Clifton Perkins had heard that the road to the Johnston Ridge Observatory was open, so he brought his family there from Puyallup on Presidents Day.
When the family encountered a closed gate 9 miles from the end of Spirit Lake Memorial Highway, they opted to hike up to the ridge instead.
The Perkins family was one of several groups that day that hiked the Boundary Trail to Johnston Ridge, which offers a great view into the crater of Mount St. Helens.
Johnston Ridge can be jammed with visitors from late May through October, when Spirit Lake Memorial Highway is open all the way to the visitor center.
The state Department of Transportation closes the highway past the Hummocks Trail parking lot in winter, because in most years there can be avalanche danger higher up. Even though the upper road is bone-dry this year, the DOT still keeps it closed to save money and because there’s no staffing at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, department spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe said in an email. The upper road also has experienced landslides, she said.
Even if hiking is required to get there, the views from Johnston Ridge are just as good on a clear winter day as in summer — and the trail offers a good look at several remote ponds in the Toutle River Valley that aren’t visible to drivers.
To access the trail, start at the trailhead for the Hummocks Trail about 45 miles up Spirit Lake Memorial Highway from Castle Rock. Take the eastern end of Hummocks Trail 229, a 2.3-mile loop that meanders through the harsh landscape of the hummocks, which are Mount St. Helens debris deposited by the 1980 mudflow.
The signboard at the parking lot (elevation 2,500 feet) tells what’s not allowed: Pets, picking up frogs, picking wildflowers, going off-trail, mountain bikes and motorized vehicles.
After half a mile, there’s a well-marked junction with Boundary Trail No. 1.
The Boundary Trail climbs gently at first past several small lakes, which would be inviting places to visit. But the Forest Service prohibits off-trail travel in this area to prevent damage to research areas. Rising out of the alder thickets, it’s easier to see the oddly shaped hummocks of debris.
About 1.25 miles from the trailhead, Johnston Ridge appears above and the trail starts to climb more steeply. In the next 3 miles, it gains another 1,500 feet of elevation. The higher you go, the longer the views.
Mount St. Helens appears, its snow mantle the only expanse of white in sight. Even the 6,000-foot-high peaks of the Mount Margaret range have only a few small patches of snow on them in this unusually warm and dry winter.
Several hundred feet below, the Toutle River is a meandering ribbon of white, only a few feet wide.
The trail zigs and zags over the pumice. Every once in a while, a wooden post marks the route, though the trail is easy to follow when there’s no snow.
Along with the views, the vegetation changes too. Though it’s mostly a barren landscape, the trail passes through a grove of cherry trees. Farther up the trail are stout Pacific silver fir, with trunks several feet thick. Those trees probably survived the eruption buried in snow. Smaller Noble firs have grown up since.
A stump — weathered white, with a rusting cable draped around it — is a reminder of logging that happened before the 1980 eruption. The grade near the top of the hike is easier as it follows old logging spurs.
About 3.5 miles from the trailhead, the trail crosses a small stream, the only source of water on the route. Near the top, the trail passes through a swatch of blown-down timber from the eruption.
All the visual variety attracted 15-year-old twins Chelsea and Kayley Rendon and their mother, Jennell, from Kent. Chelsea and Kayley carried old Nikon film cameras to record black-and-white images for their photography class.
The Rendons turned around at spot where the trail was tricky. The trail crosses a couple of steep side slopes that would be slippery when wet.
It’s 4.5 miles from the parking lot to the Loowit Viewpoint on the closed highway, a good turning-around point. The JRO is another three-quarters of a mile up the trail, though the views aren’t much better there.
Hikers are allowed on the closed part of the highway, though it’s more than twice as long that way as taking the trail. Cyclists could ride the road, though.
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