We made it to the junction of NF25 and NF99 to find that the road to Windy Ridge was closed. Our trailhead for Mt Margaret is off of NF26 which is off of NF99 so we were on to plan B.
The hike we had planned was on The Boundary Trail which circles Mt St Helens and does cross NF25 so we made for the trailhead there.
At about 7:30 we were making our way up the trail with Pam setting a torrid pace since there isn't a lot of elevation gain - in fact we were trending downhill after the first 3/4 mile or so.
There were some peek-a-boo views of St Helens, but nothing substantial. We cruised 4.3 miles in 1.5 hours and encountered a missing bridge in a steep draw. We had a bite to eat and elected to head back and settle for 8.6 miles.
I lead most of the way - likely due to the fact that I speared Pam a couple of times with my trekking poles. I was able to keep her pace from the way out going even though we were mainly going uphill now.
We made it back in the 1.5 hours it took to go out which made for a tidy 8.64 miles in 3 hours. On the way out they had opened NF99 to Windy ridge! If we had slept in we could have hiked Mt. Margaret.
The timing was perfect to try Bertoglio's Pizza in Eatonville. One of Pam's co-workers' husbands owns the place. We ordered the Gourmet Veggie pizza and settled in for a beer while we waited. The $16.99 price was too little for this pie. It was a thin crust with a good inch of toppings - at least a $24 pie. I told him to raise his prices so I could visit there in the future - if they don't make money they can't stay open. We had no chance to eat the whole thing for lunch, but it made a great dinner later.
Now we need to finish our dishes for 2 Fourth of July parties and home early tonight so we can take care of Athena who is against the fireworks thing.
Be very well and more soon....
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