Tag: mt. st. helens national volcanic monument

June Lake to Ape Canyon – 09/20/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 24, 2025
No Comments on June Lake to Ape Canyon – 09/20/2025

After a few solo hikes we were able to hit the trail together to wrap up my final week of vacation for 2025. The hike I’d penciled in at the beginning of the year was out due to a road closure blocking access to the trailhead and my plan B was also out due to a closure for hazard tree removal. I turned to my list of “extra” hikes that were not currently on the schedule, which runs through 2029, and the one that jumped out was June Lake in the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. I checked the weather/smoke forecast, and it was clear skies with a high in the low 60s. That was enough to convince us.

This would be our second visit to June Lake with the first having been in July of 2014 (post). The hike to June Lake is just 1.3-miles (2.6-miles round trip with 410′ of elevation gain) so during our 2015 visit we continued past the lake 0.3-miles to the Loowit Trail which circumnavigates Mt. St. Helens. We turned left (clockwise) on that trail for nearly 5-miles before turning around. Our plan for this outing was to go right (counterclockwise), possibly as far as Ape Canyon (post).

We parked at the June Lake Trailhead and set off just after 7am.

The trail briefly follows June Creek with some views of the top of Mt. St. Helens before veering away to climb through the forest.

The trail nears the creek again to cross it on a footbridge then arrives in an open flat where June Lake lies hidden behind bushes on the right.

June Creek

The first path we followed through the bushes led to a view of the lake but not the waterfall that flows into the lake.

We ducked down a second path to get a view of the falls.

Aside from a few dragonflies and an American dipper we were alone at the lake and took a short break there to enjoy the scenery and sound of the waterfall.

From the lake we made the stiff climb up to the Loowit Trail and headed toward Ape Canyon.

It’s hard to tell in the photo but this section was both steep and loose. We both used the trees/roots on the left as handholds going up and when we came back down.

The trail leveled out some as it neared the junction.

The trail sign at the Loowit Trail junction said the Ape Canyon Trail was 5-miles. From the Ape Canyon Trail the canyon itself is a little over an additional half mile.

The Loowit Trail crossed a lava flow then spent a little time in the forest and along the lava flow before climbing into the rocks.

Various poles and posts mark the trails when they are passing over the lava flows.

The trail made a pretty significant climb (approx. 200′) when it reentered the lava flow gaining a view of Mt. Adams to the east and Mt. Hood to the south.

Marble Mountain is the closest peak, and Mt. Hood is behind to the left through some smokey haze.

A little better look at Mt. Hood.

Pink mountain heather

Heading up.

The Loowit Trail to the left crossing over the large rock with Mt. Adams in the distance.

Looking back down from near the top of the climb.

We were still about 3.2-miles from the Ape Canyon Trail at this point. From this crest the Loowit Trail would make a series of ups and downs as it crossed a half dozen gullies/canyons of various depths including several forks of the Muddy River. We momentarily lost the trail at one of the first gullies when we missed a hairpin turn around a post marking the route and instead headed straight following footprints along a rocky ridge.

The trail passing between large rocks.

Mt. Adams was visible for much of this stretch and Mt. Rainier occasionally made an appearance to the north.

Mt. Rainier over the trees.

There were also plenty of great views of Mt. St. Helens.

Mt. Adams from one of the posts.

This is where we missed the turn and were following footprints along this ridge.

When we finally spotted a post and the trail way down in the gully below we checked the GPS and confirmed we were off the actual trail. A little scrambling connected us back up to the correct path.

Mt. Adams from the ridge. The post is barely visible between some trees ahead to the left, but we didn’t want to try to recross the top of the ridge as there were some large gaps that were almost too sketchy for us on the first pass.

A little downclimbing to the actual trail below.

Passing the post we had seen from above.

Dropping into another gully. At this point Heather decided she was not going to try and push for Ape Canyon and sent me ahead while she would take her time and turn around when she felt like it.

The trail briefly left the rocky landscape to traverse up and along a hillside with a few trees and a lot of huckleberry bushes that were sporting their fall colors.

Looking back at Mt. Hood and the direction we’d come.

Mt. Adams and a lot of huckleberry bushes.

Mt. Rainier in the distance.

Mt. Rainier behind Pumice Butte.

Ripe serviceberries mixed in with the huckleberries.

After traversing the huckleberry covered hillside it crossed another tributary of the Muddy River.

Closer look at Mt. St. Helens.

Heading for the next post.

Mt. Rainier became more visible as I continued north.

One of the larger canyons of the Muddy River. The entire route was dry this late in the year.

Dry waterfall above the trail.

Looking down the canyon toward Mt. Adams.

Mt. Hood and a layer of haze behind one of the posts.

The trail turning uphill before the next canyon.

The Loowit Trail climbing out of another canyon to a post with Mt. Rainier in the distance.

Mt. Rainier and Little Tahoma

Dwarf lupine

The next ravine was the main channel of the Muddy River and it proved to be the trickiest as the trail climbing out was not obvious.

There was a post visible on the far side poking up from a patch of green but no visible path leading to it.

It almost looked like there might be a path on the shelf above the dry riverbed, but I didn’t see a clear path to it, nor did it appear to lead anywhere near the post on the ridge above.

Once I was in the riverbed I spotted two small rock cairns, one with a pink ribbon so I headed for those.

That brought me to the far side but there was still no clear tread that I could see.

The post is uphill just to my left. There were some prints leading up from here so I angled uphill toward the trees above.

This route quickly turned into a class 3 scramble. I had to be very careful which rocks I used as hand and footholds due to how loose the hillside was. I momentarily considered turning around but I was closer to the top than the bottom and wasn’t sure I could safely downclimb, so I continued. I finally managed to climb out near the snags.

The post is hiding back behind the snags here.

After gathering myself I continued on figuring that it should be easier to follow the correct path down starting from the post on the way back. The Loowit trail now began a nearly three-quarter mile long descent.

Mt. Rainier to the left and the Loowit Trail ahead to the right.

The Ape Canyon Trail was visible climbing along the ridge below.

The trail leveled out shortly before arriving at the junction with the Ape Cayon Trail at a post with a great view of Pumice Butte.

I almost called it quits here. In addition to a great view of Mt. St. Helens I could see the Loowit Trail below in the distance as it bowed out and around toward Ape Canyon which was on the far side of Pumice Butte.

The Loowit Trail is visible on the right-hand side about halfway up the photo.

The trail then bent around to climb the ridge in the distance on the far side of the butte.

The deciding factor was that on our previous two visits Mt. Adams had not been visible from the viewpoint above Ape Canyon. Despite there being a little haze today I knew Mt. Adams would be visible, so I sallied forth.

Heading toward Pumice Butte now. If you look closely, on the left-hand side toward the top, there are several mountain goats. At this point I had dismissed them as fallen snags and hadn’t bothered looking closely.

