GMU 560 Lewis River

[tshoote30]

Good Morning, this is my furst time on this type of a forum. great pictures and tons of info to go thru on here. My name is Todd and me and my hunting partners usualy do our elk hunting over in the blue mountains outside of Dayton, but this year we have descided to change it up a bit and stay on the west side and try our luck in the Lewis river GMU 560. I have been trying to find out all i can about this are and was wondering if there was anyone here that could give me any info they might have about it.
Much appreciated.
Todd

[tshoote30]

OH An I might want to add this will be for Modern firearm Nov. 6th hunt. how is the weather usually? Snow on the ground i could only hope 

[PolarBear]

One of my favorite units for early archery but expect a ton of company during modern and possibly snow.  I have seen the forrest service close down some roads in there (especially the 99) due to snow or ice.

[tshoote30]

Thanks Polarbear, yea that is what i have heard tons of people, I expect the snow i would rather have that then rain which was alot of the reason we always took the what 6hour drive to Dayton... the weather is alot more perdictable. i have been trying to get info from the wildlife biologist for this lewis river unit but have had no luck yet. but i have heard there are some pretty good herds if you are willing to do the work for them. we will see i guess.

[dad98684]

i have hunted that unit for 20+ years, this was opening day 2009 on the 9300 rd near Spencer butte trail. we had 3" at 2000' on opening day at our camp, off and on for the entire season. have also had years that it rained every day, with high winds. over 20" in 9 days.
you will have lots of company, but 100 yards of the road you will not see a sole.

[tshoote30]

Nice dad98684, well i do not plan on road hunting that is for sure. absolutly love hunting in the snow. not sure when but we will be heading up there to do some scouting, and try and locate a good spot to camp.
20 years, that is a long time so you really know all there is to know about that unit.

[Trailstrider]

Take a look at a map west side of Mt. St. Helen between Blue lake and Goat Marsh as this ridge divides the Kalama and South Toutle river drainages. there steep and hold good #s of Elk. Also Cinnamon Peak west face, and the flat along the Kalama river! Snow is the norm but it can turn off warm as well! Good Luck!

[tshoote30]

Take a look at a map west side of Mt. St. Helen between Blue lake and Goat Marsh as this ridge divides the Kalama and South Toutle river drainages. there steep and hold good #s of Elk. Also Cinnamon Peak west face, and the flat along the Kalama river! Snow is the norm but it can turn off warm as well! Good Luck!

Thanks Trailstrider, just got a map of the unit the other day and will tag these areas to check out. I would assume november there would be snow on the ground but am very much prepared to get drenched as i did the last time i hunted on the west side years ago.

[saudog]

Take a look at a map west side of Mt. St. Helen between Blue lake and Goat Marsh as this ridge divides the Kalama and South Toutle river drainages. there steep and hold good #s of Elk. Also Cinnamon Peak west face, and the flat along the Kalama river! Snow is the norm but it can turn off warm as well! Good Luck!

Thanks Trailstrider, just got a map of the unit the other day and will tag these areas to check out. I would assume november there would be snow on the ground but am very much prepared to get drenched as i did the last time i hunted on the west side years ago.

That area is a warzone for modern rifle season, and pretty low in elevation.  Used to hunt there but got too crowded.  Further up the Lewis river past Swift Crk. resevior, you can head north up into some high elevation country that almost always has snow that time of year.  Off of the 90 there is FS-93 and other roads that get into some great country that is in between Mt. St. helens and Mt. Adams.  Or head south of the 90 to the Indian Heavens wilderness area, or head up FS-25 or FS-23 and you can hunt off of those roads.  Huge unit with lots of areas to go.  Most of the easy to get to spots will be crowded of course.

[tshoote30]

Yea that is what i have hear, is that it is a war zone. that is what we want is up in the higher elevations. we are not into just settling for the easy spots that is for sure. we are goona put some blood and sweat into it as we do every year. i kinda know the area you speak of. last time i hunted on the west side we were up there on the east side of swift resevoire. i will mark those areas on my map. thanks for your input.

[Trailstrider]

  Unless something has changed in a year the road is washed out at blue lake trail head. yeah there can be a lot of people in the area around the road, those that are willing to hike/bike  will find good hunting under very light pressure. Might add this ridge is not accessable from the South Toutle anymore due to flooding and washouts..... I wish you well in your hunt!

[tshoote30]

Unless something has changed in a year the road is washed out at blue lake trail head. yeah there can be a lot of people in the area around the road, those that are willing to hike/bike  will find good hunting under very light pressure. Might add this ridge is not accessable from the South Toutle anymore due to flooding and washouts..... I wish you well in your hunt!

Yea not a problem hiking, thanks for the info, especially the washed out road part. I need to get my lazy fat A!! up there to check things out, just no time right now. but i have collected alot of info so I am hoping that will get us going. I think our best option will be getting up there as high as we can and hike to the depths of hell to get out of all the modern fire arm kaous, god knows i don't want to be dodging bullets