Take in Loowit Falls and the View of a Volcano

The weather and my schedule gave me a break last week. My last adventure in the Enchantments as October began, ended in rain. Within 72 hours, it amounted to 2 plus feet of snow in the elevations above 6,000 feet. My favorite trails are now pretty much out of service for most people.

As the sun came out last week, snow in the lower elevations melted to a minimum. It was then, that I remembered a 1.75 mile section of trail that I had never hiked at the base of our neighborhood volcano.

Mt. Adams shows up behind the rocky slopes of Mount St. Helens.

It was in 2004, as a guest of the U.S. Geological Survey that I stood on the precipice of 200 foot tall Loowit Falls, one of two creeks that drain the crater of Mount St. Helens. While the non-permitted and credentialed individual is not allowed at the top of the falls, the purchase of a monument pass at Johnston Ridge Observatory allows an individual to hike to within 75 meters of the base of the falls.

The top of Loowit Falls taken on September 8th, 2004 when I was a guest of U.S.G.S. Scientists. Two weeks later, Mount St. Helens began its latest eruption.

The weather at lower elevations was perfect on the day of my hike, but the east winds of the Upper Toutle Lake Valley were in full force. The most defined canyons of the Cascades become funnels for air movement sometimes pushing 30 to 90mph, winds depending on the pressure gradient from east of the Cascades to the west. Occasionally, a beautiful day will have its challenges when the telltale haze shows on the north side of Mount St. Helens. On my most recent hike, the 30 to 40 MPH winds literally took my breath away in exposed locations and at one point made it very difficult to safely round the Devil’s Elbow.

East winds blow volcanic dust into the air in the Upper Toutle Lake Valley making my hiking conditions less than perfect.

From Johnston Ridge, hike east on the Boundary Trail #1, a little over 2 miles and around the Devil’s Elbow to the junction with the Truman Trail. Head down into the valley below using a natural route through a set of 1980 debris piles known as Hummocks that filled the drainage just west of Spirit Lake. It is now another 3 miles to the junction of the Willow Springs Trail #216F. Turn south (toward the volcano) for less than a mile, you will junction with the Loowit Trail #216 and turn east for a mile. All the trail junctions are well marked. A ¼ mile spur trail to the base of Loowit Falls will take you as close as the geology will allow to the base of the falls. Please be careful, as the banks of the canyon are extremely unstable.

Loowit Falls drops just about 200 feet from the crater of Mount St. Helens to the North Fork Toutle River Valley.

In all, the hike is 7 miles out and back (14 miles total). There are no alternate routes back to Johnston Ridge. Much of the route is gentle and flat as you cross the alien pumice plain at the base of Mount. St. Helens. While crossing the plain, I observed four elk and had a close encounter with a Mountain Bluebird.

Three bull elk dot the pumice plain landscape.

Here in this future rain forest, a Mountain Bluebird has found perfect, albeit temporary habitat.

You will have until November 9th to get this hike in as Johnston Ridge is slated to close that day. If weather allows, you could conceivably complete this hike from the Hummocks, but that adds another 8 miles and camping is not allowed anywhere along the route.

The headwaters of the North Fork Toutle River begins in the barren pumice plain just north of Mount St. Helens.

For those that can’t get to the base of the falls this autumn, start planning ahead for next summer. Just be warned, there is always a lot of water in the valley early in the hiking season.

The May 18th 1980 landslide scraped the upper ridge, denuding it of vegetation. Heavy rains continue to change the landscape.

If the wildlife, waterfall and harsh landscape doesn’t intrigue you, consider the magnetism a volcano has on people all over the world. The only person I encountered on the modestly traveled route was from Australia. He greeted me “there is another life form out here”. I asked him where he was going and he responded “as far up the volcano as I can get”.

Large Boulders slid several miles north of Mount St. Helens during the eruption and landslide of May 18th, 1980. Spirit Lake contributes contrasting colors.

