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June Lake Snowshoe

Featured In: Snowshoe Routes - Washington, by Dan A. Nelson.
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The June Lake Trail is a beautiful hike any time of year, but exploring the trail on snowshoes, with the deep old forest, wide lake basin, and crashing waterfall all swaddled in a blanket of white, is the only way to enjoy the truly wild nature of the area. The trail is a gentle path through the woods, and snowshoers of all ages and abilities will appreciate and enjoy the remarkable beauty of the route.

Located on the south side of the big volcano, this trail doesn't delve into the blast zone, nor does the scenery make snowshoers think about the volcanic nature of the area. Indeed, if the eruption of 1980 comes to mind, it's usually in the context of "I can't believe an area this beautiful survived such a big eruption." The Mount St. Helens summit is visible along the trail to the lake, but looking up at the south flank of the mountain, with its snowy mantle of winter, it looks like just another big, beautiful peak. And June Lake is such a remarkable setting that it doesn't need the powerful imagery of the eruption to make it a wonderful snowshoeing destination.

From the Sno-Park, snowshoe north from the upper parking lot on the well-signed Pine Marten Trail No. 245E. This trail, which is often groomed for skiers, parallels the road, but it is off-limits to snowmobiles. (You can also hike up the road to the June Lake trailhead, but it is often crowded with speeding snowmobiles.) The trail heads north for 0.75 mile, and then hooks right (east) and dips down to join the road at 1 mile. After using the road bridge to cross the wide Lake Creek, turn left and snowshoe into the large parking area of the well-marked June Lake trailhead.

The trail leaves the north end of the broad lot and crosses a large meadow in full view of Mount St. Helens. The open, treeless slopes are painted stark white by the drifting snow, and most weekends when the weather is clear, snowshoers on the June Lake Trail can watch snowshoers and skiers climbing the Monitor Ridge route (see Route 97) to the summit of the volcano.

The trail stays well above Lake Creek as it climbs gradually through a few stands of second-growth forest and open clearcuts before finally crossing into the protected national monument at 2.4 miles. The last few hundred yards of trail dip steeply down to cross the creek on a wide bridge before rolling north to the shore of June Lake. Across the lake, on the right, is a waterfall cascading down through a curtain of interlaced icicles. The wide bench at the lakeshore makes a wonderful picnic spot with its spectacular views.

Author’s Rating: More Difficult
Some previous snowshoe experience helpful. Some winter survival skills recommended (basic knowledge of avalanche evaluation, emergency shelter construction, etc.). Elevation gain is usually less than 1000 feet with a gradual slope.

Driving Directions:

To get there, from Woodland drive east on State Route 503 to the community of Cougar and continue east another 7 miles to a junction with Forest Road 83. Turn left (north) onto FR 83, and drive 5.8 miles to the Marble Mountain Sno-Park at the end of the plowed road. Small maps of the local winter trails are generally available in the kiosk inside the warming hut at the Sno-Park.

Recent Trip Reports

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June Lake Snowshoe — Jan 15, 2012 — allaboutalpines

Day hike

Issues: Snow on trail

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Headed out to try and find June Lake. Because my two older sons felt like sleeping in, we did not le...

Headed out to try and find June Lake. Because my two older sons felt like sleeping in, we did not leave Vancouver until 10:30am so we did not get up there until about 12pm. There were quite a few people up there skiing and shoeing as well as snow mobiles all leaving from the Marble Mtn. Sno Park. There are a lot of little trails throughtout this area as you begin. We took 244A up to the Quarry and then headed left onto trail 244 which takes you in a northern direction toward Mt. St. Helens. Staying to the right on 244 and avoiding 244C which is apparently a little easier but did not have any tracks so we stuck to the main, we headed up to 244D, which we passed originally. We made it all the the way down to the lava field and had lunch, then decided to head back as walking on giant lava boulders in snowshoes is not my idea of fun. The snow was about 6-8 inches and I assume it is much deeper now but this appears to be a well used trail and I would bet that there are constantly tracks here to follow. I would recommend this hike to newbies and experts alike as the scenery is fantastic. Next time, we will be making June Lake but probably heading over past the quarry on 244A to 245 and then heading north after reaching the June Lake Trailhead. I will probably head back up there in the next few weeks.

