Mount St. Helens north

Last week on the Loowit Ben and I convinced ourselves that the trails to the north of Mount St. Helens in the Mount Margaret Backcountry area were looking good for a long run. A cool-looking 50k was mapped and Kevin joined in.

Well, it is February. And there were some big snow drifts that resulted in steep traverses with less-than-favorable runouts. About 14 miles in we made the call that pushing on wasn't the best choice and we still made a nice loop out of day that clocked in at ~25 miles with over 6,000' of climbing.

It was another gorgeous outing with good guys and from the summit of The Dome off Boundary Trail #1 we could see Jefferson, Hood, St. Helens, Adams and Rainier; Cascade volcanoes abound!

Starting out from the Hummocks TH

Low on the Johnston Ridge trail; Kevin's photo

Johnston Ridge trail

Johnston Ridge trail

Keyhole before Coldwater Peak

Mt. Rainier from the shoulder of Coldwater Peak

Rainier, Adams, St. Helens Lake, Spirit Lake, Hood, St. Helens; from the shoulder of Coldwater Peak

Kevin descending from most of the way up Coldwater Peak

Mount St. Helens' lava dome

Above St. Helens Lake; Ben's photo

Boundary Trail #1; Kevin's photo

Below The Dome

Looking over at Mt. Margaret, from where we turned around

Kevin styling; a little bit back from where we turned around

Ben, Kevin, me; summit of The Dome

Ben descending The Dome, with Mt. Adams and Spirit Lake

Kevin's photo

Looking up Coldwater Creek into the Mt. Margaret Backcountry

Numerous creeks along the Coldwater Lake trail

Finishing up along Coldwater Lake

Loowit Trail, Mount St. Helens

When it comes time to plan the next outing, there is nothing better than getting an enticing invite for adventure.

Ben shows up in my inbox, "...interested in re-branding next Saturday or Sunday as Saint Helen's day and going for a 'you shouldn't be able to do this in February' run around the volcano on the Loowit Trail?"

What a silly question. 

It was an amazing day with lots of solitude, elk and mountain goats. 

Relevant trail conditions:

• Snow: patchy, maybe 1/2-mile total, mostly on the south, southwest and southeast sides; never needed the microspikes we carried all day, though. 
• Blowdowns: maybe 10? Few new ones, no issues. 
• Ravines: it appears that heavy rain runoff or ground saturation has caused real erosion and washout issues. Many of the descents and ascents into the valleys are more difficult than normal (according to Ben, his third loop 'round), with a couple being completely gone (and the ones that are OK are frozen dirt). The worst is the Shoestring Glacier valley which requires a long but straightforward detour (see GPS file at bottom).

Ben's photo album on Facebook.

Trail up from Marble Mountain Sno Park to the Loowit

Looking south to Mt. Hood

Patchy snow on the south side; Ben's photo

Southwest side 

One of the early, and easy, ravine crossings

Goats and Mt. Rainer, looking across the Toutle River drainage

Looking across the Toutle at the trail climbing out

Toutle River

Descending to the Toutle

The descent into the Toutle; Ben's photo

The benched trail is pretty much a slope now; climbing out of the Toutle

"Breaking trail"

Elk

Another group

Some big bulls in there

Above the Toutle

Looking into the breach with a little steam coming out of the lava dome

Ben, Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier and Spirit Lake

Stayed dry; Ben's photo

Climbing to Windy Pass, center

Windy Pass; Ben's photo

At Windy Pass

"Action Ben" descending to the Plains of Abraham

Descending to the Plains of Abraham; Ben's photo

Enjoying the Plains of Abraham

Plains of Abraham; Ben's photo

Making up for the goats I didn't see in the Olympics

Another group

Just showing off...

Mt. Adams

Shoestring Glacier valley; regular trail on descent and far side ascent gone

Nope, high route not going to go

Dropping in ~.75m below the regular trail

Shoestring Glacier valley

Detouring through the valley bottom

Easy ascent out

Mt. Hood in the afternoon

Pretty cool huge ant hill

June Lake and waterfall

Nothing like sitting in a parking lot at the end of a long day (as long as it's followed with burgers and fries)

  

Ultra (pocketed) shorts

Sometimes I do feel like I'm wearing the running equivalent of cargo pants, but if you can put gloves, arm warmers and half a pound of candy in your pockets, why wouldn't you!?

For the last year I've primarily been switching between two pairs of shorts for long runs: Patagonia Strider Pro and The North Face Better Than Naked Long Haul. Now we've got a third wheel: Pearl Izumi Ultra Split.

All the specifications can be found on the manufacturers' links above, so I'll just highlight a few things on each pair that may be useful if you're looking at any of these shorts.

The North Face Better Than Naked Long Haul

Three small pockets, the top elastic on the two rear-side pockets could be a little tighter.

Pockets sewn into the boxer-brief liner; I don't think I've ever used them? I do like the rubber grippers inside though!

• Durability: I had to return my first pair after less than 200 miles as the groin seams had come undone. My replacement pair quickly is losing its TNF logo on the front. 
• Fit: true to size and the rubber grippers on the inner shorts are a nice touch.
• Key features: technically they have the most pockets, but I find the ones on the liner are not intuitive to use.

Patagonia Strider Pro

Five pockets from hip-to-hip across the back; small zippered pocket, but the stretchy envelope pockets are great.

I cut out the bikini liner as it was uncomfortable; these groin seams are coming out on the outside,
but the inner ones still are intact.

• Key features: drawstring is on the outside of the short! Pockets are super stretchy, easy to use and I don't worry about things falling out. 
• Durability: a little worried about the seams in the groin, but maybe that's a statement on my thighs...also cut out the liner and wear these with boxer-brief sport underwear.
• Fit: true to size, also the "least expensive" option at $59 MSRP.

Pearl Izumi Ultra Split

Two flask pockets on the hips, huge zippered pocket.

• Key features: fewest pockets, but has the largest main pocket. "Flask" pockets are nice and deep but I wish a little wider, though they are very stretchy. 
• Fit: small! I wear a small in everything but the shorts/tights in the Pearl Izumi Ultra line: these are size medium. They still fit snug though which keeps any items in the pockets from bouncing.
• Other: only 30 miles on them so far, basically still new. I did not cut out this liner as I feel like I probably can wear them for long runs without chafing (rarity for me with a bikini liner). I think these have the nicest outer shell material of the three.  

Last weekend was a sufferfest on Chuckanut with the bad weather...looking forward to a window this weekend to get back in the mountains.