As of July 4, the road to Johnston Ridge is open. The Observatory is closed and there are porta-potties in the parking lot.
Lots of flowers are in bloom, and the paintbrush are near peak. There are a couple small snow patches along the trail between the first views of St Helens Lake and Coldwater Peak. One short patch is on a steep slope; there's a decent boot path, but a misstep here would not be good. I was glad to have my poles. I've included a photo of it.
There are a lot of caterpillar cocoons in bushes along the lower part of the trail on the way to Harry's Ridge. Keep an eye out to avoid any unwanted hitchhikers.
Comments
hikingwithlittledogs on Coldwater Peak
Thank you for the report. I’ve been waiting for the road to open! Great pics!
Posted by:
hikingwithlittledogs on Jul 06, 2020 06:27 PM
Seattle-Amy on Coldwater Peak
Thanks, me too. I was planning to do a big loop starting at Hummocks and coming out Coldwater Ridge, but fortunately the road opening saved me 7 miles and 3,500 ft elevation!
Posted by:
Seattle-Amy on Jul 06, 2020 09:58 PM