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June Lake, Swift Creek (#244), Pine Marten (#245), Pika (#244D) — Jan 31, 2009 — Sunrise Creek

Snowshoe/XC Ski

Issues: Washouts | Snow on trail

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A partly sunny day gave us views of Mount St. Helens as we snowshoed the loop from the Marble Mounta...

A partly sunny day gave us views of Mount St. Helens as we snowshoed the loop from the Marble Mountain SnoPark up to June Lake, across the lava flow on the Pika Trail, and down the Swift Trail. This was a Trails Club of Oregon trip. We found flood damage to the Pine Marten Trail that added the challenge of negotiating some 5 foot drops and then climbing out the other side. We paused by June Lake to admire the waterfall; the lake was ice free and a pair of dippers were flying back and forth. Lunching on top of the lava flow, we aimed for warm sun and volcano views and were partially successful. On the return, we took a side trip on the Fir Trail (#244B) to admire the huge Douglas-firs and western red-cedars, making a nice change from the tree plantations traversed by most of the route. The trip is about 5 miles and 900 feet elevation gain. We finished the day with a stop at the Cougar Bar & Grill for pie and coffee on the way home to Vancouver and Portland.

WARNING: WashDOT has reduced snowplowing frequency on Road 83 so it is best to drive a high clearance vehicle with 4WD or AWD to ensure reaching the Marble Mountain SnoPark.

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June Lake Snowshoe — Jan 19, 2009 — kjs

Day hike

Issues: Snow on trail

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Went for a nice 5 mile snowshoe up to June Lake, just south of Mt St Helens. The road in (83) was...

  Went for a nice 5 mile snowshoe up to June Lake, just south of Mt St Helens. The road in (83) was plowed and entirely dry up to the Cougar sno-park. From there until Marble Mountain sn0-park there's a hard sheet of snow and ice covering much of the road. Be careful, as we passed a jeep that had gone off the road. Fortunately, there were no injuries.
  We started off from the single-vehicle parking area on Marble Mtn loop trail. We followed this until it hit the road, then followed the Pine Marten trail until it the road. We followed the road for short stretch and then turned left onto the June Lake trail, at the well marked trailhead. Some small hills on the way up to June Lake but nothing too strenous.
  The lake itself was beautiful. Only partly frozen over and the waterfall had a good stream going.
  All in all, a great little trip, especially for those in the Portland/Vancouver are looking for a non-Mt Hood snowshoe excursion.

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June Lake #216.1 — Feb 22, 2004 — Mike in Oly

Day hike

Issues: Snow on trail

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Lena the Dog and I headed down to the south side of Mt St Helens for a day trip. It's a lot of mile...

Lena the Dog and I headed down to the south side of Mt St Helens for a day trip. It's a lot of miles to drive from Olympia, but for comparison's sake the roads are a lot faster than the roads to Mt Rainier, so it didn't take much more time to travel a much greater distance. I'd guess it took about 2 hours, 15 min each way (versus 2 hours solid to get to Paradise).

Anyway, I parked at Marble Mountain Sno-Park, and started walking along a hard-packed ski trail towards the June lake trailhead. There were quite a few snow machines buzzing around, but relatively few when compared to areas closer to Seattle. Along the first 1.25 miles of trail parallelling the snowed-over road, I saw 3 samples of what I took to be cougar scat. If not cougar, then it was likely another type of cat. Lena wasn't freaked out, so I didn't think much about it.

After 1.25 miles, we turned north onto the June Lake trail and away from the snowmobilers. This trail was also hard-packed and well defined. We passed a few guys coming down from the lake who had spent the night up there - I was so jealous! Shortly after passing them, we stopped at a viewpoint where I took a photo of the mountain and June Creek . At this point, Lena got all queezy and whiney. This really freaked me out, as the only other time she got like this was a year ago at Marten Lake where I saw a good cougar print and later read on the WTA web site of a party walking into a cougar den just below the lake.

