Running Around the Mountain ... Mt. St. Helens

Usually when we go out for a run we head to our local mountains. Clean trails on a stable mountain. Mountains are for the most part geologically stable. They have been around for a very long time ... slowly eroding, certainly, but in general what you see is what you get.

If you are a Pacific Northwest trail runner you always hear about running around the local volcanoes (Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier or the Loowit Trail around Mt. St. Helens). The Wonderland Trail is almost 100 miles and ultra runners attempt it in 1 push or break it up into 3 parts (hikers try in 10-14 days). The Wonderland is a very good trail, in good condition, and is maintained as it is in a National Park. The Loowit Trails in much shorter (about 30 miles) and ultra runners do the 1 day version. Mt. St. Helens is a National Monument (part of the forestry service) and it appears that it gets hardly any funding for trail maintenance*.

I think this map is circa 1994 so trail has changed since then

Why run around Mt. St. Helens?

Everyone says - "the views"! On a clear day you can see Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams and Mt Rainier as well as mountain ranges as far as the eye can see. It's a 50K - how hard can it be**?

What do you think it means to run around a mountain?

I had never gone to St. Helens so I had no idea where the trail went. You can easily think a circle around the mountain. Okay, maybe the trail goes up and down a bit but you get on the trail and go around the mountain. Well, maybe that can happen, but not on St. Helens!

As we all know Mt. St. Helens blew her top in 1980. What does that mean for trail running around her? Lots of unstable mountainside to traverse and cross. The whole mountain changed when the blast occurred. Drainage valleys changed, rivers changed, everything changed. All this change is but an infant in geological time. It is as unstable as a baby who goes from crying to laughing to crying in an instant (note - there was no crying on our adventure!)

Our Adventure:
June Lake Trail start to the Loowit (~3.5 miles out and back)
Clockwise on the Loowit Trail (~27 miles)
6am start on July 7
Time estimate to complete: 12-14 hours

Michael explains why he likes this approach and start. Basically, get through the "hard stuff" while fresh and save the runnable part for the end. Hmmm...

Seattle has had a harsh year. Our winter was mild, but spring has been super wet and cloudy. July 5 came and finally we had summer. This was the time to head to St. Helens for the views. The air was still beautifully clear from all the washing it had been getting all spring and the skies would be a perfect blue.

We drove down the night before and stayed in a Freeway-side motel in Woodland. Michael booked for 2 nights as we don't like to drive after big adventures - tired runners = tired drivers. Much cheaper to pay for a hotel room than an emergency room visit. 4:15am came quickly the next morning. Off to the local Starbucks (they open at 4:30am for all us early adventure getters) for coffee and some breakfast. Then a drive through Cougar, WA to the June Lake trailhead.

June Lake Trail

We had great conditions. Lovely morning, cool air, happy runners. Once you start on the Loowit you really need to finish the Loowit. Having to bail is possible, but makes for other difficulties (how do you get from the trailhead you exited on back to June Lake?, etc.) We had a win-win attitude. We were ready to have a full day, fun adventure around the mountain. Off we went!

The trail has several distinct parts - heading West you hit a large lava field (very rocky). The trail is marked with wood poles (rock cairns would be invisible in this lava field). As we headed up this field we got into some forest where we saw our first elk (we would see many elk throughout our day). Then we hit snow.

Lava fields...click to enlarge any image

Slow going over the lava fields.

Views: Mt. Adams

Mt. Adams in the background


Snow crossing

Mt. St. Helens in view too!

Some kind group or person (WTA? Forest Service? Hiker?) marked parts of the Loowit with blue and orange tape. We would see these markers around trees, stumps, and even rocks. In the snow the trail that still exists disappeared so without these kind markings we would have been working much harder with our navigation in the beginning. At one point we did go a bit too high but once we hit the climbers trail (Ptarmigan Trail - 216A) we were able to correct course back onto the Loowit.

Enlarge this photo and spot the orange/blue tape we were sighting

We had snow off and on while on the south and southwest side of the mountain. While the snow slowed us down, it was also a blessing. It slowed us down as we had to cut steps to cross (the snow was in excellent condition, not too soft that we post-holed and not too hard that we could get a grip in running/trail shoes). It was a blessing as it filled many of the drainage ditches we would have to cross in our journey.

Some places the trail is in good condition. Many places it is not. A lot of damage on the west side was due to a storm that dropped more than 15 inches in a 24-hour period. We found what appeared to be a newish trail heading further down the drainage so we followed it. Note - not only do you want to find the most optimum way to get down into the ditch, you also want to find the best way out! So, you look while you are still up on the other side for signs of exit. There is NO trail. You cannot look for the trail in the ditch. You can try to find evidence of the trail on the other side but the best way out maybe before or after where you can actually see the trail.

This west side ditch is a brand new valley being formed by extreme erosion as we watch. A full grown fir tree was lying in the ditch with all its roots intact and still alive. The sides of this ditch were in constant change, not even full grown trees could hang on.

Heading down into the Toutle drainage was pretty nice. We ran through a splendid forest with decent trail, though a bit overgrown in spots. I think the elk are the major users of the Loowit these days and they aren't too concerned about the overgrowth. We could start to hear the river as we got further down towards the drainage valley.

The Toutle is the biggest river we saw coming off the mountain. The drainage ditch is huge. Coming into it from the clockwise direction we had a pretty easy descent down to the river. The flow was good but not high so we were able to cross the river easily. We sat down for a moment and refilled our water bottles (the temperatures had risen and it was now hot at mid-day) and I decided to wash off my shoes and socks. They slowly gather gravel and sand from the ditch crossings so keeping them clean helped with keeping our feet in good shape.

