Hiking the Lewis River Trail – Day 1

Last week we decided to go backpacking. We hadn’t gone in years and the weather was perfect! The trail we chose is on the south side of Mt St Helens on the Lewis River.

It is amazing how heavy so many lightweight things can be!

It’s pretty fancy to have a bathroom at the trailhead! (even if it is just a vault toilet)

Curley Creek Falls was just at the parking lot

 

Although the trail is rated as “crowded” we only saw a handful of people and a couple of mountain bikers

It was pretty hot and we were very thankful for the shade of all the trees and being on the beautiful Lewis River!

  Eventually we gave in, shed our packs, and went for a swim! The cold water was so refreshing!

The spot was so nice we decided to go ahead and set up camp only 1.75 miles in and just relax the rest of the day!

After swimming, we went for a walk upstream to check out the shelter at Bolt Camp.

  

These signs are everywhere! It must be a popular fishing spot…

What a great camp fire spot!

On the way back to our camp, we walked by another beautiful camp right on the river!

All that walking wore us out! So we took it easy the rest of the day and went to bed right after dark…