Uncle Stewart and I headed up to the mountain from the June Lake trail head which is easy to find and paved all the way to the trail head which is about 35 miles from Woodland Washington. June lake and the river near it were the only water for a while especially after getting on the mountain. June lake has some nice camping but isn't much of a lake, more like a big pond. The lake's waterfall is a nice sight but being that the lake is only 1.4 miles from the trail head we continued up the mountain for more of a challenge.
June Lake's Waterfall
Hiking around on this mountain takes hikers over a little dirt, a little sand, and a whole lot of rock. From moving across huge boulders to walking miles along little rocks on the trail rocks are a common theme and ensure hikers watch their every step along the trail. Also there are tons of mushrooms around this mountain, some of which are edible if you're confident in identifying mushrooms.
A big portion of the trails climbing up to St Helens from June lake look like this.
The mushrooms can get huge out here and some are edible.
The eruption on this mountain in 1980 left only little bits of trees and makes finding a nice shady spot to camp somewhat difficult. Groups of trees stand only in a few places around the mountain and these few spots provide great shelter from the sun which can be relentless when walking over the rocky ground. When hiking around this mountain good sunscreen is a must if you wish to prevent a massive sunburn.
We camped in the grove of trees on the right side of the picture. This was probably the best place to stay on this side of the mountain because as you can see in the distance shelter can be hard to come by.
Watering spots are also somewhat scarce compared to other hikes in the North West with good watering spots on Mount St. Helens being up to 4 or 5 miles apart. The water that we came across was also fairly muddy so a good water filter was a must as opposed to purification tablets.
We used a filter to get good water from this somewhat dirty source.
Despite these challenges this mountain's trails are overall pretty nice despite being decently steep and fairly rocky in many parts. This mountain demands respect and shows hikers the true power of nature and just how much landscape can change because of a natural reaction, which in this case was a massive volcanic eruption. The views because of the eruption are different than any I have ever seen. The landscape is somewhat bare but this place makes me realize and enjoy other areas that I have hiked even more. St. Helens makes hikers not take trees and plentiful water for granted. The beauty of this mountain comes not only from the views but also from the peace that being on this mountain brings. While on the mountain we saw many mountain bikers but only a few other hikers and at night out on the mountain it was peace and quiet at its finest.
This mountain bike traffic jam is something that I had never experienced out in the wilderness.
Just a leaf with some dew droplets on it.
One of the great ravines that shows the power of the eruption and makes me respect this place even more. P.S. These are interesting to cross sometimes.
A big Marmot let us get close to him as he was eating on those bushes next to him.
Caution: Objects in nature may be much further than they appear.
Picture of the sunrise atop a hill near our campsite.
Another sunrise picture as we had a tremendous view of the sun coming over the mountain in the distance.
Great photos!
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