Passing through yet another gully.

Paintbrush

The trail passes the top of Ape Canyon and crosses what is sometimes a small spring fed stream.

No water, just a little bit of mud. Speaking to backpackers there were few sources of water available this late in the year.

Success! Mt. Adams from Ape Canyon

This was the 2013 view.

And the 2015 view.

I took a break on a rock and had a snack and changed into dry socks before starting back.

The rock I used as a bench.

It was while I was heading back that I realized it was mountain goats on Pumice Butte and not stumps/downed trees.

Looking north toward Windy Pass where the Loowit Trail passes between the mountain and the butte ahead.

Mt. Adams, Pumice Butte, and mountain goats.

I returned the way I’d come, except for the two places that I’d lost the trail on the way to Ape Canyon. As the sun moved overhead the view of Mt. Adams improved a bit and the view of Mt. Hood became hazier.

Mt. Hood was barely visible now.

When I reached the post above the Muddy River I followed the path as it began to descend the side that I’d scrambled up.

The section of trail that I had thought I’d seen from the other side was visible below but again there was no clear route to it. I believe it is a remanent of a previous route through the canyon that has since washed out.

The route down made a switchback and basically led me back to where I had begun my scramble up. There was a pretty good drop near the bottom though. It was significant enough that I sat down and slowly lowered myself by sliding down the loose pumice. Looking back, I am sure I considered that as a possible route up but the drop, or climb going up, seemed pretty daunting and since I wasn’t positive it was indeed the current trail I veered right instead. Once I was done with the butt slide, I found myself in the riverbed at the cairns I had followed earlier. It was a little perplexing at the time, but I was through the worst section now and could enjoy the rest of the hike back.

Dust kicking up from a rockfall on the mountain.

Golden-mantled grounds squirrel. I heard a few pikas along the way but never saw any, just the golden-mantles and some chipmunks.

Coming up to the post on the ridge where we’d lost the trail earlier.

Mt. Adams near the end of the hike.

The trail below in the rocks.

Back on the June Lake Trail.

I caught up to Heather a little before reaching June Lake. She had gone through the huckleberries and stopped at the edge of one of the big canyons and taken a nice long break before taking her time on her way back. We stopped at June Lake again for a final look at the waterfall then returned to the car.

Ouzel with a snack.

The hike to Ape Canyon came in at 14.4-miles on my GPS. I am just guessing on elevation, but I’d say it was in the 2500′ range due to all the ups and downs.

This little orange section is my scramble out of the Muddy River Canyon.

Mt. St. Helens never disappoints. This might have been my favorite hike we’ve done at the mountain to date but it’s hard to say. Happy Trails!

Flickr: June Lake to Ape Canyon

Tags ape canyon, ape canyon trail, hiking, June Lake, june lake trail, June Lake Trailhead, Loowit Trail, Mountain Goats, Mt. St. Helens, mt. st. helens national volcanic monument, Muddy River, Washington

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Lava Canyon – 08/30/2025

The morning after our last hike, at Silver Falls State Park (post), I woke with a bad case of vertigo and wound up in urgent care thinking I might have an ear infection. That wasn’t the case, but it took the better part of a week for things to settle down putting our hiking plans on pause. By Labor Day Weekend the vertigo had passed, and I was just dealing with a little excess pressure in my left ear. That was good enough for us to head back out for the trails.

For our first hike of the holiday weekend we picked Lava Canyon in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. This hike had been on our list of trails to revisit for a while now and given the forecast for smokey conditions in the Oregon Cascades it looked like a good time to do it.

Our first visit to Lava Canyon was in September 2012 (post) before we’d decided to try and hike all of William L. Sullivan’s featured hikes. During that visit we did Sullivan’s shorter option, a 1.3-mile lollipop loop following a much longer hike at Ape Canyon. For this visit we wanted to do his longer option and add on a little bit of time on Smith Creek Trail. Doing some pre-hike research led me to the Oregon Hikers Field Guide which described a loop utilizing The Old 83 Trail to return to the Lava Canyon Trailhead.

Our typical early start meant we were the first ones on the trail Saturday morning.

We headed down the paved path past a viewpoint and then a warning sign.

Muddy River

At the 0.4-mile mark we came to a junction with the short loop we’d done on our first visit.

On our previous visit we returned using the bridge shown above. That loop currently isn’t an option due to damage to the suspension bridge a quarter mile further along the trail.

Viewpoint above Upper Lava Canyon Falls.

The view of the falls leaves a little to be desired but there is a better view a little further down the trail.

Upper Lava Canyon Falls

Beyond the viewpoint the trail becomes rougher.

The closed suspension bridge.

The Lava Canyon Trail continuing past the suspension bridge.

Warning regarding the conditions along the Lower Lava Canyon Trail.

We continued down the increasingly rough trail and came to a view of Lava Canyon Falls.

The top of Lava Canyon Falls.

Lava Canyon Falls

Fireweed

The trail was very narrow in places and high, not a good one for people who have issues with heights, children or pets.

This missing section of tread was the sketchiest part of the trail. There was a significant drop which would have been fatal.

The next waterfall we passed was Middle Lava Canyon Falls.

Unnamed stream crossing.

A short distance beyond Middle Lava Canyon Falls we came to the 30′ to 40′ ladder.

After securing our hiking poles we climbed down the ladder and continued along the trail.

Basalt above the trail.

At an unmarked junction we made a hard right turn to take a 0.2-mile spur trail to the top of The Ship where there was a view of Lower and Lava Canyon Falls.

This is the view of the spur trail (on the left) looking back after having passed the junction and turning around.

There was a shorter ladder on The Ship.

Chicken tails

Huckleberry leaves turning colors at the end of summer.

Lower Lava Canyon Falls

After a short break to enjoy the view we carefully headed back down to the Lava Canyon Trail.

The spur trail above the ladder.

We continued another third of a mile to another unsigned junction where we turned right.

We took the spur to avoid the challenging conditions that the sign near the suspension bridge had mentioned. The spur trail crossed the Muddy River on a good footbridge then followed the river 1.1-miles to the Lower Smith Creek Trailhead.

This trail was also a little rough but there were no major challenges.

Mt. Margaret (post) and Mt. Teragram (rocky knoll).

Mt. St. Helens

About 100 yards before reaching the trailhead we passed a yellow rope hanging down the steep embankment. None of the maps or hike descriptions we’d looked at said anything about using a rope to get down to the river, so we ignored it and continued on.

Zoomed in look at the rope from the Muddy River.

The rope is located at the center of this photo.

As it turned out we should have used the rope to get down because the maps and descriptions indicated that from the trailhead you would walk north along the former Forest Road 8322, but that old roadbed ended at a vertical drop where the was no way to safely scramble down to the river.

