Kalama Horse Camp, Toutle Trail, Mt. Hood; February 2015

Well, we originally intended to do this trail, but it turns out the forest road is closed in the winter, although none of the research I did beforehand suggested that. Oh well, that will happen in the winter sometimes. Luckily, the road was closed right at Kalama Horse Camp, which just so happened to be a trailhead for the Toutle Trail. How great in the Pacific Northwest?!

Lots of washout on the trail

 Most-of-family photo

This trail had a very cool look to it. Lots of flat spots, lots of moss, lots of green. Very unique looking in some areas. 

Fungus

Maggie and mom

Maggie living on the edge

Fully stocked: Dog leashes, binoculars, pocket knife, bear spray.

It's real touch to tell in this photo, but you'll have to take our word for it...that indentation in the mud is a sizeable fresh bear print. While we had the bear spray, we decided to turn around. Better safe than sorry, especially with the dogs.

Chloe the wood nymph

After our aborted mission on the Toutle trail, we pushed on towards to Ape Caves. We had no intention of going in (dogs don't like dark caves), so we did the .25 mile Tale of Two Forests Interpretive Trail, which is a cool little trail explaining the history of Mt. St. Helens and how it changed the landscape of the forest. There are cool lava tubes that you can spelunk through as well. Very cool.