This was a repeat hike for me, this time coming in from the North via Randal, FS road 25 and 99 to Windy Ridge. Wear plenty of sunscreen and carry water, as there is little cover. Wildflowers are blooming in wonderful variety, and there are chipmunks, ground squirrels, a variety of birds, and even a frog near Loowit Falls. I started on the trail at 9 AM, and didn’t see anyone until 11 AM, and then it became a gregarious party of mountain bikers coming in from the Ape Canyon Trail and a van full of hikers from Canada. This is a highly recommended hike, and it’s worth carrying a tripod to get those photos with high apertures and depth-of-field. Go soon; the wildflowers are at their peak.

Folks, this is the time to get out on Mt. St. Helens. We hiked from the Windy Ridge parking lot out the road(flowers and nice views) to the Abraham trail(216D). The ridge walk has beautiful flowers and amazing views. At the Plains of Abraham, we headed west on the Loowit Trail 216 over Windy Pass. The trail on both sides of the Pass is a bit sketchy. Once you get down into the plains below, there is the most amazing flower display! Go now! Don't wait! We circled back on trail 216E, but a side trip to Loowit Falls would take you through the heart of the flower display. Oh, and no bugs.

Mosquitoes were most fierce at the Red Rock Pass trailhead; snow was deepest at Upper Butte Camp (the basin behind Butte Camp Dome and below the Loowit Trail). In between, we enjoyed a great hike up this interesting trail that traverses a variety of ecosystems from lava flows to oldgrowth forest, young post-eruption forest to alpine slopes. Along the way, I spotted a natural arch near the trail. At Butte Camp itself, the traditional climbers' bivouac prior to 1980, snow covered much of the ground. The stream was running full and strong. We climbed the switchbacks through oldgrowth noble fir-mountain hemlock forest to a clifftop view back towards Red Rock Pass and Mount Hood on the southern horizon. Then we found the trail through a young lodgepole pine forest totally buried by snow. I pulled up the map on my GPS and we were able to navigate across the flat to the melted-out ridge where we regained the trail up to the junction with the Loowit Trail and our lunch/turnaroud spot. Amazingly, much of the red heather already and bloomed and gone to seed! Other blooming flowers included alpine buckwheat, partridgefoot, strawberry and paintbrush. Much of the area still was covered in snow. Marine air from the west kept clouds swirling over the summit of the volcano but we had sun on us most of the time. We met two women and a dog coming along the Loowit Trail from the west. They were the only other hikers we encountered that day.

