Elk Area 5065 Mount Whittier
A single trail-ringed basin below the Spirit Lake rim: foot-only permit elk between Coldwater Peak and Mount Whittier.
WDFW Region 5 — Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Mount Margaret backcountry (Skamania County) · Last reviewed 2026-07-17
Area
4
sq mi
Public land
100%
approx.
Elevation
3,000–5,883
feet
Motorized
wilderness
access
Overview
Elk Area 5065 "Mount Whittier" is a 4.1-square-mile special-permit elk area carved out of GMU 522 (Loo-Wit) in the Mount Margaret backcountry of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Skamania County. GMU 522 is closed to all hunting except permit-only elk and mountain goat hunts, so this is not a GMU — it is a purpose-built hunt area WDFW and the U.S. Forest Service developed cooperatively (alongside Pumice Plain and Upper Smith Creek) to implement the Mount St. Helens Elk Herd Plan. The boundary is drawn entirely with trails — Boundary Trail #1 on the south, Coldwater Trail #230 on the west, Lakes Trail #211 on the north, and the Whittier Ridge Trail #214 on the east — enclosing the upper Coldwater Creek basin between Coldwater Peak and Mount Whittier, just over the rim from Spirit Lake. Elk recolonized this blast-flattened high country within a few years of the May 1980 eruption and boomed on the young forage; the herd has since been deliberately brought down and bulls inside the monument see almost no pressure. WDFW is blunt that these roadless hunts are very strenuous and only hunters prepared for the challenge should apply — the nearest trailhead is a two-pass hike away, and everything comes out on your back.
Terrain
One compact alpine basin and its rim: the 1980 lateral blast stripped this country to rock and ash, and today the upper Coldwater Creek drainage is a bowl of regenerating shrubfields and silver snags walled in by Coldwater Peak (5,727 ft) on the southwest, the knife-edge of Whittier Ridge and Mount Whittier (5,883 ft) on the east, and the Spirit Lake rim along the Boundary Trail. Nearly the whole unit can be glassed from the trails that form its boundary; getting to an elk means dropping off the rim into blowdown, avalanche chutes, and brush.
Cover: Blast-zone regeneration: huckleberry, willow, vine maple, and mountain-ash shrubfields with pockets of young noble fir and mountain hemlock; lupine, fireweed, and beargrass on the open pumice and ash slopes; standing silver snags and jackstrawed blast timber in the basin. The shrubfields are the forage that holds elk; surviving conifer patches on shaded aspects provide the only real hiding cover.
Landmarks: Mount Whittier and Whittier Ridge Trail #214 (east boundary) · Coldwater Peak (southwest corner) · St. Helens Lake (south edge, along the Boundary Trail) · Boundary Trail #1 (south boundary, overlooking Spirit Lake) · Coldwater Trail #230 (west boundary) · Lakes Trail #211 and Snow Lake (north boundary) · Upper Coldwater Creek (drains the basin northwest to Coldwater Lake)
Access
All federal monument land, entirely roadless, and reached only on foot: no motorized use, no wheeled devices (carts or bikes), and no domestic animals in the monument — no horses, mules, llamas, goats, or dogs. Kills come out by non-motorized, non-hoofstock means, and WDFW allows up to three helpers (all in hunter orange) for the pack-out. The practical entry is the Norway Pass Trailhead on Forest Road 26 (Northwest Forest Pass required; open seasonally, roughly July into November), reached from Randle via FR 25 and FR 99 — from there it is roughly six trail miles on the Boundary Trail over Norway Pass and Bear Pass to the unit's northeast corner at the Whittier Ridge junction. The western approach via the Lakes Trail #211 from Coldwater Lake on SR 504 is long, and SR 504 itself is closed between mileposts 45.2 and 51 by the 2023 South Coldwater slide (rebuild slated for completion around fall 2026) — verify road status before counting on the west side. In 2026 the Huffaker Bridge closure on FR 25 also reroutes the southern approach to FR 99; come in from Randle or follow the posted FR 23–28–76 detour. Camping in the monument is restricted to the eight designated Mount Margaret Backcountry campsites, permit required in advance through recreation.gov, with small group limits and no campfires.