Loowit Falls is the closest you can get to the crater of Mount. St. Helens. In fact, I found it fascinating that just a few hundred feet above you at the top of the falls is the crater of one of the most active volcanoes in recent years. I sat on one of the many dacite boulders along the top of Loowit Creek to eat lunch and took in the view of a volcano; the landscape that it created and will change again in the future.

Dispersed Camping is Available in the National Forests

It used to be a part of the lifestyle in Southwestern Washington. Large timberland owners managed much of the recreational land, and allowed camping. Along many of our region’s most famous rivers, families could pull off the pavement and camp next to the stream. It was one of the few places that campers could set up without hiking into the backcountry.

The practice has largely stopped along many rivers and streams as large land owners began to restrict camping due to resource damage and occasionally vandalism among other issues. In the National Forests, access is freely allowed in most areas.

Dispersed camping (read, camping anywhere you want) outside of a campground is allowed in the national forests unless there is signage that indicates otherwise. It is the step between a developed campground and backpacking. Humans however are drawn to water so most of the most notable dispersed camping areas in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest are along the Cispus, Lewis and Green Rivers south of Randle and Skate Creek between Packwood and Ashford.

We stumbled onto a beautiful spot along the Cispus River underneath Juniper Peak.

With campsites priced at $15 or more per night in most Forest Service or Park Service campgrounds, many people choose to “rough it” without water or bathroom facilities. There are extra responsibilities and skills that are necessary for dispersed camping. It is important that campers recognize and choose sites that are already “set-up” for camping rather than clear space, build a new fire ring and disturb more ground. That also includes leaving vehicles on barren ground and doing everything possible to not pollute lakes, creeks and rivers.

Campgrounds are carefully planned, regulated and maintained. They limit the number of camping locations closest to the local creek or river. Unless you camp on weekdays, the chances of you occupying some of this prime camping real estate, is fairly remote. It seems that there is always someone that never works and has the most enjoyable locations. Dispersed locations and a little luck can get you some of the best scenic locations on the forest.

Unfortunately, there can be an adversarial relationship between dispersed campers and their neighbors. With little enforcement around by camp hosts or rangers, behavior and ethics can be a little lax. Every spring, a group of Packwood area residents and outdoor enthusiasts pick up tons of garbage left by campers along Skate Creek Road.

My boys and I have a great dispersed location on Nason Creek in the Wenatchee National Forest near Steven's Pass. It has a beach and a great view of the tracks.

My boys and I share a very popular dispersed location on the Wenatchee National Forest near Levenworth with scores of faceless other visitors. We tend to be there on weeknights and most dispersed spots are busiest on weekends and holidays. Once last summer, we were awoken by a couple of young men looking for their friend at about 1:30am. I pointed to an location upstream a couple of miles where we had been hearing loud music all afternoon and evening. Again, the ethics of a few dispersed campers are not up to your standard forest user.



A campfire can be another variable. In almost all seasons in this state, you are allowed a fire in a developed campground. In undeveloped locations, campfires are tolerated, often restricted during fire season, or not allowed at all, even if there is what appears to be a safe fire pit. For my boys this is a deal breaker in the debate where we camp. Dispersed campers must know and obey the regulations. Our favorite spot is often marked with a fairly clear statement posted on one of the trees; No Campfires. In many cases, it is a gray area. Campers need to have an understanding of the true fire danger.

My boys building an access bridge with "resources" left behind by other campers.

In all, dispersed camping requires more skill in addition to a determination of the camper to allow the lightest impact possible. It is a wonderful opportunity, but everyone must realize that it is not something we can take for granted. With Forest Service budgets going in the tank and maintenance and enforcement at an absolute minimum, it wouldn’t surprise me to see dispersed camping become an activity of the past, just because a small percentage have poor ethics about how they treat their federal lands. Here in Southwest Washington, we watched private landowners do it over the last two decades. Let’s not give the feds reason to even think about it!

Give Back by Volunteering to Maintain Trails

Ask Henry Panter what is favorite trail is and he will tell you that the Hummocks, a 2.5 mile loop on the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is close to the top. “It is constantly changing” he said. Panter was leading a group of 10 volunteers from the Washington Trails Association in making some repairs on the dramatically altered trail.