Vehicle parked near the trailhead sign in the distance.

FR 8322 roadbed heading toward the former bridge site.

Unable to descend from the end of FR 8322 we decided to continue down that road past the trailhead looking for an alternate route instead of returning to the rope. About a quarter mile from the trailhead we came to some campsites where we found a rough scramble trail that we used to get down to the riverbank.

We made a u turn along the river and headed back toward the old bridge site where we would ford the Muddy River.

While the trail had been a little sketchy at times the scariest part of the hike came as we were heading back up to the ford of the Muddy River. There was a family camped near the trailhead, and they decided it would be a good idea to let the kids shoot their 22’s across the river valley. It wasn’t surprising that they would be that careless given they had a big campfire going despite a full ban on campfires in the forest. (Forest Order 06-03-00-25-01) I tried yelling and waiving my arms and I don’t know if that got their attention or if one of the adults spotted us, but they did stop shooting and we made it past.

We changed into our water shoes and forded just below the log here. The water was knee deep and cold.

View back to where FR 8322 used to be. There was no way we were getting down that.

We picked up the obvious trail which climbed easily up the far embankment.

The trail headed back along the river before veering away and arriving at a junction with the Lava Canyon Trail.

The Smith Creek Trail ends at Forest Road 99 just north of the Smith Creek Viewpoint (post)

We stuck to the Smith Creek Trail which followed the old roadbed. After a third of a mile we came to a junction with lots of flagging and some cairns.

Smith Creek from the trail.

Another view of Smith Creek.

Lupine

The unsigned but well-marked junction with The Old 83 Trail. The Old 83 Trail would loop us back to the Lava Canyon Trailhead, but first I wanted to explore a little more of the Smith Creek Trail. Heather opted to skip this detour, so we split up here.

The Smith Creek Trail was relatively level and, for the most part, continued to follow the old roadbed. There was a mix of forest and occasional views of Smith Creek.

Aster

Unnamed creek.

I had planned on hiking for half an hour then turning around, but as the 30-minute mark approached the GPS showed I was close to a junction, so I made that my turn around.

View up Smith Creek toward Windy Ridge near the junction.

The junction wound up being where FR 94 used to split off to cross Smith Creek.

After the hike I realized I had turned around less than half a mile from Ape Canyon (post) which would have been a logical spot to turn around, but I was already 5 minutes over my allotted time. I made my way back to The Old 83 Trail and turned up it following Heather.

The Old 83 Trail followed the former route of FR 83 3.3-miles uphill to FR 83 near the trailhead. The wide road was easy to follow with no major blowdown present. It was a quite walk back for me and despite being sure I would see some wildlife I never spotted anything other than an occasional small bird. Heather however saw at least one and possibly up to three owls.

Barred owl

Crane Lake is back in the trees to the left. There was no view from the roadbed and neither of us found the use trail that supposedly led to it.

Mushroom and foam flower

Groundsel

Trail sign for The Old 83 Trail.

The Lava Canyon Trailhead from FR 83.

My hike was 11.4-miles with roughly 1500′ of elevation gain.

The trailhead was very busy by the afternoon but on the trail I only saw two backpackers. The Old 83 Trail and the Smith Creek Trail were both in good shape, but the Lava Canyon Trail had some rough spots making it quite an adventure. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Lava Canyon

Tags hiking, Lava Canyon, Lava Canyon Falls, Lava Canyon Trail, Lava Canyon Trailhead, Lower Smith Creek Trailhead, mt. st. helens national volcanic monument, Muddy River, Smith Creek, Smith Creek Trail, The Old 83 Trail, The Ship, Washington

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

The Hummocks to Johnston Ridge – 07/01/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 3, 2023
1 Comment on The Hummocks to Johnston Ridge – 07/01/2023

On May 14, 2023 a washout along Washington’s SR504 below the Johnston Ridge Observatory closed vehicle access for the foreseeable future. We’d visited the observatory in August 2013 (post) and had planned on revisiting this July. While the washout made driving to the observatory impossible the trails in the area were not impacted. The shortest route was to start at the Hummocks Trailhead and take the Boundary Trail from its intersection with the Hummocks Trail to the observatory. We actually had this hike on our 2024 schedule for July so we swapped those (hoping that the road is repaired before then).

This would also be our second visit to The Hummocks having hiked the 2.5-mile loop in May of 2014 (post) before hiking a longer loop around Coldwater Lake. From the trailhead we set off on the left most trail (next to the large signboards).

While the loop did come in at 2.5-miles it was a little over 3/4 of a mile to the Boundary Trail.

There were a lot more flowers (and green vegetation) along the trail than there had been during our May hike.
Lupine

One of several ponds along the trail.

Interpretive signs, trail guide markers, and “Student Stops” are located throughout the loop.
A “Student Stop” marker surrounded by dwarf lupine. We aren’t sure what the these meant or what program they are related to.

An interpretive sign along the trail facing some of the hummocks.

Penstemon

Mt. St. Helens as we neared the Boundary Trail junction.

Trail guide marker #3 and an interpretive sign at the junction.

We turned left onto the Boundary Trail which began as a level path passing by more hummocks.
The lower left map shows the current closure area and open trails. In a nutshell, all the trails are open but everything off-trail to the side facing SR504 is currently closed.

The views of Mt. St. Helens were great.

The trail began to climb as it squeezed between a gap in the hillsides ahead.

View back to the hummocks from the gap.

Trees in the gap.

After exiting the gap we got another good view of the mountain before the trail veered left turning away from the mountain.

After another short level stretch the trail began to climb in earnest. While the climb never felt very steep the trail netted 1400′ of elevation gain over the next 3 miles to reach the parking lot at Johnston Ridge.
Heading away from Mt. St. Helens to start the climb.

Dwarf lupine was profuse below the ridge.

Scouler’s bluebell

Thimbleberry blossoms

Castle Peak above Castle Lake with Spud Mountain to the right and the North Fork Toutle River below.

Horned lark

Tiger lily

Savannah sparrow

Heading back toward Mt. St. Helens.

The North Fork Toutle River flowing between Spud Mountain (left) and Elk Rock (right).

Castle Peak and Castle Lake

Elk Rock on the left and Coldwater Lake on the right.

Coldwater Lake

Mountain bluebird.

At one point quite a bit of dust? kicked up from the South Fork Toutle River canyon.

The trail contoured along the hillside, occasionally entering a stand of trees or losing sight of the mountain behind a ridge.

