7/14, Saturday. 91°F. I planned the B shape hike after seeing Tom's hike to Sheep Canyon Loop, but added another not-worthwhile Blue Horse Loop. I didn't want to sign up Tom's, because of the large size of the group and a dinner stop planned in his outing description.
3 of us met at Vanport Max station. Priya drove her nice new BMW. A comfortable ride, despite some rough spots on the gravel road. Here's the twice-retreated Blue Lake trailhead due to mud slides. We actually started before Tom's - despite of our later meeting time. 
Walk onto the rubbles in this photo. Saw a trail to the left with planks over the Coldspring Creek - surprisingly clear water. Followed that, and on to a road. 5 minutes later, I realized that we were on the wrong track. Back into the rubble. Just followed Tom's group until we got into the woods, and the trail is then obvious. We quickly passed them. Nice trail now, soft, and gentle slope, old trees, bunchgrass and inside-out flower are the most common here. Somehow we missed seeing Blue Lake.
A little over an hour later, we reached this nice meadow. 20 minutes later, we reached more trail junction. Instead of going forward, we turned left and down over this nice bridge -- start of the first loop clockwise. 
Now the elevation gains steadily. I quickly lagged behind Lisa. More woods. More sweat. When we emerged from the trees, ~45 minutes later, we were on the top of the moraine. 
Beargrass bloom started. You can also see the top of Rainier, and of course, the canyon and the narrow creek below. Now turn to Loowit Trail. That's the best part of today. Lots of beargrass, blooming. Before the trail started loosing elevation again, we had our long lunch break ~12:50 with this view. Flies! Soon, met Tom's group going anti-clockwise. Met another group of 3 (I hiked with 2 of them before). Turn right to finish the loop. Right before the junction is a nice spot to wash and relax by the creek. At the junction itself, we went back to visit the 2-tiered waterfall, coming under the footbridge.Back on the Toutle trail, we then followed Blue Horse trail to finish the second loop. It starts on a road, then into a 2nd growth forest. You can see St. Helens through the trees. No big tree canopy. Feels hotter. The trail was sandy like on a beach, but with rocks. When crossing the mudflat, we briefly lost the trail. We were back at the car at 4pm. 1:40 minutes later, back at Vanport MAX station.
Lisa's app registered 13 miles and 4000'. Didn't seem that much elevation change. All signs are well made, and there are quite a number of them. Apart from the group I mentioned above, we met 2 couples doing Loowit 360°, 2 ladies day hiking. Too hot to do Loowit 360° now.
