5.6 miles of hiking • 1250' elevation gain •
It was somewhat late until we got out of the house but our daughter-in-law had never been close up to Mt. St. Helens. In fact, we found out she had never hiked in the snow (grew up in the San Francisco Bay area)! We parked at the Kalama Horse (light dusting of snow on the ground) Camp and headed up the Cinnamon trail, where there is a nice view of Mt. St. Helens! Unfortunately, we reached a downed tree that the family wouldn't crawl under. We were about a mile from a nice viewpoint, but they weren't comfortable continuing, so we turned around and headed toward the Kalama River Loop Trail. There was a nice dusting of snow, on the trail system, in the open areas, so we at least hiked in the snow! The gate to NF-81 was still open so I felt bad not initially driving to Goat Marsh, which is always spectacular and has a view of Mt. St. Helens. Still, a nice brisk day in a beautiful area!
