matchy-match (photo: S.B.)
We started from the June Lake TH on Sunday morning and hiked clockwise, spending nights on Crescent Ridge and the Plains of Abraham (awesome sunsets/sunrises). Edit: MSH is a National Volcanic Monument; you will need a Forest Pass to park at June Lake (or one of their specific Volcano Passes). No other permitting or registration is needed to hike the Loowit, which stays below 5,000' the entire time. The only limitation is that you can't camp in the "blast zone", which encompasses all of the area on the north side of the mountain (from Toutle to Windy Pass).
We ran into three other backpacking groups on Sunday, two traveling in the opposite direction, but no others after. There were good clear water sources along the way thanks to the rapidly melting snowpack, but a lot of the main drainages were very silty and unfilterable. The troublesome washouts west of Sheep Canyon and in the Toutle drainage were a lot easier to navigate than in years' past. The shute on the north side of the Toutle now has a rope to help with the ascent/descent (yay!).
a new rope makes climbing out of the Toutle a million times easier. Thank you, Rope Fairy!
climbing out of the Muddy Fork canyon
typical drainage crossing
eastern Worm Flows
climbing out of the Toutle canyon
heading to Windy Pass
While there were nice displays of heather, penstemmon, buckwheat, and indian paintbrush on the north and east sides of the mountain, the beargrass was the clear favorite. It's a good bloom year on certain aspects, particularly near Monitor Ridge, the east Worm Flows, Crescent Ridge, and in the lava just above June Lake.
beargrass near Monitor Ridge
beargrass and Mt. Adams
beargrass explosion on the east side
The lupine is another couple of weeks out, especially on the Plains of Abraham. The southwest side is just melting out and still looks very spring-like.
We planned to cross the Toutle in the morning to avoid a difficult crossing, but that meant wading chocolately roiling drainages from the crater in the afternoon. Three out of four hikers got whacked in the ankles with boulders that were being swept through the channel.
you could hear the boulders tumbling through the water
crossing the S. Fork Toutle was no problem as a wet crossing
I was concerned that we would run into some challenging snow crossings on the west side, but most of the major snow has now melted out and will be fully melted out in another week or so. The trouble will be with post-holing in the lava fields or losing the trail heading up to Monitor Ridge. The real challenge was dealing with the heat and lack of shade. We made good use of all of the waterfalls along the way (minus Loowit Falls), the few trees, and the residual snowpack. And cool, water-saturated logs.
best. saturated. log. ever. (photo: S.B.)
The best part of the trip for me (apart from that log hug above) was watching four mountain goats wander around above Crescent Ridge. We watched them saunter over to the ridge between the drainages of the Toutle canyon and fuss about in the dirt. I didn't bring a high-quality camera with me (or even a camera with a fully-charged battery), so I did not get any photos of them. I did not know that goats lived on Mt. St. Helens proper and was super stoked to see them. We fell asleep that night to the barks and grunts of some elk, who were no doubt irritated that we were camping in their living room, but we didn't see any during the day.
Each time I hike around MSH on the Loowit Trail, I fall in love with it a little more. It's hot and dirty and austere and unrelenting, but it's got fantastic character, interesting terrain, and an awesome history. I'm looking forward to hiking a few sections in a couple weeks to check on the lupine and the strawberry crop, which looks to be a banner year.
Thanks to Peder, who sent me the GPS track, which, fortunately, we did not need.