A large slide split this portion of the Hummocks trail in two.

For my part, it had been about a year since I had been on the trail as an employee of the U.S. Forest Service, and on this day, I didn’t even recognize large portions of the trail. In early 2007, myself and several others flagged a reroute that was designed after the November storms of 2006 blew out a key portion of the right of way. Another section slid away this year and a beaver has built a dam in the last year that submerged two other sections of the path.

A new beaver dam was displacing the trail with high water.

Because the beaver took out the trail with a rising level of water, a new 50 foot section of trail was constructed higher on the slope.

Washington Trails Association (WTA) along with other groups like the Lewis County Backcountry Horsemen volunteer thousands of hours each year to fix storm damage on state and federal trails each summer. Panter, a mechanic from Stevenson considers himself a “professional volunteer” and has put in nearly 200 days of volunteer time on trails over the last decade. The groups other leader, Kevin Koski from Port Orchard has contributed 87 days since 1999. WTA began volunteer trail work in 1993 with a little over 800 hours and in 2007, over 80,000 hours of time was donated to trails in the state.

The two guides volunteer in doing what used to be the jobs of seasonal workers for the U.S. Forest Service, but in this age of declining budgets, volunteers are being called upon to take care of trails on federal lands.

WTA set up numerous volunteer parties over the weekend of June 7th (National Trails Day) and 8th all over the state. On this morning, 8 strangers were brought together by Panter and Koski to solve issues created by the ever changing Hummocks Trail.

Kevin Koski (left) and Henry Panter introduce the basic tools of trail repair and maintenance to a team of volunteer workers on Sunday.

The team of volunteers were introduced to a handful of tools employed in trail maintenance and then shown some basic techniques in trail design. The first lesson was the design and use of water bars to prevent trails from becoming small creeks. After all, water is the number one enemy of a trail. Later the crew built a short reroute to elevate the trail above a rising beaver ponds and then a rock structure that allowed hikers to step over s small stream without getting their boots wet or damaging the wetland. The most basic action was “grubbing” or moving soil to allow for proper drainage off of the trail.

My son Jared (on the left) and Nalini Nadkami from Olympia "grub" to create a drainage bar.

My son Jared is one of the first to test out an elevated step-crossing of a small drainage.

Among the group of volunteers were two Evergreen State College Instructors, a long-time employee (34 years) of the National Park Service and two volunteers for the Mount. St. Helens institute not to mention myself and my hard working 10 year old son. It should be noted that almost to a person, there was almost no experience in building or maintaining trails outside of our two leaders.

For their troubles and time, each volunteer was given a free pass to use forest service recreation areas (worth $5). After two passes are collected, they can be traded in for a free annual pass (worth $30). After 5 days of volunteer work, WTA gives you your own personalized helmet to use on future projects. Seldom does a week go by in the summer when there are not several work parties occurring all over the state. If you are interested, check the WTA site, but hurry. Work party space is limited and it goes fast!

Our group of volunteers took a moment to take in the scenery of the Toutle River and the volcanic landscape.

I was motivated to join this group because in many places I have hiked this year, fresh work on the trails had been completed. Under my breath I have said "thank you", but it occurred to me that guilt was a feeling erased by effort. It struck me funny that there was no one from Lewis or Cowlitz County (besides myself and my son) to help maintain one of our backyard trails. Which leads me to ask, what are you doing next weekend? Care to grub a little?

My History-The 2006 Mount St. Helens Elk Die-off

This is a blog post from April 11th, 2006 as I discovered dead elk in the Toutle River Canyon in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Wildlife managers discovered this week that there was a large mortality rate among the elk this winter.
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My efforts over the last few weeks were put to a bit of a litmus test yesterday. I am aware of two large winter-killed bulls just lying next to the rivers within the monument. If they still had their horns, we will have had some success avoiding the total lawless invasion that it feels like the monument has endured this past few weeks. Prepared to photo document horns cut cleanly with a hacksaw, I hiked out into the backcountry.



What I found was that both bulls still had their adornments. A little respect left them even in their demise.