It’s hard to backpack on the devastation side of Mt Saint Helens.  Most the trails on the north side of the mountain, where the 33 year ago volcano wiped out miles and miles of National Park forest, visitors are relegated to day hiking or trailheads for very distant backcountry camping.  We had assumed you could backpack in the National Forest like you can in Colorado, just about anywhere.  As we found out once arriving high up the park road at the Johnson Observatory (well worth a trip on it’s own), the only unregulated camping is on the south side of the mountain.  Fortunately with the late summer sun we were able to retreat about a 100 miles to the south side of the mountain and actually get much closer to America’s youngest and most active volcano.  The contrast between the two sides is well worth experiencing.  Mordor on the north slope and a verdant and dense old growth forest on the south facing slopes.  Since we only had two days for our outing we made the best of the time and were able to hike in almost 3 miles and find a camp site just below tree line well before dark.  The girls do real well once we get going and love “tight-roping walking” downed trees, scrambling on rocks and fooling around with found objects.

Fortunately camp food never goes down with a fuss and it doesn’t take long for them to go to sleep.  We sure like hiking with them and hope they’ll remember these times with us.