Coldwater Peak loop with Brianne

Another run around Coldwater Peak loop and to the Summit.

Brianne and I took a trip to Mt St Helens, so we started the day at 3am and drove to the Coldwater Lake boat launch, which is roughly a 3 hour drive.  Quickly ate some food and headed out on our run as soon as we could so we would be back to the car before the heat really built up.

Since it was going to be a burning hot day we had to carry a lot of weight in food and water.
I was feeling a bit fatigued from the start from the previous 9 days running load, the extra weight of water added to that fun feeling.  This run rounded off a 10 day block where I ran 130 miles and was a really good high intensity block leading up to my next race.  For me running is fun and I run for enjoyment not just to log miles for training.

We started at the boat launch, ran round the side of the lake for 4.5 miles and then headed up hill for 6 miles to get to the summit of Coldwater Peak.

First views of Mt St Helens after climbing from the lake side.  The flattened tree corpses still left where they were snapped off in 1980 from the eruption blast are just visible.

Coldwater Peak where we were heading for.

We were up above the snow line but it was mostly melted out.  I noticed quite a bit of change in the snow level since being here a week before this picture.

Action shot of Brianne part way up.

Mt St Helens behind Brianne.  This was about 50 feet below the Coldwater Peak summit.

Its such a beautiful place and views like this make the early start and long drive there and back worth the effort.

At the summit of Coldwater Peak.  Mt Rainier is behind us.  The wind was quite strong but the heat from the sun was still very evident.

Brianne enjoying the view.  This is on the way down about 2 miles from the summit.

Beside the rock with the hole in it.

The trail heads though this hole in the rock. 

This is an interesting rock feature.  Its apparently a massive land slide which exposed the harder rock.  The picture doesn't give the scale but it was quite a few hundred feet high.

The mountain in the background adds a little perspective.

After we eventually finished the run (I was feeling the effects of my high mileage 10 days block) we cooled off in the lake after eating.  Then it was time for the long drive home.

See my previous blog entry for the stats of the route.  I don't need to repeat them here again.

This is quite an interesting bridge on the Spirit Lake Highway, the bridge is about 400 feet high.  The little dot on the road in the distance was a fairly large pickup truck for scale.

Some details about the bridge.

Coldwater Peak Run

A short blog about a run in the Mt StHelens volcanic monument area.

One of the races I have on the calendar for 2019 is the Backcoutry Rise 50k race which starts at the Mt StHelens Science and Learning Center, travels along the edge of Coldwater Lake and then heads up hill into the real backcountry area where there's mountain lakes, amazing views and wildlife to be seen.
The run was hosted and organized by Daybreak Racing and North West Dirtchurners so a big thanks to Jeremy and Shane for hosting this race preview run.  There were about 25 of us in the group.

I've been to a lot of mountainous and back country location, lakes, beaches and forests, but the area around Mt StHelens has to be my favorite.  The pictures below just cant do the amazing scenery justice.

The group run covered 18 miles of the 20 mile race route. The 50k route heads further into the mountains and I'm looking forward to seeing than during the race.

Below are some pictures from the first higher point after clearing the forests trail and lake side.

Coldwater Lake is below this ridge.

Looking over the valley

Dusty dry trails all the way when up higher.  Every where you look there's a view of some sort.

A few miles further along we stopped to regroup.

Even more scenic views.

We were higher up into the mountain side at this point.

Mt StHelens.  You can see all the dead trees pointed in the direction of the blast which occurred on May 18th 1980.

The pointed summit in this picture is Coldwater Peak, myself and one of the other runners decided to go to the summit to add a few more miles to the run and for a higher 360 degree vista.

This is the top of Coldwater Peak, there's two peaks up there and this is Yassine heading between the two of them to the high point.

Sign showing the elevation.  5,727 feet ASL

Me with Mt StHelens behind me.

Mt Rainier in the background.
I don't have pictures that turned out showing them all, but Mt Hood, Mt Addams & Mt Rainier were all clearly visible from this mountain top.

The gray part in the lake below is sun bleached dead trees still there from the 1980 blast when they were pretty much all snapped off at about 6 feet from the ground and left there like bones.  Over time the snow and ice melting causes them to slip into the water.  Most of the lakes have dead trees in them.

Heading back down to the lake the temperature was rising and heating the ground so It was a bit hot for my liking.  Being a bit higher up increased the intensity of the sun a bit more too.

Screen print of the map showing the route.

Elevation profile.

Overall it was a great day out.  The three hour drive out to the location was well worth it.
Brianne and I will be going there some time soon so I can show her the location beyond what she has already seen there.

Thanks for reading my blog. More adventure runs and race reports to come in the near future.