Trip Type: 1-night, Loop
Trails:

• Green River Trail 213
• Vanson Ridge Trail 213A
• Vanson Lake Trail 217B
• Goat Mountain Trail 217

This trip started out as a 2 night weekend trip however, as usual plans change.

Getting to the trail head wasn't an issue at all, I used Google Maps which did take me on NF-2742 that did have gates (open, at the time) which may pose an issue if/when they were closed.

Once on NF-25, the road certainly has slumps, potholes and other potential hazards, and driving speed will be slow.

Day 1 / Friday
Parked at the Goat Mountain / Deadmans Lake TH, and took the Green River Trail (across the road from the Parking Lot), and headed downhill. The trail was wonderfully soft filled with needles and other forest duff. Trail condition was excellent. I followed this down to the junction, where it splits off and if taken, will take you back up the hill on the other side of Ryan Lake.

I continued towards the horse camp, and at one point I passed through a small meadow, and the trail widened which looked like it could have been an old road at one point.

Because it was fairly late I stayed the night at the horse camp. There is no water here, and it's a little bit of a walk to the river where you can gain access to the surface.

Day 2 / Saturday
The forecast called for showers in the afternoon and rain on Sunday, which was my planned day to finish. I wasn't in the mood to be wet over-night so I decided I would see if I could hike the rest of the trail in one day, this would be dependent on how much time I had left once I reached my planned destination, Vanson Lake.

The Green River trail is wonderful; peaceful, and once you hit the old growth it just becomes even better. The trail isn't always near the river, and frequently you can't see it even when you are near. As others have previously mentioned, the trail has been re-routed around washouts. The trail itself was in good condition, but being early in the season there was a fair amount of blow-downs that had to be navigated through. The trail was always easy to pickup but some of the downed trees took a little effort to pass by.

I arrived at Vanson lake around 11:30 am, two hours before my targeted time of 12:30 pm. The lake was covered in mist, it was cold and I certainly wasn't feeling like hanging around for the rest of the day. So I pulled out my stove and ate my dinner, while the dog ate his. I figured this would help give us energy to finish the 8.5 miles that we had left to go to reach the trail head.

As we made our way across the ridges, we passed several people heading down to the Green River, and once we broke out of the tree's the clouds had partially broken up giving us some views, unfortunately we couldn't see one mountain top, but at least the views of the valleys were glorious. Especially hearing the thundering of the streams draining from the Venus lakes and Island Lake across the valley in the Mt Margaret Backcountry.

A few short hours later we arrived back at the trail head and headed home. Tired, but satisfied in completing a nearly 20 mile hike in one day.

The only reason I said "obstacle on trail" is because I couldn't even get it it. The main forest road was open and people were fishing at the river on the way in but the forest road branch I needed to turn to access the trailhead was closed and my GPS said I had 22 miles to go. I tried other extensions of the forest road without getting too far out but all had their gates closed.

I was very frustrated by this.

Solitude seems guaranteed on this trail.

We hiked west from the trailhead on FR 2612 down river to the junction with Vanson Ridge Trail #213A and back, for 11.6 miles round trip, and did not encounter anyone else.

The price of admission to hiking among huge, ancient trees is the first 2 miles/last 2 miles of hike through "industrial forest." The forest here was blown down by Mount St. Helens' 1980 eruption, salvaged for timber, and replanted to a monoculture of Douglas-fir. The Forest Service appears to have emulated Weyerhaeuser's management of its "tree farm" to the west. The approximately 35 year old forest has closed canopy and is a rather boring hiking experience.

The Green River Trail is getting longer in that segment, too, as re-routes are constantly needed to bypass tributary streams that are eroding the deep pumice soils during high flows. These mini-canyons are taking out the trail tread and bridges, forcing the trail to be re-routed upstream.

It was a relief to reach the "fringe zone" at about 2.2 miles where snags from the 1980 blast are disappearing in naturally recovering forest. We could see up the flank of Goat Mountain ridge above us and across the Green River valley to the Mount Margaret Backcountry ridges and the glacial cirques of the Venus lakes.

At some point, we crossed over the unmarked national monument boundary. I was thrilled to be finally walking in the deep shade of big trees and we noticed a more diverse understory vegetation.

We crossed Minnie Lee Creek on a deteriorating bridge and paused for lunch at one of the riverside camps. After lunch, we continued on another 2.2 miles to enjoy the biggest of the ancient trees, most standing but some as large, fallen logs nurturing the next generation of forest. We crossed several streams on wooden bridges and just before our turnaround point, we encountered a brand-new bridge constructed just a few weeks ago from materials on site by volunteers from WTA, Backcountry Horsemen and Trans Cascadia mountain bikers. We turned around at the junction with the Vanson Ridge Trail.