Despite her unease, Lena was up for moving on, so we continued up the trail another mile or so to the lake. I just made sure to keep my eyes wide open and talked really loud (to the imagined (?) predator) to lessen the chances of a close encounter.

We got to the lake after 2.5 miles and 1 hour and 15 minutes of pretty easy hiking and had a snack. The lake was unfrozen, and there was a very pretty waterfall emptying into it. Beyond the lake is a wide open area that rises up to the Loowit Trail and beyond to the rim of the mountain. Great views. It looked like a smooth white blanket draped over the mountain. Beautiful.

Before long, Lena started acting funny again and I decided to head back down the trail. I would have liked to make a loop trip, as there was apparantly dozens of well-defined trails in the area. However, I didn't know ahead of time the condition and quantity of the winter trails here and I didn't want to divert from the out-and-back route that I'd told my girlfriend that I'd be taking.

Shortly after leaving the lake, Lena and I found something that I am 99.99% sure wasn't there on the way up: Poop. Fresh (ie sitting on top of the snow, not melted into it like the other droppings I saw). Squishy (not frozen) - as evidenced by my ski-pole poke test and Lena's attempt to gobble it up. Fresh and squishy poop - I was starting to get a headache! Maybe I missed it on the way up, but I doubt it. I got freaked some more - but at least Lena kept her cool this time.

So, it was a loud trip back down to the car, and it proved to be uneventful. I never saw the hidden pooper, but I'm guessing that it saw us. :-)

It was a great, albeit short and quick, trip. The snow was great - I never even considered donning my snowshoes although I carried them the whole time. It was about 5 miles total and it took less than 3 hours. Elevation gain about 700'.

I'd love to get back to the area this spring before the snow melts away with a more elaborate itinerary so that I could do some more exploring.

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Pine Marten #245,Pika #244.4,June Lake #216.1,Swift Creek #244 — Jan 19, 2002 — Susan Saul

Day hike

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The forest was a winter wonderland of snow laden trees as we snowshoed the June Lake Loop in steady...

The forest was a winter wonderland of snow laden trees as we snowshoed the June Lake Loop in steady snow showers with the air temperature right at freezing.

We drove to the Marble Mountain Sno-Park on the south side of Mount St. Helens, via State Highway 503 from Woodland to Cougar, then east 6.7 miles on Forest Road 90, left on Forest Road 83 and another 8 miles to the sno-park at 2,700 feet. This large sno-park is heavily used by snowmobiles so we left Portland at 7:30 a.m. to be sure to get a parking space.

From the sno-park, we hiked east on Pine Marten Trail 245 for 1.1 miles to the junction with the June Lake Trail. The Pine Marten Trail parallels snow-covered Road 83, giving muscle-powered snow travelers a way to avoid the snow machines racing up and down the road. In the couple of places where we had to take to the road to cross branches of Swift Creek, we were fortunate to do so when snowmobiles weren't in the area. We turned away from the road onto June Lake Trail 216B and began climbing gently but steadily for 1.5 miles to June Lake at 3,160 feet. The forest is uninteresting plantations replacing 30-year-old clearcuts, but occasional views are available down to June Lake Creek.

June Lake, a small pond created when a lava flow blocked a creek, still was open water, attesting to our warmer than normal winter. Some years it is frozen over and covered by snow so that's its difficult to tell where the lake actually begins. We took a quick break for water and snacks, then turned onto Pika Trail 244D, which climbs across the lava flow and up the west ridge to the Swift Creek Trail in .5 mile. We turned uphill on Swift Creek Trail 244, followed it around the base of the Worm Lava Flows and intersected the Loowit Trail, then continued to a stand of trees to be used as a windbreak for our lunch stop at about 3,600 feet.

After lunch, we headed down the Swift Creek Trail for 3.3 miles back to the Marble Mountain Sno-Park. This direct, steady descent follows an old logging road long ago converted to a winter trail. Our total distance was about 8 miles.

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