Toutle River

Getting out of the Toutle was probably the hardest part of our day. No trail. Only a scratch of the original trail remains. Big scree slope to claw out of the first immediate section. We then followed an elk path for about 600 feet straight up the dune-like side of the valley. It was hot, it was dusty, and I was now thinking "why did I bother cleaning my shoes and socks!"

Spot the 10' orange marker at the top of the slope for scale!

Toutle River (upstream)

Trail used to go across this slope ... all that remains is a trace
where the track is now completely filled in

Looking back from above the Toutle drainage

Where is Mt. Rainier? Haven't we come very far? Mt. Rainier is north of St. Helens. It takes a while to finally see this magnificent snow-covered peak. Mt. Rainier doesn't really come into view until you are beyond the Restricted Zone.

You get to see St. Helens a lot. You pretty much stay out and in her glory for most of the time. The trail runs at the 4500' elevation level of the mountain. The trail runs along until you are tracking away from the mountain like we did in the Restricted Area (and a variety of other drainage sections). On this side of the mountain where the blast zone is the trail is but a light scratch. You have to search for rock cairns (and they are there). You start going away from the mountain. You can easily start to wonder if you are still on the Loowit. Fortunately when you do meet up with other trails that connect you get confirmation you are still on track.

Crossing yet another ditch

Heading around the Restricted Area toward the Blast Zone

Blast Zone ... we are feeling the heat

Water - after the Toutle the water got a bit dirty. I don't think I have ever seen flowing water that was complete mud. You would choke a filter trying to clean this water. Fortunately this didn't last too far outside the blast zone and we had crystal clear water again for filling.

This is not a chocolate river! Not an Umpa Lumpa in sight!

Landmark! We are making progress!

And now we have to make it over Windy Pass. Usually this is another slog up a scree slope. Fortunately for us it was snow filled.

Spirit Lake... notice all the floating dead trees from the blast so long ago?
Mt. Rainier sneaking out in the background.

Windy Pass ... the snow was a blessing.

Looking back.

At the top of Windy Pass there was a sign: "Stay on Trail". As we started heading down there was no obvious trail. Trails fade away but the signs remain. With time the sign will erode too.

Down the scree slope to the Plains of Abraham. These trails were in good condition as they are used by mountain bikers and hikers. We were able to motor through this section well.

This section of the trail gets used more frequently (mountain bikers, hikers)

Views: We could see Mt. Adams again ... this was a huge psychological lift... seeing one of the peaks we saw at the beginning really made me feel like we were getting the job done.

Ditches: more drainage ditches. More screen slopes with no trails. One place we had 150' down into the ditch with no trail, no solid surface. It was a bowling alley of pebbles, gravel, sand, rocks and small boulders. When you think you are finished with the ditches, another appears.

We started running out of light. This day had been long and hard. In the cool of the evening we had started to make better time, but we were not going to finish in the light. Our goal was to try and hit the forested part of the Loowit back towards the June Lake trail intersection before dark. We did not want to be in any ditch in the dark - how would you ever find your way out?

Our light is starting to fade...

We gave it everything we had and hustled through the ditches and down the trail towards the forest. We were again in a short section of lava field when the light started to fade. Since we had been on this type of trail for a lot of the day we felt comfortable making it back in the dark. Out with the headlamps. Michael and I made it to the forest and found a nice log to sit on. Since it was now dark, we took a well deserved 10 minute break to catch our breath and hydrate and fuel.

Once in the forest in the dark we spooked another herd of elk. Fortunately they did not run towards us in the night. As we continued down the trail Michael noticed that we were on a brand new freeway-like surface - signs of very recent work by the WTA folk. The trail was gorgeous and we could actually relax a bit and enjoy our night walk.

As Loowit Trail is a loop and we were now in the dark we didn't want to miss the intersection for June Lake. Can you imagine a funnier scene then us continuing on the Loowit and back into the lava field? Maybe then we would have noticed that we "missed" something. Fortunately we were still awake and paying attention.

We got back to our truck at 10:55PM. 16 hours 50 minutes since we started our journey. It was a true adventure. Michael mentioned that it is easier to summit Mt. Rainier for the views.

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Notes:

The Loowit Trail is not for the inexperienced. It requires navigation and route finding skills. The trails are rough and in some places non-existent and dangerous. We were very aware that we needed to avoid injury at all costs otherwise our adventure could have turned into an epic.

Gear:
I ran with an Ultimate Directions running pack with 1 liter water bottle. I carried sunscreen, gels, food, hats, gloves, and occasionally the camera. My pack weighed in around 5 lbs.

Michael carried his climbing pack which included climbing rope and harness (we used this gear 3 times: to get out of the Toutle and across two steep snow slopes), lights, first aid, food, 2 -3 liters of water, extra clothing. Michael's pack weighed in at 26lbs!

We both used trekking poles. One of Michael's poles was a Black Diamond Whippet (self-arrest device).

Michael did the trip in trail running shoes and light gaiters. I forgot my running shoes but fortunately was wearing 5.10 approach shoes - all leather with sticky rubber (no gaiters).

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*Loowit Trail makes Endangered List (WTA article)
I want to thank the WTA work party that was camped at June Lake. They have been working on the Loowit heading East from the June Lake trail intersection. Hopefully they will be able to improve more of the trail, but as mentioned above, St. Helens has not settled down yet.

** The Loowit Trail #216 is a rugged and challenging trail for experienced hikers.