Ape Canyon Trail is in great shape. The only negative aspect of this trail is the boring first mile through pre-1980 tree plantations. Once you enter the old forest and start climbing, the trail continues to get more and more interesting. This ridge is the only significant surviving old growth stand on the southeast side of St. Helens. We reached the rim of Ape Canyon in a thick fog and sat waiting for the sun to break through. Rocks could be heard falling in the canyon and a strange growling noise turned out to be not a sasquatch, but a couple of marmots fighting over a rock!
The sun came out, revealing the mountain in its surreal and primeval splendor. We continued across the Plains of Abraham, which have changed greatly since our last visit in 1994. If you want to see the Plains in their raw state you'd better hurry! Conifers and penstemon and willows are colonizing rapidly. Pumice Butte and the other hills that bound the east side of the Plains were awash with orange paintbrush and purple lupines. Continued up to Windy Pass for a nice look down onto the east half of Spirit Lake and the Mount Margaret Backcountry. One person could be seen walking across the Pumice Plain.
Return to the trailhead was uneventful, but we did pass a family heading up on the 11-mile round trip with no supplies other than plastic bottles of water.