Cardwell’s penstemon

A little over 2 3/4-miles from the Hummocks-Boundary Trail junction we came to a viewpoint at a ridge end where we could see Coldwater Peak and the top of Mt. Adams.
Coldwater Peak with Mt. Adams to the far right of the photo. The hiker ahead to the left of Coldwater Peak was from Belgium. He was here on work but using the weekends to explore the area. We would see him two more times, once from the observatory as he continued on the Boundary Trail and then as we were exiting the trailhead. He had done a loop using the Coldwater Trail (post) which by our calculations would have been at least 16-miles and that is assuming he didn’t detour to Coldwater Peak.

Mt. Adams from the viewpoint on our way back. The angle of the Sun earlier caused the mountain to look pretty washed out.

Mt. St. Helens from the viewpoint.

Variable-leaf collomia

The Loowit Viewpoint on the ridge ahead.

Paintbrush covered hillside.

The Loowit Viewpoint is located along SR504. The Boundary Trail passes by the viewpoint 3/4 of a mile from the Johnston Ridge Observatory.
Mt. St. Helens from the Loowit Viewpoint.

Mt. St. Helens crater.

As we continued on from the viewpoint we were under the watchful eye of some nosey locals.

Golden mantled-ground squirrel. These brazen con-artists often convince visitors they would starve without humans help. While this is definitely not the case and wildlife really shouldn’t be fed it happens all too frequently. (They are awfully cute though.)

The closer we came to the observatory the more paintbrush we began seeing.
A single plant.

A lot of paintbrush.

Daisies and paintbrush

Penstemon, yarrow, and Scouler’s woolyweed along with the paintbrush.

Paintbrush and penstemon along the trail.

The Boundary Trail turns to a paved path across from the parking lot for the observatory following the parking entrance road for approximately 450′.

Passing by the Johnston Ridge Observatory.

Before and after photos of the 1980 eruption.

We followed the Eruption Trail uphill to a mountain identifier then down the other side to rejoin the Boundary Trail.

Mt. Adams peaking over the ridges with Spirit Lake also visible (center).

Spirit Lake

The mountain identifier ahead on the left.

We could see where the repair work was happening on SR504 from this trail.

The rounded peak to the right is Goat Mountain (post).

Goat Mountain with a few patches of snow still showing up.

Rock Arch near Coldwater Peak.

Memorial for the lives lost in the 1980 eruption.

Junction with the Boundary Trail.

The views and flowers were so nice that we decided to continue on the Boundary Trail for a bit. The trail had been slowly losing elevation and after a little over a half mile neared a saddle where more elevation would have been lost. We decided to turn around there since shortly after climbing up from the saddle on the far side the trail would lose sight of Mt. St. Helens as it passed behind the ridge for a bit.

Pussypaws

Another view of the washout.

Our turn around spot. You can see the trail on far side of the saddle veering left behind the ridge.

Coldwater Peak from our turnaround spot.

We headed back to the Hummocks Trail, sticking to the Boundary Trail the entire way.
The Johnston Ridge Observatory from the trail. We hadn’t realized how much elevation we’d lost until we turned around.

Castle Peak and Spud Mountain on the left and the observatory above some colorful cliffs.

Penstemon

White crowned sparrow

Boundary Trail leaving the Loowit Viewpoint.

Snowberry checkerspot on penstemon.

Another checkerspot, this time on lupine.

Cedar waxwings

When we arrived back at the Hummocks Trail we turned left to finish that loop.

Mt. St. Helens and the North Fork Toutle River.

Between it having been 9 years since we’d hiked this trail and the difference in the time of year the scenery was very different.

The same view in May 2014.

Same spot, different angle 2014.

Monkeyflower

Maybe a yellow-rumped warbler.

Caterpillar

Dragonfly

Pearly everlasting

Arriving back at the Hummocks Trailhead.

The hike came in at 12.5 miles with just under 2000′ of cumulative elevation gain.

This turned out to be the perfect day for this hike. The weather was pleasant, the views and flowers great, and the road closure provided solitude at the observatory. In addition to the Belgian hiker we passed a couple near the small viewpoint on the way to the observatory. We passed a few more people on the way back but nearly half of those were volunteers with the Mt. St. Helens Institute. The only thing that the hike lacked was any larger wildlife. It was one of the only hikes we could recall at the mountain where we didn’t see at least one deer, elk or mountain goat. Maybe next time. Until then Happy Trails!

Flickr: Boundary Trail – Hummocks TH to Johnston Ridge

Tags Boundary Trail, hiking, Hummock Trailhead, Hummocks, Hummocks Trail, Johnston Ridge, Johnston Ridge Observatory, Loowit Viewpoint, Mt. St. Helens, mt. st. helens national volcanic monument, North Fork Toutle River, Washington, wildflowers

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Goat Marsh Lake and Kalama Ski Trail – 06/25/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 27, 2022
2 Comments on Goat Marsh Lake and Kalama Ski Trail – 06/25/2022

After a wet and mild Spring, Summer announced its arrival with our fist 90-degree temperatures just in time for the weekend. When it gets that warm we typically turn to the mountains for relief but that’s a little trickier this year due to there being quite a bit of snow still up in the Cascades. Even some of the lower elevation mountains are still in the process of melting out. For instance our original plan for this hike had been to visit Silver Star Mountain (post) via the Starway Trail, an approach that we haven’t done yet. While this mountain is accessible recent reports showed several remaining snowdrifts but more importantly the wildflower show is running late. To decide where to go I turned to my spreadsheet looking for hikes that I had scheduled in coming years around the end of June. Goat Marsh Lake was on the schedule for next year and while the Goat Marsh Research Natural Area is located with the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. It sits at a low enough elevation that there was a chance that snow wouldn’t be an issue. Using NOAA’s NOHRSC snow depth layer on the PCTA’s interactive map confirmed that snow shouldn’t be an issue at the lake or along the loop we were planning after visiting the lake using the Kalama Ski and Toutle Trails. With a forecast high of 78 degrees it would be warm but not unbearable so with that as our plan we got an early start and headed north to the Goat Marsh Lake Trailhead.

We parked a little up FR 8123 from the trailhead and walked back down to the start of the trail.
FR 8123

This was the Kalama Ski Trail (Trail 231) and part of the loop we were planning as well as the way to reach the Goat Marsh Trail in a quarter mile.

We followed this path to the junction where we turned right to visit the lake.
It appeared the trail had been rerouted at least a couple of times to cross this dry creek bed.

This trail led slightly uphill for 0.5 mile to our first view of the lake. Along the way we’d spotted a cow elk in the trees but she disappeared before we could take a picture.

Fence at the boundary for the Research Area.

Goat Mountain and Goat Marsh Lake.

The trail continued around the lake for a little over three quarters of a mile. We spotted two more cow elk and moments later noticed a whole heard, including several calves, further to the north.

Mt. St. Helens

Trillium

Vanilla leaf

Frog on a log.

The two cow elk in the middle of the grassy area.

Calves lined up, this one is a bit blurry due to them moving and the amount of zoom used.

