brain. 

The Kalama River

Taking the wrong trail, allowed me to see this cute Newt. 

There used to be some big honkin trees in this forest. 

This is where I should have figured out I was messed up on my directions. But this is a pretty steep washout. 

The Sign said Horses and Hikers. Doubt any Horses made it past this point. 

Back near the Horse Camp

This is the way I should have gone, instead of over that Kalama bridge. 

The clue was the blue diamonds. They are used for marking the trail for winter cross country skiing and snow shoeing. 

So I drove here to the Goat Lake Marsh Trail Head. 

I was surprised to see only hikers allowed, since this is a heavy horse area. 

Goat Lake Marsh SE end. 

This is where Mt St Helens was poking through. Look hard. 

Now I can see the mountain more as I rounded the lake. 

Not sure what to say about these logs in the water, but they looked interesting. 

This is Goat Mountain. 

After I left Goat Lake Marsh, I drove to Blue Lake Trail Head. The map shows the road continues further. It even shows 4WD. I had to laugh. That would be a monster truck that would go through here. It is actually the washout. Not sure from St Helens or just a snow melt one year. 

All signs have to have bullet holes in them. This one almost hit their target. 

Mt St Helens peeking through the trees. 

Better view. 

The somewhat trail through the rocks. 

That washout covered a large area. 

Cold Spring river. 

Most of the trail was through rocks such as these. But the reward is Blue Lake. 

The lake just spilled over gradually. It was very peaceful. 

What ever caused these slides, was massive. These boulder stack above my head. The funny thing, trees in the middle of them are still standing. Dead, but standing. 

On a clearer day, this is the view from Goat Lake Marsh (Not my pic). When I return, it will be on a clear hot day, so I can jump in the nearby rivers and lakes. 

The lower left is the Kalama Horse Camp. Where my day started. 

For fun, check out 1979 document for the Goat Lake Marsh area. This was a year before the mountain blew. Click here 

Catherine Creek Mini Hike w/ Special guest

Today we had a special guest join us on a hike. Mary has wanted to join us on a hike for some time. I chose Catherine Creek east of Bingen. This area has amazing wild flowers in the spring time. The weather was to change for the worse in Portland about mid day. But the farther east we go, the less chance for rain. The weather cooperated and only sprinkled a bit. I left one of my cameras at home, so I only used my cell phone. The pics are not the best, but should show how pretty it is in that area. The Catherine Creek area has many miles of trails. I chose a short 2 mile route because we had plans to go to Hood River, Packer Orchards Bakery and Draper Girls Farm to visit some goats. We also did a little Geocaching along the trail. We found two, but that was enough for the short time we were there.

Here is a link to the Hike on Portland Hikers Website

 http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org/wiki/Catherine_Creek_Arch_Loop_Hike

Now on to pics.

Catherine Creek area is on the east end of the Columbia River Gorge, on the Washington side. 

Weather was a little drizzly at times. 

Pretty flowers everywhere. The ladybug was enjoying the view. 

 Catherine Creek. 

Rocky cliffs surround the area. 

Our first Geocache. Not a hard find. 

There is an arch in the below picture. A couple years ago, one could walk through and around it. But now it is off limits because of some sacred Indian reason. 

An old corral. Cattle used to graze on this land. It no longer is used for that. 

Michael snooping on Mary's texting. 

The views are incredible.  

Ann Marie searching for a Geocache on a cliff. 

A view from the second Geocache

After climbing a hundred feet to find the second Geocache, I had realized, there is a easier way to get to it. On the way back to the car, we stopped along the easy route to revisit the cache. 

A view of what Ann Marie and I climbed earlier to get to the cache. 

After our hike, we took a drive up to Packer Orchards Bakery, then to the Draper Girls Farm. This is Ann Marie visiting Snowflake. A couple years ago, Ann Marie fed Snowflake with a bottle. 

This is Ann Marie 2 years ago feeding Snowflake.

 Snowflake is now a mom. This is Cidar, who was born last year.