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Mt. St. Helens 9-9-2006
Jared and I meet up at about 7pm on Friday night. The goal was a long training session with lots of miles on foot and some great biking. Our first stop was the Ape Cave, which is a 3 miles lava tube – the longest in North America. The cave was amazing. We hiked down about 1.5 miles (the main entrance is in the middle of the cave), the floor was flat and travel was easy. We had on headlamps as the cave is obviously completely dark otherwise. When we reached the end we turned around and headed back. The portion of the cave from the middle to the upper entrance is much more difficult as it features lots of lava rock. It also has one section that requires a little scramble move. There was lichen growing on the cave walls that would reflect light, which made it really interesting and beautiful in the cave. We did see several bats coming in and out of the cave. After the cave we headed back to the car. Our original plan was to head over to the Lewis trail and do some biking, however we really only had a 2 hour window for this and it included at 45 minute drive. So we drove to the Ape Canyon Trailhead and caught a couple hours of ZZs. The alarm went off and 2am and got up and starting getting our gear ready to go. The plan was to bike up the Ape Canyon Trial about 5.5 miles to where it intersected the Loowit trail. The ride up was fun, the trail was smooth and the climb although steady, it wasn’t a complete back-breaker. Although with the amount of water we were carrying we both felt pretty weighed down. We hid our bikes in trees and then set off on foot. It was about 3:30 when we set off on the Loowit trail. The first 5 miles over to the June Lake Trail head were slow and tough. A mixture of scree and lava rocks made for some tough going, not to mention that we were traveling via headlamps. From the June Lake TH the trail climbed quite a bit up to the climbers trail crossing. Thus the first 8.5 miles proved to be the most difficult section of the trail by far. The next major crossing was the Toutle River area, where to go across a canyon that was about 50 yds across we had to travel 3 miles, lose 500 ft and then gain 500ft. At the river crossing we stopped for lunch, which consisted of some PBJs and Goldfish. After getting by the river canyon, we started to make our way toward the breach. At this point the terrain leveled out quite a bit, however feature several little up and down ravines that were prevalent throughout the trail. We were both pretty excited to reach the breach, although we were not able to see into the crater as much as we would have liked, it was still very impressive to see the devastation. The area was a total desert. At this point we passed a couple of streams that appeared to be tainted with volcanic activity and viewed a beautiful array of multi-colored lava rocks. There are a couple of waterfalls that are flowing off the remaining crater in the breach and steaming hot from contact with the active volcanoe. Next we crossed a stream that was being feed from an underground water source. This, along with the Toutle River, were the two confirmed water spots on the trail. Although we found a couple of other spots that would have worked. It was interesting to see lots of plant life growing around the stream, vs. the emptiness of the area. From there we climbed up to Windy Pass and spilt a Cinnamon Crunch Bagel – good stuff! After that we made our way down into the Plains of Abraham, which is a desolate, but beautiful flat area. From there it was another 2 miles back to our bikes and then back down the trail. A great trip! We both actually thought that the course would have been a little more difficult. The traverse took us 11 hours - we had thought a min. of 12 hours. We ending up just doing a fast hike the whole time – no real trail running as it seemed pointless as we were hiking as fast if not faster then our running pace. The trail has lot so different distance estimates – around 30 miles. The biking in and out was 11 miles. It was a fascinating place to visit for sure.
Jared and I meet up at about 7pm on Friday night. The goal was a long training session with lots of miles on foot and some great biking. Our first stop was the Ape Cave, which is a 3 miles lava tube – the longest in North America. The cave was amazing. We hiked down about 1.5 miles (the main entrance is in the middle of the cave), the floor was flat and travel was easy. We had on headlamps as the cave is obviously completely dark otherwise. When we reached the end we turned around and headed back. The portion of the cave from the middle to the upper entrance is much more difficult as it features lots of lava rock. It also has one section that requires a little scramble move. There was lichen growing on the cave walls that would reflect light, which made it really interesting and beautiful in the cave. We did see several bats coming in and out of the cave. After the cave we headed back to the car. Our original plan was to head over to the Lewis trail and do some biking, however we really only had a 2 hour window for this and it included at 45 minute drive. So we drove to the Ape Canyon Trailhead and caught a couple hours of ZZs. The alarm went off and 2am and got up and starting getting our gear ready to go. The plan was to bike up the Ape Canyon Trial about 5.5 miles to where it intersected the Loowit trail. The ride up was fun, the trail was smooth and the climb although steady, it wasn’t a complete back-breaker. Although with the amount of water we were carrying we both felt pretty weighed down. We hid our bikes in trees and then set off on foot. It was about 3:30 when we set off on the Loowit trail. The first 5 miles over to the June Lake Trail head were slow and tough. A mixture of scree and lava rocks made for some tough going, not to mention that we were traveling via headlamps. From the June Lake TH the trail climbed quite a bit up to the climbers trail crossing. Thus the first 8.5 miles proved to be the most difficult section of the trail by far. The next major crossing was the Toutle River area, where to go across a canyon that was about 50 yds across we had to travel 3 miles, lose 500 ft and then gain 500ft. At the river crossing we stopped for lunch, which consisted of some PBJs and Goldfish. After getting by the river canyon, we started to make our way toward the breach. At this point the terrain leveled out quite a bit, however feature several little up and down ravines that were prevalent throughout the trail. We were both pretty excited to reach the breach, although we were not able to see into the crater as much as we would have liked, it was still very impressive to see the devastation. The area was a total desert. At this point we passed a couple of streams that appeared to be tainted with volcanic activity and viewed a beautiful array of multi-colored lava rocks. There are a couple of waterfalls that are flowing off the remaining crater in the breach and steaming hot from contact with the active volcanoe. Next we crossed a stream that was being feed from an underground water source. This, along with the Toutle River, were the two confirmed water spots on the trail. Although we found a couple of other spots that would have worked. It was interesting to see lots of plant life growing around the stream, vs. the emptiness of the area. From there we climbed up to Windy Pass and spilt a Cinnamon Crunch Bagel – good stuff! After that we made our way down into the Plains of Abraham, which is a desolate, but beautiful flat area. From there it was another 2 miles back to our bikes and then back down the trail. A great trip! We both actually thought that the course would have been a little more difficult. The traverse took us 11 hours - we had thought a min. of 12 hours. We ending up just doing a fast hike the whole time – no real trail running as it seemed pointless as we were hiking as fast if not faster then our running pace. The trail has lot so different distance estimates – around 30 miles. The biking in and out was 11 miles. It was a fascinating place to visit for sure.
1 comment:
This is great info to know.
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