The elk herd not zoomed in.

Zoomed

After watching the elk for a while we continued on.
Coralroot

Goat Mountain

Avalanche lilies

Mt. St. Helens

Marsh violet

Frog under a log.

Salmonberry

Sign near the end of the trail.

At the end of the trail.

Beaver lodge

Duck and ducklings

Geese out in the grass.

We returned to the trailhead and crossed FR 8123 to stay on the Kamala Ski Trail.

The road crossing.

We had a little trouble picking up the trail beyond the sign because there was also a campsite here with several use trails radiating from it. We used our GPS while we looked for the blue diamonds that would identify a ski trail. Heather was the first to spot one and we were soon on the ski trail heading toward Mt. St. Helens.
In the campsite trying to decide which way to go.

Once we found it the trail was pretty obvious, at least for a while.

Approximately three quarters of a mile from the road we came to a junction with the Blue Lake Horse Trail. The horse trail can be used to reach Blue Lake (post) to the north via the Toutle Trail or the same Toutle Trail to the south near the Kalama River (post) which we could have done here to shorten our loop. Instead we stayed straight on the ski trail.

We had remarked several times during our Ashland vacation about the lack of mosquitos, and really insects overall, but that was not the case here. While they weren’t a big issue it was noticeably buggier here than it had been in Southern Oregon. The local birds were busy doing their part to reduce the number of bugs.
Gray jay with a snack.

Western tanager. Right after this photo he flew straight at us snatching an insect out of mid-air.

Four tenths a mile from the horse trail the ski trail made a turn away from the mountain and headed SE.

The trail became a little more overgrown then came to a series of dry creek beds where we again had to hunt for signs of the trail.

Butte Camp Dome in front of Mt. St. Helens.

Crossing another dry bed.

Where is the trail?

In one of the creek beds. We were using the GPS along with looking for cairns and/or flagging.

Goat Mountain

You can’t really make them out in the photo but there is a pink flag and a blue diamond (on a downed tree) near the edge of the green trees.

We were now entering the section of trail that the NOHRSC indicated there could be some lingering snow patches.
There was another short brushy section before the forest opened up.

One of the strangest snow sightings we’ve come across.

My theory was bigfoot hung this.

The NOHRSC estimated 2″-3.9″ of snow and that seemed to be about right.

Unlike in the Siskiyous this melting snow had produced a fair number of mosquitos so we hustled through this section even though it was scenic.

We encountered the first other hikers we’d seen when we arrived at the junction with the Toutle Trail (Approx 3 miles from the Goat Marsh Lake Trailhead). The junction was unsigned and they were considering which way to go to find the Loowit Trail. We pointed them north (left from the direction we were coming, straight for them) on the Toutle Trail and then turned south (right) ourselves onto the Toutle.
Looking back at the junction from the Toutle Trail. The post with no sign is the continuation of the Toutle while the trail on the left is the ski trail.

We followed this trail south for half a mile passing through a beargrass meadow that appears to have bloomed heavily last year and a lava flow with excellent views of Mt. St. Helens before dropping to FR 81 at the Red Rock Pass Trailhead.

Last years beargrass.

Strawberry

Phlox

FR 81 below the trail.

Trail sign at the trailhead.

We crossed FR 81 and continued on the Toutle Trail.

After 100 yards we came to a familiar fork where we had turned uphill in 2019 on our Cinnamon Ridge Hike linked above.
Raven flyover

The fork.

We were going in the opposite direction of what we’d done in 2019. Bugs were a bit more of a nuisance here so we kept a steady pace as we made a little climb then descended to McBride Lake and the Kalama River.

One of several side creeks we crossed.

Trillium

Avalanche lily

Violet

Goat Mountain beyond McBride Lake.

Sourgrass

Valerian

Solomonseal

Saxifrage

A little west of McBride Lake the Toutle Trail crosses the Kalama River on a closed road bed.

Kalama River from the road bed.

Our original plan was blown up here. We had intended to follow the Toutle Trail to the start of the Kalama Ski Trail and then take that trail back uphill to the Goat Marsh Lake Trailhead. The problem was I had already forgotten about the Blue Lake Horse Trail and when I had glanced at the GPS and saw a trail extending north from the end of the road bed I mistook it for the ski trail so we followed the road bed a quarter mile to FR 81. (We had a paper map with us but didn’t pull it out to confirm.)

The Blue Lake Horse Trail on the far side of FR 81.

When we crossed FR 81, two things that should have tipped us off to our mistake. First the sign clearly said “Blue Horse Trail” and second instead of blue diamonds there were orange diamonds with arrows marking this trail.
The sign did show FR 8123 which was the road the trailhead was on so that fed into us not realizing our mistake at first.

We followed this trail for a third of a mile before we realized what we’d done. We stopped and considered our options. We could back track three quarters of a mile to the Toutle Trail or a third of a mile to FR 81 and follow one of them west to the ski trail. Another option was to continue uphill on this trail to the junction we’d passed earlier and retrace our steps on the ski trail from there back to the trailhead. All of those options meant adding distance and retracing steps. Heather suggested another option, simply heading cross-country for FR 8123 and the trailhead.
An orange diamond on a tree ahead.

The forest was definitely conducive to cross-country travel so we struck off in a WNW direction. The cross-country hike was about as easy as we could have hoped for and after 0.7 miles we arrived a FR 8123 just 0.2 miles from our car.
Where we left the horse trail.

Typical terrain for the cross-country walk.

It seems like every time we go off-trail we come across a mylar balloon. We’ve really come to despise those things. We packed it and the ribbon out.

The trickiest part was crossing this dry stream bed but we fortunately came to it at a spot that was perfect for crossing.

FR 8123

Coming up to the Goat Marsh Lake Trailhead (and our car) on FR 8123.

I had estimated a 10-12 mile hike with only about 800′ of total elevation gain and we came in at 10.8 miles.

Our track with the cross-country portion in orange.

While it had been a warm day, the combination of shade provided by the forest and a fairly steady breeze, it hadn’t been too hot. The hike had provided a lot of diverse scenery and great views of Mt. St. Helens. The wildlife was a big bonus along the Goat Marsh Trail too. It seems like we can always count on hikes in Mt. St. Helens area to be great ones. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Goat Marsh Lake

Tags Blue Lake Horse Trail, Butte Camp Dome, elk, Goat Marsh Lake, Goat Marsh Lake Natural Research Area, Goat Marsh Lake Trailhead, goat mountain, hiking, Kalama River, Kalama Ski Trail, McBride Lake, Mt. St. Helens, mt. st. helens national volcanic monument, Red Rock Pass, Red Rock pass Trailhead, Toutle Trail, Washington

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Cinnamon Ridge – 7/20/2019

**Note a small portion of this hike burned in the 2022 Kalama Fire.**

It had been a couple of years since our hikes had taken us to the Mt. St. Helens area. We didn’t want to go a third year without making a visit so we picked the 14.1 mile Cinnamon Ridge Loop Hike described here in the Oregon Hikers field guide. A shorter loop was also described in Matt Reeder’s “Off the Beaten Trail” guidebook.

