Outside it is wet, drippy, and chilly.  What a great time of year to sit and have a tasty snack and a warm latte while browsing the shops of Kalama or Castle Rock.  Our region's two small cities are both worth a day of exploration.  Recently, I spent the afternoon at the Port of Kalama, where business and recreation co-exist and thrive.  The new Mountain TImber Market is just getting started, with goodies like wine, chocolate, coffee, plants and art all for sale in cozy booths lining the edges of this new, sweeping building.  Mountain Timber Market  The historic and restored Lelooska totem pole is displayed a full story up through the heart of the building.   Be sure to go upstairs and watch the video on the restoration.  Food carts outside sent barbeque deliciousness wafting on the breeze coming off the Columbia River, which is just a few yards away.  Beachcombing, ship and bird watching, walking trails, and an extensive playground round out the options.  A person spending the night at the adjacent McMenamin's Kalama Harbor Lodge can use the pedestrian overpass to cross the tracks and duck under I-5 to browse the many unique antique shops in downtown.   Dining options also expand (the Chinese restaurant is great!).  Nearby to downtown, head to Kress Lake for hiking, fishing, and wildlife viewing.  Haydu Park on the Kalama River offers full amenities.  The port area is a bit tricky to find off Interstate 5, but your phone or the trail map link below, will lead you there.    Cowlitz County Trail Map - Cowlitz EDC

Most rivers and streams open the Saturday before Memorial Day for steelhead and trout fishing.  The South Toutle has been open for steelhead for a few weeks, but the North Toutle, mainstem Toutle and Green River open soon, as well as North and Toutle River tributarites (below the sediment dam).  Except for the South Toutle River, a single point hook with no bait must be used, and all "wild" trout/steelhead must be released.  The South Fork is planted with hatchery steelhead smolts that return from the ocean as fat, yummy, bound-for-barbeque adults.   Fishing regulations | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.  Single hook spinners and flies are a good choice .  The South Toutle has good access along the 4100 logging road and at Harry Gardner Park.  Remember to stay below the high water mark when traversing private property.

Directions: From the Toutle on SR 504, turn south onto South Toutle Road, which is just across from the gas station. Follow S. Toutle Road over the river, park alongside the road here or at Harry Gardner County Park.  To reach the upper river follow S. Toutle another mile 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 along the South Toutle many miles, with plenty of fishing access along the way, to a big yellow gate.  Beyond the gate, state DNR land is north of the river, and Weyerhaeuser (permit needed) land is south.  Walk-in from here along the shoreline.

The landslide in the upper Toutle mucking up all downstream waters, including the Toutle and Cowlitz Rivers. Coldwater Lake may also be affected (I haven't confirmed that yet, but it is currently inaccessible).

Most lakes are open year round, including Coldwater, Castle and Silver Lake.  Currently, only Silver Lake is accessible.  Coldwater is closed because of the landslide, routes to Castle Lake are still snowbound, along with most higher elevation lakes.  South Lewis County pond, in Toledo, is a good place to "see" big fish, since it has been planted with grass carp.  The pond also was planted with WDFW trout derby eligible fish, and two "winners" are still there.  The park around the lake is a fun place to spend an afternoon, and it has a covered area, playground, and popular walking path along with the fishing docks.   Later in warm weather the water gets mucky and filled with algae.  Visit earlier in the year.  Kress Lake, near Kalama, also has winning trout left, and is a fun, easy place for kids.

Kress Lake | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife

South Lewis County Park Pond | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife

Directions: South Lewis county Pond is located on SR 505 just east of Toledo.  The turnoff to the park is just east of the bridge across the Cowlitz River.  Park on the left, and walk across to the park. Some of the facilities may be closed, but the park itself is open. This is a good place to take kids because there is a playground, too.

Where is the missing top of Mount St. Helens?  Many people think that the top of the volcano was blasted into the sky and became the cloud of ash that circled the world.  But that isn't true.  The ash that was erupted was "new" material from deep within the earth.  The "old" top of Mount St. Helens slid into the Toutle River Valley.  This landslide filled the valley up to 300 feet deep with chunks of the old summit.  The material consisted of loose layers of rock and ash along with pieces of glacier.  The largest mudflow resulted from the de-watering of this huge landslide. These "lahars" inundated all the low lying areas along the Toutle, filled the Cowlitz, and clogged the Columbia River shipping channel.  

In response, mass-dredging ensued. The Army Corps of Engineers also quickly built a sediment dam across the North Toutle valley in an attempt to hold the material in place.  This first dam (called N-1) was quickly overwhelmed.  Over the years, the Toutle River has continued to erode this material downstream, creating big problems for people along the river.  The sand along the Toutle and Cowlitz Rivers is old ash and rock from volcanic activity.

In 1990 the Corps came up with a solution.  They would build one huge sediment dam on the North Toutle and stop the erosion! The idea was simple; slow the river down with a shallow lake behind a big dam.  The sand drops out, and the water flows out over a spillway.  Now towns could be safe. Cowlitz County lifted the building moratorium on mudflow areas and housing developments popped up along our rivers, protected by the dam and higher levies. 

Anyone could see, however, that this "solution" didn't stabilize the river or get rid of the landslide material, it just held it in the upper valley a little longer.  And that is where we are today.  The dam is full, the river above the dam has become a shallow bay of mud, and the Cowlitz River is still clogged with sand.  The Toutle has no stable channel, and wanders over the sediment plain, now picking up material and moving it downstream.  The spillway on the dam has already been raised once to hold more material, with two more raises planned.  Oh, and the dam has no fish ladder.  Returning endangered salmon must be trucked around the mess.  Baby salmon (smolts) must navigate a web of shallow muddy channels downstream on their way to the ocean. Recently, agencies have tried a few creative ideas to hold sediment in place and to reduce the erosive action of the river.  You can see log dikes and piles along the Toutle River in places like Harry Gardner Park or the Mudflow Wildife Area.  These features are designed to improve fish habitat and hold the loose material in place long enough for vegetation to establish.

