Roman went hiking July 2, 2011 3.5 miles 1,750 feet gained
In short - too much snow starting at 3,400 feet (!). There were patches of snow along the road to the trailhead (around 3,000'), and once you cross the creek near Blue Lake, the trail is mostly covered with up to 2-3 feet of snow. I lost others' boot tracks 1/4 mile after the creek crossing (tracks are hard to see on dirty snow), and since I don't know that trail well, gave up on Sheep Canyon and decided just to scramble to a good viewpoint of St. Helens.
The rest of the story - in pictures.
