First Weekend of April – 02-Apr-2021 through 04-Apr-2021


It’s been a while since I’ve had a full adventure weekend. I’ve been kind of floating around between adventures this spring, not really sure what I want to be doing and feeling a bit aimless. I don’t know if it’s the longer days, the solitude, or what… but for better or worse, it’s been a real challenge motivating myself to do much else aside from go to work, go to the gym, and try to regenerate my energy at home by laying on the couch like a lazy bear.

This weekend, I planned it out. I set goals, timetables, and decided to move. To charge forward and to try and drive myself out of the funk that comes with the changing of the seasons!


Saturday, 03-Apr-2021


I’m really happy with how many adventures I’ve been able to go on, and how many amazing photos I’ve been able to take on those trips.

It’s sort of like I’m exploring Oregon for the first time… again. I’m poking around, learning new areas, and seeing slightly different edges of those areas as I stretch out and visit more places.

Today was a hike like that – Exploring a slightly different iteration of a place that I’d been to before.

Last summer, Laurel and I had hiked the Boundary Trail North of Mt. St. Helens, getting some amazing views and learning just how much water one can drink while on a dusty hike… even if the weather isn’t particularly hot. This time, we went to a similar spot, but coming in from the other direction – starting at Coldwater Lake, and heading toward the peak itself…

Coldwater Lake is gorgeous, and is an extremely young lake in comparison to most of the places I’ve been too – check out the Wikipedia link below, but the short version is that Coldwater Lake was formed in 1980 by the Mt. St. Helens eruption, when the explosion created a huge line of detritus that blocked the river, creating this lake. The lake barrier was then reinforced by the Army Corps of Engineers, to avoid a catastrophic flood once the natural barrier collapsed… which created this gorgeous lake, with full trees still standing in some parts.

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This hike was beautiful.

Just… so amazingly beautiful.



It was actually quite warm as we walked along the perimeter of the lake; the snow capped mountains were all around, but down at lake-level it was warm and dry… warm enough that I actually hiked in a tee-shirt, and had to toss some extra sun screen on as the sun got higher in the sky.

What else to say… as I’ve mentioned, hiking stories aren’t really the most exciting things to write about. It’s a lot of walking, chatting, and enjoying the scenery. Which, while fun for me, isn’t quite as interesting for people to read about.

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Ohh! The snow!

That was a cool part!

Like I mentioned, there really wasn’t any snow down at lake-level… but that changed almost immediately after we crossed over a small bridge, and started to head up in elevation. Literally within maybe 500ft of elevation change, the trail went from bare dirt to multiple feet of snow. Enough that crampons and gaiters came out, and the going got quite slow.

Two interesting events of note happened in the snowy section:

• We found a full camping stove sitting in the middle of the trail. Literally, one of those single-burner, internal-tank propane stoves. In a full case. Literally in the middle of the trail. I assume… dropped on the descent by another party, maybe?
  However it came to be there, ensconced in the snow… I have a new campstove now, which is cool.
  
• Aliona fell so far into the snow that she nearly died, and I needed to rescue her.
  I’m… not convinced about exactly how accurate that depiction really is… but she’s adamant that it be typed up that way. Specifically, and I quote, “Make sure you don’t skip any important details about saving my life when I sunk neck deep in snow”.
  
  So… you know. Heroic rescuerer, here. I dove into the swirling snow-eddies after her, selflessly imperelling myself as we struggled mightely against the sheer weight of the unfathomable doom that is a snowy trail.

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I promise I’m normal.

In all truth though, the snow was impressive, and surprising after the clear trail that we’d entered by. It wasn’t too bad of a walk, but definitely challenging… and frankly was getting harsher the closer we approached Coldwater Peak itself.

With that risk in mind, and the sun dipping at our backs, we made the call – 30min more of ascent, and then an enforced turn around time. We didn’t quite make it to the peak… but I’m quite happy with the views we did get, and the sheer distance we hiked.

12.73 miles is nothing to sneeze at… especially when surrounded by peaks as glorious as this.

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldwater_Lake_(Washington)