Loowit Falls Hike from Harry's Ridge at Mt St Helens

 Although it was wet and windy today, we wanted to go hiking! We decided to go to Loowit Falls, starting from Windy Ridge on the northeast side of Mt St Helens. From Loowit Falls, we took the trail down into Pumice Plain, making a loop, before returning up to Windy Ridge. We would hike about 10 miles with an overall elevation loss/ gain of 1,775 ft. Beautiful hike, even with very limited views.

The trail starts from the south end of the parking lot (the Truman Trail) and follows a service road for 2 miles down the hill, with view of the Smith Creek  drainage.
We had some glimpses of the east rim of Mt St Helens

There were lots of wildflowers along the way.

Below Windy Ridge lies Spirit Lake

Rain drops create beauty

 From the end of the road, we headed southwest on the Windy Trail, climbing up towards Mt St Helens. After 0.8 of a mile, this trail joins the Loowit Trail (which goes all around Mt St Helens). Turn right towards the west.

 This trail goes up and down through meadows of lupine and

 across rocky gullies and creeks.  I hear there are excellent views on a clear day.

















After 1 mile, there is a 0.6 mile spur trail to the south, leading up to Loowit Falls.

We saw a herd of mountain goats in the distance to the west.

View of 186 ft Loowit Falls from the end of the trail. The source of Loowit Falls is Crater Glacier (located in the crater, its snout less than 1 mile from Loowit Falls)

 zoom of Loowit Falls

 After rejoining the Loowit trail, we continued north for 0.8 mile to the Willow Springs Trail.

 The Willow Springs Trail is a short 0.9 mile that links back to Truman Trail and eventually back up Windy Ridge (seen in the distance) in 3.4 miles.

We saw so many wildflowers down in the Pumice Plain!  Pano looking east: Spirit Lake, Windy Ridge, Mt St Helns

 Lots of wildflowers!

 We would cross a creek where the trail had been washed away.

















We took our time, enjoying the flowers,

and the peek-a-boo views of Mt St Helens:

 more wildflowers:

   

  

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Harry's Ridge Sunset Hike at Mt St Helens

 We went down to the Johnston Ridge Visitor Center on the northwest side Mt St Helens for a sunset hike up to Harry's Ridge. This is an 8 miles round trip with about 800 ft of overall elevation gain. Lots of wild flowers in bloom!

We took the Boundary Trail #1 from the east end of the parking lot. This trail has lots of great views of Mt St Helens and Pumice Plain below.

 An abundance of paintbrush in bloom

I like this section of the Boundary Trail, it seems like you are hiking straight to the volcano

 It is a very steep trail, and after a heavy rain, it is best to call the rangers for conditions, as this section of the trail sometimes gets washed away.

View from around the corner: Mt Adams beyond Spirit Lake on the left, Mt St Helens to the right

 From here the Boundary Trail turns north (looking back to the south, more wildflowers!) and for the next mile or so, we would not see Mt St Helens











The Boundary Trail goes along the west base of Harry's Ridge, before reaching the 1 mile spur trail up Harry's Ridge

 Near the beginning of climbing up Harry's Ridge, we had views of Mt Adams and Spirit Lake

 Mt St Helens beginning to peek over Harry's Ridge












zoom of Mt Hood to the south

Pano from Harry's Ridge looking east to south

The sun set to the west as we were atop Harry's Ridge

 We enjoyed the changing colors in the sky, to the east: Mt Adams

and to the south: Mt St Helens

We stayed out, watching the red moon rising in the east, before returning along the trail with our headlamps on as the stars shone, and the clouds descended. Fabulous experience!

We enjoyed some wild strawberries on the trail. And more wildflowers: