Thursday, July 19, 2012

Backpacking in St Helens National Forrest

Sandi had a free weekend last week so we took advantage of it with a two-night backbacking trip.  We chose Siouxon Creek in the south part of the Mt. St. Helens National Forrest because it boasted beautiful scenery, lots of campsites and a gradual gain in elevation.  It was a great weekend.


This is our first campsite.  It was right off the creek.  Both campsites were well developed with a fire pit and seating area. 

I love backpacking, but the worst part about it is always the bear hang.  Trying to throw a rope over a strudy limb without getting it tangled is always a challenge.  Sometimes we even get to try it in daylight.  This is one of the better ones. 


The two of us with our full packs on.

There were lots of waterfalls and pools.  We waded, but it was too cold to swim.


I took this picture from our 2nd campsite.


Saturday night was 'Thanksgiving Dinner'.  It consisted of powdered mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and canned chicken.  Yummm!


A trip to the St. Helens National Forrest wouldn't be complete without a view of Mt. St. Helens.  The complete story is that we planned on hiking a part of a loop on Saturday that would bring us to a vista like this, then find a campsite on the ridge for Saturday night.  This was a gain of 2500 feet.  Unfortunately, the trail was poorly signed and there was no campsites or water.  Partly out of frustration and partly out of survival, we decided to complete the loop and head back down all 2500 feet to the creek.  Our second campsite was about a mile from our first campsite, even though we hiked over 8 miles up and down hill that day. 

celebrating something

The water was cold and clear.

Sandi at the ever-important junction of Wildcat trail.  Here, we began our 2-mile + descent to a much welcomed campsite.  

No comments:

Post a Comment

Happy 7th Amber!

Happy Birthday Amber The day finally arrived - we've been talking about it since October last year. And what a celebration you crafted!...