These are Toutle Trekker's top 5 Spirit Lake Highway Hikes.

Best with Children:  Seaquest Park.  The mile or so wetland stroll along the Silver Lake Boardwalk is a great way to share nature with little ones.  The surface is stroller compatible and offers great birdwatching, bugwatching, and listening to nature (including bullfrogs).  For a longer walk, the tunnel under the road to Seaquest Park trails and playground is fun, too.   Park the the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center or at Seaquest Park.  

Best Day Hike: Hummocks Trail.  A two mile loop through the land that was once the summit of Mount St. Helens, complete with many ponds filled with life and peek-a-boo views of the volcano.  The Hummocks Trailhead is currently as far as you can drive.

Best Long Hike: Coldwater Loop.  With the road still closed to the South Coldwater Trail, so start at the hummocks parking lot, walk the road to the South Coldwater Trailhead then climb to the blasted logging equipment.  Keep going looping up to the Coldwater Trail, then drop to down toward the lake.  Connect with the Lakes trail and fish your way back to the Coldwater Lake parking area.  A short road walk completes this day-long loop (about 13 miles)

Best 'Secret' Hike: Green River junction.  Heading east, just past Sediment Dam Road, cross the North Toutle River then look for a wide spot on the left with a green gate on a closed road.  Park here and follow angler trails to the junction of the Green and North Toutle.  A bit of bushwhacking may be required.  Bring your license and fishing rod and regulations!  Another secret hike takes you across the sediment dam.  Follow Sediment Dam road to the large trailhead. This is a great place to view elk and waterfowl in the winter.

Best 'In Town' Hike:  Top the Rock in Castle Rock.  Start at the trailhead at the entrance to town.  Follow the path along the Cowlitz River, past the bike skills park, and end at the then take the gravel trail to "Top the Rock".  Turn around or end at Lions Pride Park.

Yesterday evening my family drove up the Spirit Lake Highway to check out the snow level and go for a hike up the ridge.  The snow is deeper than it was a month ago, but we did hike up the the logging equipment on the South Coldwater Trail.  What a treat!  We were the only people up on the ridge at this time, and the animals were out everywhere.  We saw, on the drive and hike, nearly 200 elk.  The elk must be migrating up from the valley to the ridges toward the snowline.  Of all the elk we saw moving, only one bull was limping, a sign of "hoof rot disease" that is plaguing our herds.  The sooty grouse (aka blue grouse) were whooting and whopping all around.  Often they are heard but not seen.  I did track down and watch two roosters strutting their stuff.  The violet-green swallows and yellow-rumped warblers were back for the summer.  A pack of coyotes yipped down by the lake, and a pair of black-tailed deer watched us trek by.  Of all this wild activity, the highlight of the hike was the beautiful, shiny black bear that we watched as it wandered down an old road.  The bear would stand up on its hind legs and scratch its back on alder trees.  It had been hunting ants and winter killed carcasses, no doubt, and we found where it tore into an ant hill by the trail.  

Wildlife Viewing Pointers: Hike in the morning or evening on a non-weekend day, stay quiet and keep alert, listen for wildife which are often heard before they are seen, and don't forget binoculars (like we did).  All these critters are spooky, so don't get too close, just watch quietly.