Trip Reports

St. Helens under a full moon! (waxing)

This was a superb way to enjoy the St. Helens blast area during mid-late summer. The weather for this trip was partly cloudy, which helped to cut the heat, and made for spectacular sunsets and moon gazing.

I arrived at the end of the Windy Ridge road at about 7 P.M. - after most of the tourist throngs had left. Hiked to the Loowit trail and dropped my pack to catch the sunset near Loowit Falls (leaving a little bit earlier would have been wise in order to make it to the Falls before dark.) I returned to my pack and climbed to Windy Gap directly towards the rising moon.

The trail here, as well as descending on the other side, definitely shows the wear of a rapidly changing geology - nothing to extreme, but certainly something to be careful of. The trail would still be education for youngsters, but they should be somewhat experienced and respectful. This trail is probably a good place to teach these various lessons.

I bivy'd at Windy Gap, on the boundary of the restricted zone. There would also be some good camp areas to on the Shoulder point just to the East of the Gap - right along the restricted area Boundary. This area is a bit more private, larger, and offers adds the bonus view of Rainier to the Adams and Hood mix.

The moon over the desertscape of St. Helens and the clouds was absolutely magical. So much so I feel right asleep, never to catch the moon directly over St. Helens - and free of clouds.

I returned to Windy Ridge via the Plains of Abraham. The final section of the trail traverses the ridge crest and would be a lightning risk in moderate-severe weather. Today a rainbow was spotted over the main St. Helens mud flow just as approaching the ridge. Unfortunately it was gone by the time I arrived at the Ridge top.

I got back to the car by 10:00 a.m. after covering approximately 10 miles of desolate moonlit beauty. It appears that their may be an option to extend the loop via Ape Canyon, but as there appears to be some new trail construction, the tourist descriptions were contradictory and/or ambigous, and my climbers 7.5' topo didn't cover the area I decided not to explore. The loop continues from Ape Canyon to Swift creek and ends with a hot and dry climb back to Windy Ridge.

On my loop water was available on the trail to Loowit Falls and also on the Plains of Abraham. Both of these creeks were small enough to dry up in a drought year or from changing geology. Windy Gap is a dry camp. Flowers were ok-good. There was something that appeared to be a deserty lupine kind of thing growing all over the place on mudflow which was interesting. It may well be just Lupine adjusting to the deficient soil. No bugs.

We had a perfect Fall day, unusually warm for November, for this 12 mile round-trip hike to Ape Canyon and beyond to the Plains of Abraham.

To reach the trailhead, drive I-5 to Woodland, which is about 20 miles north of Vancouver. Follow the signs for Cougar, which is about 35 miles east on S.R. 503. Continue beyond Cougar for 6.5 miles to a junction signed for Ape Cave and Lava Canyon. Turn left on Forest Road 83 and follow it for 11.2 paved miles to the Ape Canyon Trail parking area, 2,880 feet. Northwest Forest Pass required.

This trail climbs an old-growth forested ridge beside the Muddy River Lahar, which is an awesome, mile-wide mudflow from Mount St. Helens' 1980 eruption. The trail begins on a cliff edge overlooking the lahar - a flow of mud, rock, and volcanic ash unleashed when the erupting volcano melted the snowfields and glaciers on its slopes. On this day, fresh snow above 6,000 feet made the decapitated volcano look fresh and bright.

The first 1.6 miles of the trail traverses a forest plantation resulting from a 1968 clearcut. Then the trail enters an impressive old-growth forest of 6-foot-thick Douglas-firs, occasional wester red-cedars, and western hemlocks. This section of the trail provides a feel for the forest that covered much of the Mount St. Helens region prior to the impacts of logging and volcanic eruption. We flushed a grouse. As the trail moves between the east and west sides of the ridge, occasional views of Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams are possible. At 4.5 miles, the trail enters the singe zone of trees killed by superheated air during the eruption but not blown down. Young stands of red alder are quickly reclaiming the bare slopes. The alders were leafless this late in the season, so we had grand views across to Mount Adams. Mount Rainier, 43 miles away, came into view as we climbed higher, and then the tips of the Goat Rocks appeared on the far eastern horizon. Ahead, the lahar's slopes narrowed and steepened, serrated by gullies. Finally, the trail enters a pumice desert that follows the edge of a precipitous drop-off into Ape Canyon. The 100-foot, narrow, vertical slot of Ape Canyon frames the Ape Canyon valley far below and snowy Mount Adams in the distance. Ape Canyon was scoured by mudflows during the eruption. Just beyond the slot of Ape Canyon, the trail ends at the junction with Loowit Trail #216 at 5.5 miles. This is a good lunch stop with close up views of the east face of Mount St. Helens, views down Ape Canyon, and, if you climb up on the knoll, views of Mount Hood to the south in Oregon.

After lunch, we decided to continue on to the Plains of Abraham and the high point on the hike at about 4,500 feet. Gary had never been there and wanted to see what it was like. Prior to 1980, the Plains were filled with green meadows, wild flowers and clear streams flowing from the mountain's snowfields. Mudflows and pyroclastic flows in 1980 deposited layers of pumice, ash and rock debris. Rock cairns mark the route of the trail across the Plains. The tip of the Dome, a peak in the Mount Margaret Backcountry north of Spirit Lake, is visible through a gap on the north side of the Plains of Abraham. We took in the view in all directions, but the mountain towering above us commanded our attention. The wind whipping across the barren landscape was cold so we didn't linger long.

This was elk hunting season, so we encountered several parties hiking out, as well as spotting dots of blaze orange on the landscape where hunters were walking the lahar. We did encounter one successful hunting party packing out their kill. As they passed us, Kim noticed that one member of the group didn't have a hunk of elk strapped on his pack and commented that he must be the vegetarian in the group. He didn't get the joke and looked at her like she was nuts. Despite our friendly greetings, they all seemed a bit defensive, as if afraid we might make anti-hunting comments.

We were reminded of the lateness of the year on the hike out. Although it was only 2:30 in the afternoon, the sun already was casting long shadows across the lahar and the face of the mountain. We agreed that this was a superb autumn hike.

Ape Canyon Trail is in great shape. The only negative aspect of this trail is the boring first mile through pre-1980 tree plantations. Once you enter the old forest and start climbing, the trail continues to get more and more interesting. This ridge is the only significant surviving old growth stand on the southeast side of St. Helens. We reached the rim of Ape Canyon in a thick fog and sat waiting for the sun to break through. Rocks could be heard falling in the canyon and a strange growling noise turned out to be not a sasquatch, but a couple of marmots fighting over a rock!

The sun came out, revealing the mountain in its surreal and primeval splendor. We continued across the Plains of Abraham, which have changed greatly since our last visit in 1994. If you want to see the Plains in their raw state you'd better hurry! Conifers and penstemon and willows are colonizing rapidly. Pumice Butte and the other hills that bound the east side of the Plains were awash with orange paintbrush and purple lupines. Continued up to Windy Pass for a nice look down onto the east half of Spirit Lake and the Mount Margaret Backcountry. One person could be seen walking across the Pumice Plain.

Return to the trailhead was uneventful, but we did pass a family heading up on the 11-mile round trip with no supplies other than plastic bottles of water.

Ape canyon Trail will be open by the 4th of July weekend. Currently road 83 is under repair. This trail is still snow covered at the higher elevations