Learn More: https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/mount-st-helens/overview/

See it:  Harry Gardner Park is the best place to see the erosion control and habitat enhancement structures.  Along Interstate 5, north of Castle Rock, you may notice large piles of dredge spoils along the Toutle and Cowlitz River.  Some of these sites are publicly owned.  In the upper Toutle Valley,  scan the sediment plain with binoculars for log structure and other erosion control measures. From the Hoffstadt Bridge area the remains of N-1 dam are visible in the valley.  

Hike it:  From Kid Valley travel east on 504 to Sediment Dam Road, which is actually the old Spirit Lake Highway.  Travel about 2 miles to the parking lot at the end.  The trail starts past the restroom, and leads to a dam viewpoint and continues to the dam itself.  It's a nice walk, half on dirt trail and half on old road.
The view from the dam shows the massive expanse of sediment held in place there.  Elk are also common, so be aware.  Sometimes herds of elk graze in the grassy field around the dam.  If you follow the signs and the old roads, the hike makes a nice 1.2 mile loop.  

When I was growing up, in the 1970's, January and February were "smelt watch" months.  The signs that the slippery, oily little fish had entered the Cowlitz River were (and are) pretty obvious: guls swooping low over the water and seals venturing up the rivers following the run.  My father would take us out to dip or "dig" smelt, and, with a special long-handled net with small mesh, we would fill 5 gallon buckets with the silver fish.  I think the limit was 25 pounds a day. The banks between Kelso and Castle Rock would be lined with dippers, and choice spots might produce a bucket of fish with one or two digs into the water.  The first batch of fried smelt was pretty good, like a traditional holiday food that is savored once a year.  The second batch, ok, but after a few weeks of off-and-on piles of fried smelt we were ready to get back to venison steak!  My father would also smoke the little fish whole, and I even took them smoked to school for lunch.  

But recently that has all changed.  Smelt are now listed as a "threatened" species.  Some blame the eruption of Mount St. Helens for the decline of runs, others claim overharvest or changing ocean conditions.  Still, some years there are enough fish returning from the ocean to spawn to open a day or two to public smelt dipping.   A few years back, when the season was open for a day, I made a point of taking my children out to dip smelt.  We only got enough for one "mess" but it was more cultural experience that a fishing trip.  Everyone who lives here needs to try smelt dipping at least once.  And lucky for us, today is one of those rare days with dipping allowed.  According to the WDFW the season will last between 8 am and 1 pm with 10 pounds of smelt allowed per person.  The river is open between the Hwy 423 Bridge and the Al Helenburg boat launch in Castle Rock today only.   I drove by the dippers this morning along the Cowlitz.  All the signs were there--seaguls squawking, seals and sealions far upriver, traffic jams along the shore...and lots and lots of buckets of memories.  

For additional openings and more information check out the WDFW website 
https://wdfw.wa.gov/news/wdfw-announces-additional-one-day-smelt-opening-cowlitz-river  

Fall is a great time to visit Cowlitz County's newest "old" park.  Harry Gardner Park has a great story of what a small community's "can-do" spirit can accomplish.  This park at the junction of the North and South Toutle Rivers was completely destroyed by the mudflows from Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980.  For years, the park was abandoned--all structures rotting half buried in the mudflow, while a new forest of invasive Scotch broom took over the land.  Partiers with bonfires and glass bottles left messes and attracted nuisance elements. 

When the Forest Service granted the Toutle Valley some economic development funds for a community action plan, one goal stood out loud and clear--We want our parks back!  After the plan was created, the citizens didn't wait or the government to act.  A group of volunteers spontaneously formed, and over time cleaned up the park.  Pulling the county along, the park was put back into official status, and with sweat equity, county funding,  and another grant, the park has been rebuilt and is open to campers, anglers, hikers, and families looking for playgrounds, sand and water.  The park area expanded significantly with a donation/sale from a local family who owned nearby land also impacted by the mudflow.  The state Department of Wildlife owns adjacent land here, too, creating the largest chunk of public land (124 acres) set aside for recreation and habitat this side of the sediment dam.  Anglers can try their luck on three rivers: the South Toutle, mainstem Toutle and the North Toutle, all from one access.  Be aware that each stretch of river has different rules.  I keep the regulations handy.

The mudflows at Harry Gardner Park area great places to view wildlife and to study wildlife tracks.  Beaver "trails" where these busy rodents have dragged brances toward the rivers crisscross the area.  You will also see the value of manmade fish recovery structures, where people have placed artificial logjams and have planted seedlings in an effort to stabilize a wandering river.  The work completed in the last few years seems to be holding, and new riparian vegetation is taking hold.

Directions: From Toutle, take South Toutle Road, across from Drew's Grocery, and  follow for 1 1/2 miles, across South Toutle Bridge, to the park enterance at Fiest Road.

Facilities: Tent and RV camping with partial hookups; restrooms; covered picnic area; playgrounds and swings; fishing access; wildlife viewing; bird watching; swimming;

Reservations available at Cowlitz County website.  www.co.cowlitz.wa.us/1277/Harry-Gardner-Park

Adjacent Gardner Wildlife Area Information:

https://wdfw.wa.gov/places-to-go/wildlife-areas/gardner-wildlife-area-unit