Worm Flows camping tips?

[neilsonw]

I'm coming up on my first St. Helens summit attempt and it looks like the Bivouac will still be closed by then so it'll be a winter route trip. I understand that you can camp at the Marble Mountain trailhead but in the interest of making it a bit more manageable for a first attempt, we're considering hiking on the route a short distance the evening before and finding a spot to camp at or near tree line (below 4800' of course), then heading up in the morning.

Has anyone here done this before and if so, any tips or ideas of where to set up camp along the trail? Should we be hanging our food in this area? Is Swift Creek a good source of water, provided we filter it?

Any insight is much appreciated

edit: Oh, they just updated saying the Bivouac is open so nevermind! Not sure how to delete the post.

[bghiker]

there is some camping near chocolate falls. Although the water may still be fozen. Above that, its pretty exposed with not much for water sources. I usually do an alpine start form Marble Mountain (2-3 am) in the winter and am usually back to the car around noon or so. It helps that you can glissade a good portion of the way down. I usually carry my snow shoes and definitely my microspikes for the ascent as well as an ice axe for the glissade. Enjoy...

[neilsonw]

there is some camping near chocolate falls. Although the water may still be fozen. Above that, its pretty exposed with not much for water sources. I usually do an alpine start form Marble Mountain (2-3 am) in the winter and am usually back to the car around noon or so. It helps that you can glissade a good portion of the way down. I usually carry my snow shoes and definitely my microspikes for the ascent as well as an ice axe for the glissade. Enjoy...

Thanks for the notes! I think we'll opt for the summer route instead because it just opened today and camp at CB.