Snowfall in the Cascade foothills prompted the Washington Department of Transportation to close the last six miles of Highway 504 near Mount St. Helens.
The road, also known as the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway, will remain gated at the Hummocks Trail near Coldwater Lake, 45 miles east of the road’s junction with Interstate 5 at Castle Rock. The road normally closes during the winter. The U.S. Forest Service closed Johnston Ridge Observatory, at the end of the highway, on Oct. 31.
Coldwater Lake and the Hummocks Trail will remain accessible as conditions permit.
The DOT will open the gate next spring, after the last of significant snowfall.
