If by the "Old Codger" you mean Harry Truman, he was at Spirt Lake which is on the other side of Mt. St. Helens from Castle Lake. You would not want to try to walk from Castle to Sprit Lake.
Castle sits right under the eastner rim of the creater. You can see it from most of the lake. It is a great lake for lots of reasons, but it is not what it use to be. If you go in, try and haul some of the trash out. A lot of people don't want to haul their trash back up out of the lake. It is an easy walk down, but back out is not much fun.
Woops I disorented myself. Old Man is right that it is West not East (and I guess I will even go with northwest). Anyway, It does feel like it is right below the rim of the crater. I have fished it three times in my life each about 2 years apart the last being about three years ago now. The first time was the best for larg fish, the last for numbers. It has some strong hatches. If you go, take the long way down. As I recall, there have been a few bad injuries from falls down the (let me get my left hand pointing west here) southwest side trial.
The last time I went was last May during a black caddis hatch and had a great time. You are right about the trash though, I took an empty hefty bag with me and had no problem filling it up. People like that make me sick.
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