Summary: Parked at the Green River Horse Camp, hiked to Vanson Lake via Green River Trail, then camped at Deadman's Lake, followed by a return via Goat Mountain Trail. Trail is easy to follow the whole way, albeit muddy at times. Virtually no biting insects.

To Trailhead: Despite some initial confusion around whether Forest Road 26 was fully open, I can indeed confirm that the road is paved and passable all the way to the junction with FR2612, which itself is in excellent shape for a gravel road. Plenty of parking by the trailhead, though no privy as far as I could see.

To Vanson Lake: Thanks to some recent trail work, Green River trail was easy to follow and virtually brush-free as it meanders slowly down the river valley. Other than some muddy low points, the trail was uneventful and completely deserted all the way to the junction with the Vanson Lake trail. Shortly after beginning the climb to Vanson Lake I encountered a party of cyclists descending, and as I neared the lake itself I found another group of cyclists. The lake was shrouded entirely in mist, and I enjoyed a quiet lunch by its foggy banks.

To Deadman's Lake: Naturally, given how uncooperative the weather was, I decided to forego the climb to Vanson Peak itself. Instead I hiked towards Deadman's Lake, arriving just as another backpacker finished setting up their hammock camp. There's plenty of campsites along the shores, and I had no trouble setting up a secluded camp by the water, though a few parties arrived later and had to work a bit harder to find a place to pitch a tent. It rained intermittently, and I spent the evening ensconced in my tent, unable to enjoy the ongoing meteor shower.

To the Trailhead: After waiting for the morning rain to pass, I soon packed up and headed along goat mountain, the views of which are apparently quite pleasant. Other than some wildflowers on the trail and a brief peak at a low-lying meadow, the weather prevented me from seeing much more than the trail in front of me, and I made good time down the mountain and back to Green River Horse Camp.

Overall, a pleasant and lonely romp in the isolated NW corner of St Helens. Not a bad overnighter on a rainy weekend.

Green River Overnight, Out and Back: 5-11-19 to 5-12-19:

I did an out and back onvernighter of the Green River Trail #213 from FR26 clockwise to The Vanson Ridge Trail #213A Jct, then back approximately 2 miles to a camp, then to the car the next day. Round Trip was 17 miles.

The week before I did this trail as a day hike and started off FR2612, near Ryan Lake. It was blocked off by freshly cut tree limbs. I found it and able to take it to the Jct. of trail #213 and continue onto Green River, past the Horse Camp and beyond.  

However this weekend, I took the entry from FR26 which was more direct and a bit longer. It had a nice unused grass covered gravel road for the first ¼ mile. Both entries were somewhat rutted in sections though.

Beyond that, The “Horse” camp trail is as described in earlier posts and DOES follow the river. I did not take the unmarked trail.

The banks of the river DID washout the trail in 2-3 places but those were mostly well rerouted. One bridge is washed out but blocked and well rerouted. One reroute kinda blends in with its surroundings, but noticeable.

Beyond that…the trail winds in and out of rivers view, has a nice waterfall view which NOW is flowing very fast.

A wonderful meadow of sorts opens up unexpectedly to great views of Mt. Whittier’s and its ridges, which parallel the river. Right after that is a grassy campground which makes a great place for a snack.

Beyond that the trail is marked “more difficult” but that’s a matter of experience I guess. Not bad really.

Approx. 2 miles before Vanson Ridge Trail #213A are 2 wonderful camps next to the river, which is where I stayed.

My turn around point was Vanson Ridge Trail since it’s early in the year and possible snow in higher elevations. That said, I followed horse tracks the whole way and finally talked to 4 people on horses who went up Vanson Ridge Trail a bit to fix “The Bridge”. Not sure which bridge or how high they went. But they did not run into snow. It’s been a warm spring…so who knows???

Aside from well-ish rerouted washouts and fallen branch tripping hazards, the trail is generally not bad. Relatively flat and not well traveled. The views are great! Some of the overgrown bushes/trees have been addressed but you can tell its still overgrown. Shorts however were fine for me. All and all…not a bad trail or weekend!

There is a shared link containing more pics, temperature profiles and GPX tracks for both days.

Links with Tracks, Waypoints and Elevation Profile (although no Elevation gain to speak of)

Day 1:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/green-river-traii-213-overnighter

Day 2:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/recording-may-12-11-49-am--6