We started at the Kalama Horse Camp Trailhead and consulted the signboard map to confirm our route. (We had a paper map, a downloaded pdf track, and our GPS with us, but you can never consult too many maps.)

We set off on the Toutle Trail just to the right of the signboard.

After a short descent the trail crossed an unnamed creek. Ripe berries were everywhere.

Two tenths of a mile from the trailhead we came to a junction with the Cinnamon Ridge Trail, our return route. We stayed left on the Toutle Trail.

Toutle Trail

Candy sticks

A short distance later we stayed right at a junction with the Kalama Ski Trail.

Beyond this junction the trail approached the Kalama River as it passed through the forest.

Yet another junction followed about three quarters of a mile later just after climbing away from the river via a switchback. Again we stuck to the Toutle Trail.

The trail was now a good distance above the river avoiding a series of slides.

Pinesap

Pinesap and a puffball

Just over 2 miles from the trailhead we arrived at the third and final junction signed for the Kalama Ski Trail where we also stuck to the Toutle Trail.

There had been plenty of ripe huckleberries and lots of pinesap but not too many flowers. There were a few lousewort and twin flowers though along this section of trail.
Lousewort

Twin Flower

At the 2.5 mile mark we came to a Forest Service Road.

Reeder’s shorter/easier loop utilizes this road which he lists as FR 8122 (our maps showed it as 8022). He also has you hike in the opposite direction so we would have been coming down the road to this junction then returning to the horse camp the way we’d come on this hike. Since we were doing the longer loop we crossed over the road and continued on the Toutle Trail which was once again closer to the Kalama River.

Along this stretch we noticed a few really large mushrooms.

20190720_083611

Approximately 1.2 mile from the road crossing we crossed a second road bed where the trail hopped to the opposite side of the river.

A good sized frog jumped off the trail in front of us here.

As we neared McBride Lake (now more of a wetland) we obtained our first glimpses of Mt. St. Helens.

Mt. St. Helens beyond the remnants of McBride Lake.

We averted disaster when a rough skinned newt charged Heather but it was only a bluff.

The trail climbed through a nice forest as it passed McBride Lake on its way to Red Rock Pass.

Cars parked at Red Rock Pass

We didn’t go all the way down to Red Rock Pass as the Cinnamon Trail headed uphill at an unsigned junction about 100 yards above the trailhead.
Cinnamon Trail on the left and Toutle Trail on the right from the unsigned junction.

While the Toutle Trail had gained almost 1200′ in the 5.7 miles from the trailhead to the Cinnamon Trail junction the Cinnamon Trail gained nearly 700′ in less than a mile. Although the climb was never particularly steep it provided a good workout. It also provided some nice views of Mt. St. Helens and our first (and best) look at Mt. Adams.

IMG_3735_stitch

Things leveled out a bit after gaining the ridge where the trail passed through a variety of scenery.

Fungus on a stump.

After a little of two and a half miles on the Cinnamon Trail we came to a small meadow with a view south to Mt. Hood.

Just beyond the meadow the trail reached a saddle with a view NW to Goat Mountain.

The trail continued to follow the ridge west and then south as it passed around a butte.
The butte ahead (we didn’t want to have to climb that.)

Trail wrapping around the south side of the butte.

On the far side of the butte we arrived at another saddle.
20190720_113203 Toad near the saddle.

Mt. St. Helens from the saddle.

The trail stuck to the north side of the ridge for a bit allowing for some good views of Mt. St. Helens and another Mt. Adams sighting.
Goat Mountain

Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams

Another frog.

At the 4.5 mile mark of the Cinnamon Trail we arrived at the first of three successive road crossings (all of the same road).
Crossing #1

Crossing #2

Crossing #3

Approximately a quarter mile from the third road crossing the trail began to descend through a small meadow with a few cat’s ear lilies.

Soon we were dropping down along a narrow ridge where we were able to see the top of Mt. Rainier beyond Coldwater Peak.

The sun was glinting off of the equipment on top of Coldwater Peak (post).

The trail continued to descend crossing over another old roadbed before reaching FR 8022 (or FR 8122 per Reeder) 6.2 miles from Red Rock Pass.

old road crossing.

Dropping to FR 8022(8122).

We crossed this road onto an old roadbed which we followed for four tenths of a mile.
Goat Mountain from the roadbed.

Goat Mountain and Mt. St. Helens

Ripening berries

Rock slide along the roadbed.

Shortly after passing through the rock slide the roadbed ended and we were back on a trail.

Pinedrop

The trail descended for another mile and a half eventually coming back within earshot of the Kalama River but not close enough to provide many views until we arrived at a footbridge across it.

From the bridge it was just 100 yards to the end of our loop and .2 miles from the trailhead. The 14.1 miles combined with nearly 3000′ of elevation gain make this a challenging hike. Despite the difficulty and lack of any real big WOW moments it was a really enjoyable hike. There were plenty of positives; the ripe berries, the river, mountain views, a little wildlife (including some grouse which as always gave us a start when they flew off.), a few wildflowers, and some nice forests to keep us entertained the entire way. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Cinnamon Ridge

Tags Cinnamon Ridge, Frog, goat mountain, hiking, Kalama Horse Camp, Kalama River, McBride Lake, Mt. St. Helens, mt. st. helens national volcanic monument, Red Rock Pass, Toad, Toutle Trail, Washington

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Mount Margaret Backcountry – South Coldwater Trailhead to Obscurity Lake

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 21, 2016
8 Comments on Mount Margaret Backcountry – South Coldwater Trailhead to Obscurity Lake

The only backpacking trip that we had planned for this year which required a permit was an overnight stay in the Mount Margaret Backcountry near Mt. St. Helens. The area is part of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, displaying the effects of the 1980 eruption. The lateral blast from the eruption shattered trees toppling thousands of acres of forest.

Camping is limited to designated sites at eight backcountry camps where the maximum group size for camping is four. Pets and pack stock are prohibited in the Mount Margaret Backcountry and fires are not allowed. We made our reservation for Obscurity Camp on March 19th, the day the permits became available.

One drawback of a permit system is not having any idea what the weather is going to be like on the days you reserve. We were looking at the chance of showers and maybe even a thunderstorm as we were hiking out, but we liked our odds and we had spent a whole $6.00 on the permit so we decided to give it a go. It was a wet drive to the South Coldwater Trailhead which is located along the Spirit Lake Highway (SR 504).

