Mt Margaret via Norway Pass 7/18/23. Several videos in this report. With views to spare, this is one of my favorite hikes. From parking lot, immediately rewarded with view of Meta Lake and the tree-covered mountains of Gifford Pinchot NF. Only ~2 miles to Norway Pass for postcard-perfect view of Mt St Helens and Spirit Lake. From Norway Pass, be sure to walk ~500’ up the Independence Pass trail for an eye-popping view and plan to arrive early in the day for a mirrored view when there’s little or no breeze across Spirit Lake.
About 0.3 mile past Norway Pass (GPS 46.313913, -122.106962), there’s a rock face where the trail is washed out. In a previous year, I’ve been there when the gap was too big and required bushwhacking to cross via the gully below. But today, a big step and the aid of hiking poles was sufficient. As summer hiking progresses, perhaps that section will become more eroded and more challenging. From this point to Mt Margaret, there’s little or no shade but balanced by views of Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier, Mt Adams, Mt Hood, Mt Jefferson and other peaks in the Cascade mountains in Oregon state (360º video). Standing in the same spot, Mt Rainier on the left and Mt St Helens on the right (video). Also, a kaleidoscope of butterflies (an example of one, video), mountain goats and wildflowers of all sorts plus hillsides of subalpine mariposa lilies, sometimes called cat’s ear lily (probably due to fuzz on the petals). The lilies were a thrill to find because they’re unique to the southern Cascade mountain range, bloom only a couple weeks in July and found nowhere else in the world (video).
East of Bear Camp, the snowfields below Mt Teragram are easy to cross with good, lugged footwear and, if needed, hiking poles. In the morning when we crossed the largest one (about 0.7 mi from Bear Camp, GPS 46.315586, -122.129565), hard ice underlay the top snow. We decided too slippery and, instead, walked along the top edge of the snowfield (see picture). In the afternoon, it had softened allowing boots to sink into the snow making passage across possible, but not so slushy as to make it slippery.
Paved parking lot, vault toilet, water pump adjacent to parking lot out of order, water from snow-melt fed stream available at Bear Camp.
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