Despite a weather forecast for 30% chance of rain showers and a cloudy day, I decided to hike the Ape Canyon Trail to the Loowit Trail and onward to the Plains of Abraham on the east side of Mount St. Helens. What an excellent decision! We were in a clearing trend with the clouds melting away as we hiked upward towards the mountain. This is one of my favorite hikes around Mount St. Helens. The trail starts in an old (40-50 years ago) clearcut, now regrowing, and goes through it for about 1.2 miles. The trail then enters oldgrowth forest with lots of big Douglas-firs and begins serious climbing up the ridge through well-engineered switchbacks. At about 4 miles, the trail emerges from the forest as it reaches Ape Canyon. A lot of hikers turn around here, but more wonders still await so I always continue on. The Ape Canyon Trail junctions with the Loowit Trail at 4.5 miles. We turn north and continue another mile to the Plains of Abraham and our favorite lunch site at a viewpoint. As we walked beneath the slope of Pumice Butte, I pointed out a lot of mountain goat fur snagged in the slide alders beside the trail. Goats must be nearby. Sure enough, we soon spotted the mountain goats themselves: a nanny with a kid and two other adults. Although I have heard reports for years, this was the first time I have seen mountain goats on Mount St. Helens myself. The goats moved off but focused on the main business of eating. Obviously, they have seen a lot of hikers and were not very concerned. The cloud layer obscured most of Mount Adams to the east, and we could not see the Goat Rocks, Mount Rainier or Mount Hood due to the heavy marine layer, but directly to our west, Mount St. Helens was totally clear. The diversity of habitats on this hiking route produced a high list of wildflower species in bloom. Over the total 11 mile hike, I counted 57 species blooming: Achillea millifolium Yarrow Achlys triphylla Vanilla leaf Actaea rubra Baneberry Agoseris aurantiaca Orange agoseris Anaphalis margaritacea Pearly everlasting Arctostaphylos nevadensis Pinemat manzanita Arenaria macrophylla Big-leaf sandwort Arnica cordifolia Heart-leaf arnica Aruncus sylvester Goatsbeard Castilleja miniata Scarlet paintbrush Chimaphila umbellata Pipsissewa Claytonia siberica Siberian miner's lettuce Clintonia uniflora Queen's cup Corallorrhiza maculate Spotted coralroot Corallorrhiza mertensiana Merten’s coralroot Cornus canadensis Bunchberry Dicentra formosa Bleeding heart Disporum hookeri Hooker’s fairybell Eriogonum pyrolifolium Alpine buckwheat Eriophyllum lanatum Oregon sunshine Fragaria virginiana Woods strawberry Hieracium albiflorum White-flowered hawkweed Hydrophyllum fendleri Fendler's waterleaf Leucanthemum vulgare* Oxeye daisy Lilium columbianum Tiger lily Listera caurina Northwestern twayblade Lomatium martindalei Martindale’s desert parsley Luetkea pectinata Partridge foot Lupinus latifolius Broad-leaf lupine Lupinus lepidus var. lobbii Dwarf lupine Maianthemum dilatatum False lily-of-the-valley Maianthemum racemosa False Solomon's seal Maianthemum stellata Star-flowered Solomon's seal Nothochelone nemerosa Woodland beard-tongue Penstemon cardwellii Cardwell's penstemon Penstemon rupicola Cliff penstemon Penstemon serrulatus Cascade penstemon Phlox diffusa Spreading phlox Phyllodoce empetriformis Red mountain heather Polygonum newberryi Newberry's knotweed Pyrola picta White-veined pyrola Rosa nutkana Nootka rose Rubus lasiococcus Dwarf bramble Rubus parviflorus Thimbleberry Rubus spectabilus Salmonberry Sambucus racemosa Red elderberry Saxifraga ferruginea Rusty saxifrage Sedum oreganum Oregon stonecrop Sorbus scopulina Cascade mountain-ash Spraguea umbellata Pussypaws Taraxacum officinale* Dandelion Tellima grandiflora Fringecup Tiarella trifoliata Foamflower Trillium ovatum White trillium Valeriana sitchensis Sitka valerian Vancouveria hexandra Inside-out-flower Viola glabella Stream violet *non-native There were a few blowdowns across the trail and two snowbanks, but they were easily negotiated. The snow will be gone soon. Another excellent day on the trail.

The Ape Canyon Trail on the southeast side of Mount St. Helens is among my favorite annual hikes. This trail had to be completely rebuilt following the 1980 eruption since the original trail was wiped out by the Muddy River lahar. The well-graded trail follows a forested ridge up to the southeast shoulder of the volcano. The first 1.4 miles of the trail go through a 1968 clearcut. Then the trail enters an impressive forest of old-growth Douglas-fir and climbs the ridge in a series of switchbacks. Although the guidebooks give the elevation gain on this hike as 1,300 feet, it actually is around 2,000 feet due to several 200-foot descents as the trail drops to cross saddles on the ridge. (Not only to you have to regain that elevation on the way in, you have to climb back up those descents on the way out.) At about 4 miles, the trail reaches the slot-like gash of Ape Canyon. Prior to 1980, Ape Canyon was a narrow chasm. Lahar-like flooding through the canyon has eroded and widened it. Ape Canyon got its name in 1924 when some miners below the canyon reported that ape-like creatures had thrown rocks at their cabin from the cliffs above. When they told their story to the Forest Service ranger at Spirit Lake, he reportedly said, "Oh, that's just those Mount St. Helens apes." What the miners didn't know was that the ranger always called young boys "apes." The ranger was referring to the kids at the summer camps around Spirit Lake, but the Sasquatch tale was born instead. In 1985, an old-timer confessed that he and another boy were responsible for the prank. We always go beyond the junction with the Loowit Trail, turning north for .8 mile to a great lunch spot on the Plains of Abraham. It is just across the creek on a rock cliff with 360 degree views. Today was the last warm day of fall, with a significant storm in the forecast. We experienced the weather change from a sunny morning to heavy clouds and strong wind as we hiked out. We could feel the moisture coming with the storm front. In about 4 days, this area will receive its first winter snow pack.