Lava Canyon

We hiked along Lava Canyon on the east side of Mt St Helens, There are several trail options in the Canyon: an easy paved trail with views over the canyon and waterfall (0.8 miles rt), a more difficult trail rowing a loop over the canyon with an upper metal bridge and a suspension bridge further downstream (loop is 0.6 miles); then there is a "most difficult" trail that continues down the canyon, eventually joining with the Smith Creek Trail to the north (an additional 3.6 miles rt). We did all 3 sections, plus a side trail up a rock named "the ship" with gorgeous views of the canyon). We hiked 5 miles with about 1,000+ ft elevation loss/gain.

 A couple of the warning signs along the trail

 View of the Muddy River flowing under the upper bridge along the upper portion of Lava Canyon.

 view of the waterfall from the upper section of the trail.

 We headed down the west side of the loop trail, crossing the suspension bridge high over Lava Canyon and back to take pictures before the trail got crowded.

Upstream view from the suspension bridge

 Downstream view from the suspension bridge

 East end of the suspension bridge (the trail down into the canyon is on the west side).

 Warning side before taking the trail down into Lava Canyon.

 The first part of the trail is steep, parts are narrow, this section is wet from a creek running across it.

 A little ways down the trail, we came to a large ledge next to Muddy Creek, here we had a nice view of the river, and looking back upstream, we could see the suspension bridge in the trees.










Panorama along this rocky ledge:

 at the end of this ledge, is a 200 ft waterfall

 Further on, the trail continues down a fixed 30 ft ladder.


















The rest of this trail is in the forest.

The Lava Canyon Trail joins the Smith Creek Trail on the west side of a bridge.

 View of the Muddy River upstream from the bridge along the Smith Creek Trail.

  View of the Muddy River downstream from the bridge along the Smith Creek Trail.

 We headed back up the Lava Canyon trail, there are some sections where we had peeks of the Muddy River below.

 The 0.2 mile spur trail up "the ship" has a fixed ladder

 and stone steps.


















The view of the Muddy River from the top of "the ship"

 Looking down at the Muddy River from "the ship" is dizzying.

 We returned to the trail and climbing up the 30 ft ladder.

















more views of the Muddy River

 I wouldn't want to do this section of the trail when it is really wet.

 another view of the suspension view high above the Muddy River

 We had to wait quite a while to cross the suspension bridge on our way out, as there were many people on this section of the trail.
















On the east side of the loop section of the trail, there is a great view of the Muddy River, pano:

 some interesting rock formations along the trail

 We completed the loop by crossing the upper metal bridge, view upstream.

















View downstream from the metal bridge.

some of the berries and wildflowers we saw in bloom along the trail: