Yesterday, with the snow level around 500 feet and the freezing level just a bit higher, my family headed up the Spirit Lake Highway with our cross-country skis.  We got an early start and were up on Elk Rock before the snowplows.  There were no parking spots cleared out at the base of Elk Rock, so we carved our own well out of the way of plows. The conditions for skiing were some of the best I've found on Elk Rock, with about a foot of powder on a crunchy base.  There are no trails here, just logging roads covered with snow twist up and around Elk Rock.  We climbed about an hour up, up, up until the road gets too steep for a downhill wimp like me.  If we had kept going, we could have crested the top near the site of an old fire lookout.  No snowmobiles had hit the area yet.  After a photo and a quick snack, we zoomed (or in my case snowplowed) down in half that time.  Conditions were just starting to turn a bit sticky when we got back to the vehicle just after noon.  Our trip was lots of fun with good conditions for late winter.   Elk Rock is also popular with snowshoers.

Unfortunately, Elk Rock is currently a real missed opportunity for the general public.  There are no places at Elk Rock for the public to ski, snowmobile or snowshoe. To just sled or play in the snow, kids crowd the nearby runaway truck ramp.  Why?  Technically you need a Weyerhaeuser pass to use Elk Rock, even in the winter.  Enforcement is probably an area of "don't ask, don't tell" with three feet of snow blocking drive-in access.  There are some loopholes here, too.  Any signs had been removed and the DNR does have an easement to that old lookout site as well as an isolated rockpit nearby, but besides that, the runaway truck ramp and the Spirit Lake Highway right-of-way are the public access areas above the highway.

A new "secret" opportunity, however, has opened up below the highway in the National Volcanic Monument.  I mentioned this a few months back, and now, checking the records, it appears unofficially official.  The improper closure order, that made it illegal to step off the trail anywhere along the Spirit Lake Highway, has finally died.  Kaput.  Gone.  But don't expect the Forest Service to tell you this: their no trespassing signs are still up.  And the rangers probably haven't even been told that it’s now ok for the public to wander off trail along the old roads or across the landscape.  I haven't tried it yet, but snowshoeing cross country from the Castle Lake viewpoint or on other old roads is legal now.  Way back in time I did ski on those roads before they were transferred to the Monument from Weyerhaeuser.  As soon as the Forest Service got ahold of them--BAM--up goes the no trespassing signs.  Now those old roads are a tangle of alder trees, making skiing impossible.  Snowshoeing on some of them could be possible, though.  I want a report if anyone tries it.

The Spirit Lake Highway is not like other mountain passes in the winter.  It is not plowed, sanded and de-iced on a regular basis.  The Department of Transportation doesn't publish hourly pass reports or send out alerts for dangerous conditions. The only working camera, at the Forest Learning Center, shows the snow covered parking lot, not the conditions on the roadway.  Sometimes the Department just plows a big berm near the runaway truck ramp, or at Elk Rock, and that is where driving ends until a big melt.  And when regional snows hit, it is the last road to get attention.

Today (1/2/2022) my family took our heavy, lifted and studded 4x4 up to see if the skiing was any good.  We knew it would be windy at Elk Rock, and the blizzard like ice pellets belting our skin sure stung.  But we did not have a chance to ski.  We instead spent over two hours digging and pulling and pushing other people out of the snow.  I knew I had to post a few rules for driving up the Spirit Lake Highway in the winter.  

First, and foremost, BRING A SHOVEL.  Not a pair of snowshoes to be used as a shovel (like today) but a real shovel.  I've seen folks digging with a clawhammer, a stick, or their bare hands, but in all the times we've helped people get unstuck, they have never had their own shovel.  Everyone should know that you simply do not venture into the snow without a shovel of some type.

Second, all-wheel drive does not a snowmobile make.  For some reason it is assumed by many that if they have four wheel drive they can drive in any amount of snow.  Subarus are the most deceptive because people use them all the time to get to ski resorts.  Today, after pushing and pulling a mid-sized SUV back onto the roadway, the next little sedan that showed up insisted they had all-wheel drive so they were fine. We told them without high clearance they would get stuck, and we wouldn't be available to pull anyone else out.  The real problem was there was no place to turn around, so many of these hapless vehicles just kept going, up and up.  The wind at Elk Rock was blowing drifts of several feet into the plowed-last-week roadway.  These drifts would clog up under any low clearance vehicle, and there they would sit, high centered, in the middle of the highway.  

And finally, if you do have a big, high, 4x4 with good snow tires and you remember your shovel, also add tire chains and strong tow rope.  Not those rinky dink cable chains either, but real, heavy tire chains.  They are especially helpful when you can't get enough traction while pulling a Subaru out of the ditch.  If you actually need to chain up your big 4x4 truck to unstuck yourself, you've already gone too far and should have turned around when you had the chance.  Now you dig. 

