Hikers united by lost hat connect over healing power of outdoors

Two men say a chance encounter on Mount St. Helens has given them a renewed perspective about the healing power of hitting the trails. Scott Brown made a post on a hiking Facebook page Friday hoping to return someone’s hat. The post said, “did you or your friend get hurt on Helens on Thanksgiving? I found your hat!!” Brown had no idea how special the hat was when...

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Hiking Mount St. Helens Hummocks’ chaotic landscape

It will never qualify as one of the classic trails of Mount St. Helens, at least not visually. Yet Hummocks No. 229 — with its chaotic landscape of dirt mounds and ponds — should be on local hikers’ bucket list. Hummocks is not a river trail, not a meadow trail and not a deep forest trail. But the terrain it passes through in its 2.55 miles definitely is worth a look....

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Hiking a new family-friendly trail at Mount St. Helens

The popular Ape Cave recreation area in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument now has a view of the iconic mountain. The Volcano View Trail is the first new trail built in the national monument in nearly two decades. Since last year, trail volunteers have been building the milelong trail, which takes hikers up to a viewpoint from the Ape Cave...

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