Starting at Norway Pass would have made it a shorter hike but where is the fun in that? It also would have been a longer drive. Our plan was a lollipop route using the South Coldwater Trail 230A, Coldwater Trail 230, Boundary Trail 1, and Lakes Trail 211. We had been on some of the trails in 2013 during a May hike around Coldwater Lake, but that hike had been early enough in the season that there had been very little vegetation and almost no flowers. It was evident from the flowers at the trailhead that we’d be seeing different sights this time around.

We were under the clouds as we set off on the trail which passed through a short section of woods before emerging into wildflower filled meadows.

Although the clouds limited the view we were able to see back down to the South Coldwater Creek Valley where we spotted several elk.

The trail then crossed over the ridge we were climbing providing views of Coldwater Lake.

The wildflowers were thick along the trail, but we were starting to enter the cloud bank and quickly losing our visibility.

The trail continued to climb along the ridge passing a couple of pieces of old machinery that is left over from the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens.

We were now in the midst (or mist) of the clouds. At least it wasn’t raining and despite the low visibility there were still plenty of flowers along the trail to see and there were a couple of snowshoe hares out having breakfast.

The hares weren’t the only ones enjoying some snacks. A variety of ripe berries offered us a nice selection of treats.

After 3.2 miles we arrived at Tractor Junction. Named for another piece of nearby equipment, this junction marks the end of the South Coldwater Trail at it’s intersection with the Coldwater Trail.

We turned right at the junction and headed toward the Boundary Trail which was just over 2 miles away. After .2 miles we passed Ridge Camp, one of the designated camps in the area.

The wildflowers were once again impressive along this trail, but the visibility was even worse. We focused on finding as many different flowers as we could.
Tiger lilies

Lupine, paintbrush and yellow wildflowers

Large patch of paintbrush

Arnica

Bugbane

Corydalis

Columbine

Scouler’s bluebell

An aster or fleabane

Pussypaws

Mock orange

Bistort

Another type of aster or fleabane

Violets

Orange agoseris

Spirea

Cat’s ear lily

Avalanche lily

We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the junction with the Boundary Trail overlooking St. Helens Lake. We had suddenly found a little blue sky and some better visibility.

Coldwater Peak was to our left and seemed to be acting as a cloud break.

While we were watching the clouds swirl around the back side of Coldwater Peak we noticed a mountain goat on the cliffs below the summit.

We took a nice long break at the junction watching the mountain goat and the ever changing clouds. When we finally set off again we passed by Coldwater Peak in sunlight.

We had some great views of St. Helens Lake below us as we passed the spur trail to Coldwater Peak after .4 miles.

The trail the continued around the lake with views opening up to Spirit Lake below St. Helens Lake.

For the next 3 plus miles the clouds came and went as the drifted over the ridge down toward Spirit Lake.

There was more snow along this section of trail and we started seeing more flowers that bloom soon after snow melt.

Cinquefoil

Cusick’s speedwell

White heather

Avalanche lilies

Cat’s ear lily

We crossed our first snowfield near The Dome, which was mostly hidden by the clouds.

It was a bit of a shame that we couldn’t see more of the surrounding area because the peaks and cliffs we could see where really neat.

The view downhill was a little better and we got a decent look at the outlet of St. Helens Lake, a log jam on Spirit Lake, and some elk in the valley.

We had skipped the .6 mile trail up to the summit of Coldwater Peak not wanting to make that climb with our full packs on a day when the visibility wasn’t great, but when we reached the shorter spur trail to the summit of Mt. Margaret we decided to head up. Unlike Coldwater Peak we had not been up this trail before so even if we didn’t have a view we couldn’t pass it up. The view from Mt. Margaret turned out to not be too bad. We could see Spirit Lake fairly well and the Boundary Trail below the peak. Other nearby peaks occasionally emerged from the clouds.

We could see some spots where mountain goats had been on a nearby ledge but no goats, just a swallowtail butterfly.

We took a nice long break and had some lunch on Mt. Margaret. As we were preparing to start hiking again we could hear people coming up the Boundary Trail, lots of people. Heather counted nearly 30 folks emerging from the trees below. We made it back to the junction with the Boundary Trail just as the first of these other hikers were arriving. The majority of them turned out to be members of the Mazamas, a nonprofit Mountaineering Education Organization based in Portland, Oregon.

After passing through the Mazamas we crossed another nice snowfield and reached a junction with the Whittier Ridge Trail.

The Whittier Ridge Trail was not on our to-do list on this hike. The trail is narrow and in places along exposed cliffs where the rocks had to be blasted to create a trail at all. Recent reports from members of the Oregon Hikers forum reported some snow still along the trail as well and with little visibility it wasn’t even tempting. We continued on the Boundary Trail getting our first view of some the lakes in the Mt. Margaret Backcountry.
Boot and Obscurity Lakes

We had been gradually descending since Mt. Margaret and the visibility was getting better the lower we got.

Along the way we spotted another mountain goat not far above the trail.

As we got closer it crossed the trail and disappeared over the hillside leaving us with just it’s smell. (And boy did it smell)

We had been working our way around Spirit Lake and were now just to the NE of it. Mt. St. Helens lay directly behind the lake but only the lowest portions were visible. What we could see was Windy Ridge on the Mountain’s flank.

Two miles from the Whittier Ridge Trail we arrived at the junction with the Lakes Trail at Bear Pass.

The Lakes Trail descended from Bear Pass toward Grizzly Lake.

A trail crew from the Washington Trails Association was busy brushing out the trail and restoring the tread along this section. They were doing some impressive work and we thanked them as we passed by.

Between Grizzly Lake and our final destination at Obscurity Lake were more wildflowers including a few we hadn’t seen yet that day.
Partridge foot and paintbrush

Penstemon and candyflower

Pink monkeyflower

Blue-bells of Scotland

Fireweed

Bleeding heart

As we approached Obscurity Lake a waterfall was visible along the outlet creek of the lake.

We finally arrived at Obscurity Lake after almost 16 miles of hiking.

We thought the hard part was over but then we went in search of the designated camp site. We found one tent pad already occupied and began looking for a second one. When I had made the reservation on the Recreation.gov website there had been 2 available permits for up to 4 people. There were several areas where tents had obviously been placed in the past but we couldn’t find any other tent pad or post marking another designated site. The hikers from the other tent said they had not been able to find a second one either so we picked what seemed like the most likely spot where there was no vegetation to trample and set up the tent.

We hoped that we had picked the right spot and figured if we hadn’t and a ranger came along we’d just ask them where the other designated site was and move there if we had chosen poorly. Oddly enough a third tent had appeared when we awoke the next morning. I don’t know if they were possibly with the Forest Service, but if they weren’t someone was not where they should have been.

