Coldwater Lake and the Hummocks Trail

Pacific Northwest September Travelog #10
Mount St. Helens National Monument - Sun, 4 Sep 2022, 5:15pm

"What else should we do in the park after hiking Johnston Ridge to Devil's Point?" I asked a ranger at the visitors center.

"I always like seeing Coldwater Lake," she said. "It's so pretty. And my favorite trail in the park is the Hummocks Trail. You get to see the geologic features up close and personal."

So that's what we did after our main hike.



Forty years ago Coldwater Lake was Coldwater Creek. Debris flow from the Mount St. Helens eruption several miles away formed a natural dam blocking the stream's flow. Within a year the valley filled with water to a depth of 200'. The near end is shallow, though. A delta of volcanic ash is present here. The kids playing in the water were all exclaiming how weird the ground feels under their feet. Yeah, kids, that's not sand!

After the 1/4 mile or so nature walk we did at Coldwater Lake we laced up our boots for a longer hike on the Hummocks Trail. Well, I laced up my boots. Hawk went in hiking sandals. It would be a bit over 2.5 miles.



A hummock is a small hill that's actually a broken off piece of the mountain. Hummocks were deposited miles away in the debris flow that followed the volcanic eruption. In the photo above you can see Mount St. Helens in the distance. In the near- and mid ground are many of these hummocks. Geologists know they're broken-off bits of the mountain because the rocks types match.



The most interesting views of hummocks, IMO, are where the North Fork Toutle River nearby has cut away the volcanic ash around them. This valley was covered up to 200' deep under ash and mud. The river is gradually carving a channel through it.

Panther Creek Falls

Pacific Northwest September Travelog #13
Carson, WA - Mon, 5 Sep 2022, 10:30am

It's the last day of our three-day trip to southern Washington but that doesn't mean we're packing up the proverbial tent early. There's still more to do, and plenty of daylight to do it, before we have to head to the airport this afternoon for our flight home. This morning, like Saturday morning, we drove out to Carson, about 60 miles east of Vancouver, WA— though unlike Saturday morning we took a scenic driving detour along I-84 and The Bridge of the Gods— then up the Wind River and to one of its tributaries, Panther Creek.

Panther Creek Falls was originally on our epic, 5 waterfall itinerary for Saturday. It fell off the bottom of the list after we called audibles in the afternoon and visited other waterfalls instead. We actually drove right past the trailhead toward the end of our driving loop... but alas we passed the trailhead around 8pm, when it was already full dark. I said that it went on back on our list to visit later.... I just wasn't certain at the time that "later" would come this soon!



The trail to Panther Creek Falls is not terribly well marked. We happen to know where it is, though, from searching for it during our one previous visit 5 years ago. ...No, it's not that tiny wooden sign we remember, or the spray painted arrow on the narrow road— both are new from 5 years ago, BTW— but a cliff of columnar basalt 50m up the road where there's a pulloff to park. Even last night after dark we were like, "Hey, this is the area where we found Panther Falls!"

For all the finding the trail is hard, finding the falls is really not. The trail leads straight down to it.



...Well, it leads straight down to a viewing point. Last time we were here I walked around the fenced area to the edge of the cliff and got a great view of the falls. Since then the fence has been rebuilt so it's not as easy to get around. Though also now there's a spur trail to a viewpoint at the bottom of the falls, so I didin't feel the need to climb the fence. We retraced our steps back up the hill then followed the spur around and back down to the bottom.



Panther Falls is amazing because it's a falls where the water splits 3 ways just before the cliff then falls down 3 chutes about 100' (30m) high.



Oh, and even in September, there's plenty of water here. I believe that's because Panther Creek has its head waters on the southern flank of Mt. Adams, which rises to more than 13,000'.



The trail to the bottom of the falls also provides a bit of a view of Lower Panther Falls. This drop isn't as amazing as the main falls, being only 30' high and a single chute of water. But, oh what riches I enjoy when I can look at a falls like this and think, "Meh". In beauty I walk.