Mount Margaret, Boundary Trail & Norway Pass — Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024

The Mount Margaret loop has been on my list for a while so on a whim I checked for permits a few days before the weekend and found one last permit available for Dome Camp on Saturday.

Despite the forecast, my brother and I made the long drive out to Norway Pass TH in the rain and decided to power through. Road to the trailhead was honestly a lot better than I had anticipated - we were in a very low clearance car and it just took some careful maneuvering around some of the dips and cracks in the pavement. Parking lot was unsurprisingly quite empty.

We started hiking around 3 p.m. and were hiking in a cloud the entire time. Thankfully it had stopped raining at that point, but we still got absolutely soaked from all the wet brush along the trails. We booked it to Dome Camp (~6.5 in) and quickly set up camp to warm up and dry off. Dome Camp sits atop a little hill so it doesn’t offer much protection from the elements. The wind picked up at night and made for a loud evening.

The next morning - finally - we saw the sun and it was glorious. Mount St. Helens had been right in front of us the whole time! We had a long day ahead of us (18 miles) so we tried to get moving early and make the descent toward Coldwater. This stretch is so beautiful and it seems like folks have been maintaining the lower section recently as a lot of brush had been cut back and the corridors were wide. Once we reached the low point near Coldwater, we filled up on water as it was the first stream we’d seen since starting. The south side of this loop (including camp) is entirely dry so make sure you pack plenty of water.

After that it was a bit of an uphill slog to reach the lakes on north side. I kept my morale up by snacking on as many berries as I could find. This trail is absolutely loaded with them. We found ripe huckleberries, trailing blackberries, salmonberries, and the best thimbleberries I’ve had in my life. The lakes were nice and the rocks and lush valleys in this area feel so unique compared to other hikes I’ve done.

After one final climb to Bear Pass it was downhill the last few miles to the trailhead and we finally got to take in the mountain views we had missed out on the day before, including the iconic view from Norway Pass.