Imagine the ideal State park.  Of course there would be camping and the typical marshmallow-coated fun, but my “dream” park would have things to do year round.  In summer I could camp, bicycle, or hike the park’s trails, and in the winter I could snowshoe, sled, or cross-country ski there.  The best parks also have water.  I would connect my “dream” park with a beautiful lake.  Don’t forget the fish, because I love fishing…and make them big.  Add features like a boat launch, trails, restrooms, and picnic area at the lake.  It’s nice when camping to have park paths connect with larger trail systems.  Wake up in the morning and leave the tent or RV and hike or bicycle past the lake and deep in the backcountry.  The park should be fairly large, at several hundred acres, and easy to get to.  Make it on a paved road, and not too far to drive, perhaps near a national treasure that is already attracting visitors.  Put it near a science center and a visitor center for extra pizazz.  It helps if the land is already public, and wrap it all in a spectacular view.  That is my ideal park ...and here it is:

320 acres of isolated and unused state Department of Natural Resources land sits surrounded by the Mount St Helens National Monument.  In fact, all of the maps on Monument billboards have the land marked as part of the Monument.  It isn’t.  State law allows DNR land to be transferred or leased for park and recreation purposes. 

The land is hilly, but not steep, and could support a camping park, snow park, day-use area, or a combination of all of these.  Old logging roads lead to both Coldwater Lake and the Castle Lake viewpoint and toward Elk Rock.  These old roads could easily be converted to trails, linking with the Pacific Crest Trail and the Boundary National Scenic Trail.  Coldwater Lake has full facilities and would be a short two-mile walk, snowshoe, bicycle, ski or jog away.   But for now its just a dream...

With winter making a late stand, there is one more area to enjoy the snow in the Toutle Valley, and I've saved the best for last.   

Bad news first.  If you don't dig a bit, you may never even know this land existed.  It has no trails, campgrounds, picnic sites, or official snowparks. There are no brown and white recreation signs.  The DNR website is silent.  In fact, it has no recreation investments at all, except a single "Discover Pass required" sign.  

Now the good news.  The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) owns 35,000 acres between the North and South Toutle Rivers.  The Toutle State Forest is open to most forms of outdoor recreation, including camping, horseback riding, bicycles, ATV's and snowmobiles. The views are spectacular, with five volcanoes and three huge lakes, surrounding you.  There are miles of logging roads to explore, and back-routes into the Mount St. Helens Monument and its trails (more on that when the snow melts). 

Weyerhaeuser, which has this 35,000 acres "landlocked", does usually allow free motorized access on a 'public access corridor' to the state forest. 

Directions: From the Toutle on SR 504, turn south onto South Toutle Road, which is just across from Drew's Grocery (the only store in town).  Follow S. Toutle Road over the river, past Harry Gardner County park, about three miles to a large gravel road the merges to the right.  Take this road and stay right. (If you go under two bridges you have gone too far.)   The gravel road is the 4100 logging road, but it may not be marked.   Follow the 4100 road a few miles paralleling the S. Toutle River.  Soon afer crossing a small creek,  there will be a large open area on the right which is often used to store culvert and other forestry supplies.  This is the old 12-mile logging camp that was destroyed by the eruption.  On the left, across from the storage area, a gravel road goes up hill (4200 rd).  Take the 4200 road and follow it gradually uphill to the DNR forest.  After seven miles, if you watch carefully, you may notice the Discover Pass sign which is the only mark that you have entered public land (the timber also gets larger, too). 

Depending on snow level, let the exploration begin.  The area is becoming more popular, especially with light 4x4's on weekends, so expect some company.  The photo shows a nice snowshoe route to the top of Signal Peak. 

The best map is the Mount St. Helens quadrangle map published by the DNR are available from the website for state printing:   https://prtonline.myprintdesk.net/DSF/storefront.aspx.   You can also check out public land on the Washington State Department of Wildlife's GoHunt web mapping tool, which has DNR roads. http://apps.wdfw.wa.gov/gohunt/

Last time I mentioned that the Hummocks Trail, which is a 2-mile loop, and the closed highway to Johnston Ridge can be good places to cross-country ski or snow shoe.  The Lakes Trail, which may be dicey for skiing because of steep drop offs into the lake, can provide a nice winter snowshoe route when the snow is deep, or a boot hike with minimal snow.  Often, in March or April, the Lakes Trail has little or no snow, and early season hikers are discovering that the Coldwater Lake area is a good place to start the hiking season.  Other Forest Service trails include the lower Boundary Trail where it intersects with the Hummocks Trail, and a snowshoe hike up the highway a mile to the South Coldwater Trail that leads uphill to great views and miles of trekking. 

For a shorter trip, try the nature trail just below the Forest Learning Center playground.  This hike drops through the noble fir trees, crosses a wet area on a boardwalk, and drops to a logging road.  Round trip is about two miles.  It can be done with snowshoes right now.

The 3100 logging road provides another area to get off the highway.  About a half-mile past Hoffstadt Bridge is an intersection of logging roads.  On the south side, the 3100 rd drops to state wildlife land in the valley floor.  In winter, parts of the wildlife area are closed to entry to protect wintering elk, but the 3100 access road can be used as a winter trail.