Regardless of the confusion over the camp sites the day had been pretty spectacular. The showers had never materialized and between the wildflowers, wildlife, and scattered views we did get we’d been totally entertained. The clouds just made us more eager to come back again someday in the future so we could see what we missed this time around. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/albums/72157668318616563

Hiking Mt. St. Helens Trip report Washington Washington Cascades

Ape Cave and Ape Canyon

We are in the midst of revisiting several trails that we first hiked in 2012. Next up after our return trip to the Table Rock Wilderness we headed to the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument for a second hike on the Ape Canyon Trail. In 2012 we had done a second short hike along Lava Canyon after finishing the Ape Canyon Trail and this time we decided to add a visit to Ape Cave to the agenda.

At 12,810 feet long Ape Cave is the longest known Lava Tube in North America. It is also one of the more popular places to visit in the monument so we decided to tackle this trail first in an attempt to beat the crowds. A staffed information booth awaits at the trailhead, but we had arrived before it opened for the day.

A short paved trail leads to an kiosk with signboards and the lower cave entrance.

An above ground trail leads past the lower entrance to an upper entrance (or exit).

We decided to hike up to the upper entrance and then descend down the lava tube to it’s end 3/4miles past the lower cave entrance. The trail to the upper entrance passed through the forest before skirting a lava flow and passing some smaller lava tubes that were not part of the cave.

The trail actually did pass over the cave three times before arriving at the site of the upper entrance. We walked passed the entrance initially following a well used path about 50 yards too far before realizing our mistake. There was no sign marking the upper entrance and the hole was much smaller than the lower entrance. It took a moment for us to spot the metal ladder barely sticking up from out of the dark hole.

Climbing down the ladder was interesting as the first 17 steps angled downward before the ladder suddenly dropped straight down for the final 10 or 12 rungs.

The cave extends another .1 miles or so beyond the upper entrance so we turned north and walked to the end before turning around and heading for the lower entrance.

The cave was really neat. The rock surrounding the tube was full of colors and different textures. White portions of rock reflected our headlamps imitating rays of sunlight along the walls and ceiling.

A third of a mile from the upper entrance the trail past under a skylight where green ferns and mosses grew on the rocks.

The lower entrance was another 1.1 miles beyond the skylight. This section of the lava tube was a workout. Ten different rock falls required scrambling over and around piles of lava rock and a pair of lava falls, drops of around 8 feet, proved a challenge to descend. The second lava fall was particularly difficult requiring us to slowly lower ourselves down using small nubs on the cave floor as handholds. The scenery of the cave was worth the effort and we wondered if climbing up would have been easier than coming down as we had.

It was fairly slow going but we eventually made it to the base of the staircase leading down from the lower entrance.

We headed down the lower end of the cave which was, as the sign said, a relatively easy walk. We turned around when the cave had become small enough that we would have had to crawl to continue any further.

We had started to run into a few more people near the end of the lower cave and on the way back to the lower entrance the number of people increased dramatically. We exited up through the lower entrance and headed for the car.

In hindsight we should have descended through the lower entrance as it seemed like it would have been easier to ascend up through the cave and it would likely have avoided the crowds that had formed later in the morning in the lower cave.

We drove from the Ape Cave parking area to the Ape Canyon Trailhead for our second hike of the day. On our previous visit we had taken the Ape Canyon Trail to the Loowit Trail and then followed that trail to a junction with the Abraham Trail which covered a total of 12.7 miles. Our second hike that day at Lava Canyon was only 1.3 miles for a 14 mile total. This time around we had already done nearly 5 miles at Ape Cave so the plan was to stop at a spring along the Loowit Trail in the Plains of Abraham. The small parking lot at the Ape Canyon Trailhead was full so we parked along road 83 and walked to the start of the trail.

We were on high alert as we started the trail due to warnings about local wildlife.

The Ape Canyon Trail starts in the forest next to a lahar created by the Muddy River when the mountains 1980 eruption sent a large portion of the Shoestring Glacier down the valley. Our previous visit had been on a clear day in Mid-September where the views across the lahar to Mt. St. Helens were spectacular.

We were not to be so lucky on this day with our Mt. St. Helens views but the temperature was pleasant and we hoped to see more flowers this time than we had previously.

We did see more flowers along the lower section but we were a little late due to the weather we’d been having this year.

The trail passes through an old growth forest starting at the 1.4 mile mark then climbs a series of switchbacks as it heads up a ridge toward the Loowit Trail. We passed a few viewpoints that had provided impressive views on our first visit but today we had to rely on those memories to picture the mountain.

After 4 miles the trail enters the blast zone from the 1980 eruption. The trail spends winds a half mile through the blast zone above forested Ape Canyon.

A narrow slot at the top of the Canyon frames the creek below and apparently Mt. Adams in the distance. I say apparently because we have not been able to confirm this on either of our visits. In 2012 the Cascade Creek Fire was burning on the slopes of Mt. Adams filling the sky with smoke and clouds were now playing the same role on this day.

The trail ends after 4.5 miles at the Loowit Trail which circles the entire mountain.

We turned right here heading for the Spring .8 miles away. This section of the Loowit Trail passes through the Plains of Abraham, a pumice plain with a barren looking landscape which is really fascinating. Heading NE Mt. St. Helens looms on the left across the broad plain while hills on the right reveal the force of mountains eruption. Trees lay blown down on the hillsides facing the mountain while other sides are striped away exposing various layers of rock. Other areas green with trees and other vegetation.

Flowers are sparse but some still manage to bloom in what looks like the most improbably conditions.

One thing that didn’t change from our previous visit was being greeted by a marmot as we crossed this section. We couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same furry little guy.

When I had added this hike to the schedule I had hoped to find flowers near the spring where we would turn around, but with the timing being so far off this year due to the weather I wasn’t sure what we’d find. It wound up working out even though things were beginning to dry out. We spoted several different types of flowers including a nice clump of bluebell-of-Scotland.

It was no apline wildflower meadow but considering the area it was an impressive display. What surprised us was the lack of water from the spring. Despite it being September on our previous visit a small steady stream of water was flowing down the rocks and into Ape Canyon, but this time the only water was a small pool left filling a depression in the rock.

2012

2015

After resting a bit, and starting to get chilly due to a nice breeze and cooling our sweat, we headed back down. The clouds had only lifted a little as we passed the lower viewpoints and small pockets of blue sky teased us from above the mountain.

It had been a long but interesting day of hiking. It was also our first visit of the year to one of the major Cascade mountains and it had been a good reminder of just how much we enjoyed our hikes on them. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157655789278375

Tags ape canyon, ape canyon trail, ape cave, bluebell of scotland, cave, hiking, lahar, lava tube, Loowit Trail, marmot, Mt. St. Helens, mt. st. helens national volcanic monument, shoestring glacier, Washington