Green River

The Green River Trail (#213) follows the river west down a glacier-carved valley on the north side of the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The trail runs through corridors of old-growth Douglas fir and western red cedar that escaped the 1980 lateral blast, with the river itself as the steady companion — wide, clear, and full of pools that draw elk to the margins at dawn and dusk.

Eleven and a half miles round trip with under a thousand feet of cumulative gain makes this a long but unhurried walk. Most parties turn around at the Vanson Ridge Trail junction near the midpoint; through-hikers continue west to connect with the Goat Mountain trail network. The grade stays gentle, the surface mostly dirt, the canopy mostly closed.

Access is the harder part of the day. Forest Road 26 has slumped sections, potholes, and stretches of broken pavement that punish low-clearance vehicles even though the trail itself sees no pass requirement. Wildlife is abundant — elk, black bear, deer — and the absence of crowds makes encounters more likely. A proposed open-pit copper mine upstream remains a long-term threat to the watershed.