Managers: U.S. Forest Service — Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument (Gifford Pinchot NF)
Access points: Norway Pass Trailhead on FR 26 (Boundary Trail #1 over Norway Pass and Bear Pass) · FR 99 from FR 25 out of Randle (road to the FR 26 junction near Meta Lake) · Lakes Trail #211 from Coldwater Lake on SR 504 (long west-side approach; check SR 504 closure status) · Coldwater Trail #230 and Whittier Ridge Trail #214 (boundary trails within the backcountry)
Species notes
Roosevelt Elk
common qualityThis is the Mount St. Helens herd — elk that reoccupied the blast zone within a few years of the 1980 eruption and thrived on early-seral forage before WDFW deliberately reduced the herd under the Mount St. Helens Elk Herd Plan; the spring 2024 survey indexed about 1,250 adult females, a slight increase over the roughly 1,000 counted in 2017–2022 but still below objective and well below mid-2000s highs. WDFW classifies Cascade elk here as a genetic mix of native Roosevelt and introduced Rocky Mountain elk managed as westside elk; because GMU 522 has no general season, bulls that summer in this basin grow old — but hoof disease (TAHD) is common in District 10 and densities are honest, not stacked.
- →Use the boundary as your glassing platform: the Boundary Trail rim and the high points along the Coldwater Trail let you pick apart nearly the entire 4-square-mile basin at first and last light before committing to a stalk.
- →Hunt the edge where shrubfield meets surviving conifer — elk feed in the huckleberry and willow on the basin floor and slopes, then shade up in the timbered patches and snag jackstraw on north-facing aspects.
- →In September, bugles carry enormous distances across the open blast terrain; locate from the rim in the evening, then drop in on the bench where the bull beds, not the spot he sounded off from.
- →Plan the extraction before the shot: a bull down in upper Coldwater Creek is a bone-out and a multi-trip carry over Bear Pass and Norway Pass — have your three helpers committed before the hunt, not after.
- →Do not plan the Whittier Ridge Trail #214 as a meat route — it is an exposed, hands-on scramble; route your loads out the Boundary Trail instead.
Mountain Goat
common trophyMountain goats recolonized the Mount St. Helens high country in the early 2000s and now number several hundred across the monument; the cliffs of Whittier Ridge and Coldwater Peak are core goat terrain inside WDFW's Mount Margaret Backcountry goat permit hunt area (5-6), one of only a handful in the state. This is a separate once-in-a-lifetime permit — an elk permit here does not include goats — but elk hunters will almost certainly see them.
- →Glass the cliff bands of Whittier Ridge and the headwall under Coldwater Peak at midday when goats loaf on ledges.
- →Treat any goat stalk as technical terrain — the Whittier Ridge crest is an exposed scramble with real fall consequences.
- →If you draw the Mount Margaret goat permit, scout from the Boundary and Lakes trails in late summer while the backcountry camps are still snow-free.
Pro tips
- →Treat this like a backpack wilderness hunt: the unit starts six trail miles and two passes from the truck, and the hunters who succeed here camp in the backcountry rather than day-hiking from Norway Pass Trailhead.
- →Book a designated backcountry campsite on recreation.gov the moment your permit letter arrives — there are only eight camps in the whole Mount Margaret backcountry and hikers compete for them into fall.
- →Scout in late summer: from the Boundary Trail between Bear Pass and St. Helens Lake you can inventory nearly every elk using the basin without leaving the trail.
- →The trail-defined boundary is a two-edged sword — it is unmistakable on the ground, but an elk that crosses the Coldwater or Lakes trail is out of your area; know exactly where the lines run before you commit to a bull.
- →Verify FR 25/FR 99/FR 26 and SR 504 status with the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District the week before you go — bridge work, washouts, and early snow have rerouted access repeatedly in recent years.
- →Read your permit letter carefully: WDFW and the Forest Service attach specific conditions (orange for everyone, helper limits, camping, removal methods) to these monument hunts.
