The Pursuit of Singletrack: Coldwater Lake Loop, MSH

It had been years since I had travelled up to the Johnson Ridge Observatory or the Coldwater Lake area. Last year, I spent some time up towards Ape Canyon volunteering at the Volcanic 50k and was amazed by the quality of trail and beautiful scenery. The following winter, I spent some time pouring over maps of the area trying to determine where some good training runs would be and waiting for the snow to melt.

My route took me down the the lake, around to the backside, then up around the peaks on the right

The opportunity finally presented itself a couple weeks ago so I made the 2 hour trip North to check out the Coldwater Lake area of the National Volcanic Monument. The weather was supposed to be hot, and while it was over 90 degrees in Portland, it probably only hit 75ish in the mountains. Despite that, it still seems very hot and most of the run was exposed with little tree cover.

Mt. Margaret Backcountry

Old tractor up ended by the volcano.

I got the the top of this trail and ran into 12 mountain bikers. At first I thought that they were poaching trail, then I realized that they were doing trail work. I stopped and talked to one of the guys and he told me that they were a group from Castle Rock and had made a deal with the Forest Service that if they maintained the trails then they could have access to those areas. While they can't make the loop all the way around to the Observatory due to sensitive areas, they have already cleared path around the lake and up and beyond tractor junction. I'll have to remember this so I can come back and ride it. The views are insane and the downhill looks like lots of fun.

Coming up to the pass

My proposed route would follow Coldwater Lake trail from the old visitor center then climb up and around to the Coldwater Peak Pass and St. Helen’s Lake. I had the goal of trying to summit Coldwater Peak, but some minor snow fields, the fact that I was by myself and the fact that I couldn’t exactly determine the correct route, pushed me towards the more attainable goal nearby. From there I wound by way down to Johnson Ridge then down towards the Hummocks and back to the old visitor center.

The road to Johnson Ridge. I came from over the second ridge

St. Helens Lake pano

Tough Trail

Famous Rock Arch

MSH had a hat on for most of the day

Looking back the way I had came

Johnson Ridge is on top of that hill in the middle

Trail on the left of the ridge face

Hordes of people

Other than the hordes of people around the visitor center, there were only a few people on the trails since made it pretty nice. I would have to say that this was one of the most enjoyable runs that I’ve ever done. Pretty tough, but very beautiful. After looking over towards the Mt. Margaret Backcountry, it confirmed the fact that I would love to run the loop around St. Helen’s Lake through that wilderness area. I would also love to run around MSH via the Loowit Trail this fall if my body holds up. As of now, I have a permit to climb MSH the first weekend in August so I am looking forward to that opportunity.