Watch out for
- !Non-motorized, non-hoofstock meat removal only — no game carts, no bikes, no stock, no dogs. A bull down in the basin is a serious multi-day extraction over two passes.
- !The Whittier Ridge Trail #214 (your east boundary) is a notoriously exposed scramble — do not route a loaded pack over it, and do not follow a wounded elk onto it in weather.
- !SR 504 is closed at mileposts 45.2–51 from the 2023 South Coldwater slide (rebuild targeted for around fall 2026), complicating the west-side Lakes Trail approach; the 2026 Huffaker Bridge closure on FR 25 reroutes the south approach to FR 99.
- !Washouts have plagued the Boundary Trail between Norway Pass and Bear Pass and closed the Independence Pass Trail #227 in recent seasons — check current trail conditions with the monument.
- !Camping is legal only at designated backcountry campsites with an advance recreation.gov permit; no campfires anywhere in the backcountry.
- !No water on the rim sections and no cell service anywhere in the unit; afternoon whiteouts and wind on the exposed ridges are routine by October.
- !Elk numbers are below historic highs and limping (hoof-diseased) elk occur in this herd; a permit here is a quality backcountry experience, not a guarantee.
Logistics
Randle on US 12 is the practical base — last fuel and groceries before the long gravel-and-broken-pavement run up FR 25/99 to the FR 26 junction and Norway Pass Trailhead (plan on well over an hour from pavement). Packwood and Morton add motels. The trailhead has a vault toilet and (when running) a hand-pump — and a Northwest Forest Pass or day-use fee applies. Overnighting inside the backcountry means reserving one of the eight designated Mount Margaret Backcountry campsites on recreation.gov well in advance (four-person limit at most camps, no campfires); otherwise camp on general Gifford Pinchot NF ground along the FR 25/99 corridor, such as Iron Creek Campground near Randle when road work allows. Expect zero cell coverage in the blast zone and snow that can close the high roads in November.
Nearest towns: Randle, Packwood, Morton, Castle Rock (SR 504 west side, subject to the highway closure)
Seasons & regulations
This page carries no season dates or regulations. Get current rules from the official Washington sources:
Research sources: WDFW — Pumice Plain, Mount Whittier, & Upper Smith Creek Special Permit Hunts (hunt conditions, USFS partnership, herd plan) · WDFW — Special elk permit hunts around Mount St. Helens (restrictions, helpers, camping, strenuous roadless character) · WAC 220-415-040 — Elk area descriptions (Elk Area 5065 Mount Whittier legal boundary: Trails 1, 230, 211, 214; GMU 522) · WDFW 2025 District 10 Hunting Prospects (GMU 522 permit-only status, MSH herd surveys ~1,250 adult females 2024, herd plan, TAHD) · Gifford Pinchot NF — Norway Pass Trailhead (FR 26 access, NW Forest Pass, Mount Margaret Backcountry permit and eight designated campsites) · WSDOT — SR 504 South Coldwater Slide / Spirit Lake Outlet Bridge project (MP 45.2–51 closure, rebuild through fall 2026) · WDFW — Mountain goat permit hunt areas (Mount Margaret Backcountry hunt area 5-6) · Mount St. Helens Institute — Mountain goats thriving in the National Volcanic Monument (recolonization since early 2000s, population counts)
FAQ
- How big is Elk Area 5065 in Washington?
- Elk Area 5065 (Mount Whittier) covers about 4 square miles, ranging from roughly 3,000 to 5,883 feet in elevation. Area is computed from the unit boundary polygon.
- How much public land is in Elk Area 5065?
- Approximately 100% of the unit is public land. Primary managers: U.S. Forest Service — Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument (Gifford Pinchot NF). Always verify ownership boundaries on the ground.
- What species does the catalog list for Elk Area 5065?
- Roosevelt Elk, Mountain Goat. For seasons, tags, and regulations, use the official Washington agency resources linked on this page — this page carries no regulatory information.
Put Elk Area 5065 on your map.
Boundary lines, public/private ownership, topo, and offline maps for this unit — in Baseline Maps, free for 14 days.