June Lake, MSH

Getting there

It's 28 miles from Woodland to the Cougar. There are a couple of gas stations here. Continue east on SR-503 which becomes Rd 90 for 9.5 miles to Ape Cave. Looks for the sign to Ape Caves, June Lake, Climber's Bivouac, Ape Canyon & Lava Canyon which is Rd 83. It's 0.3 miles to Trail of Two Forests and 0.7 miles to Ape Cave.

This was my 4th solo roving shift for the Mt St Helens Institute (MSHI) this summer. I also had two mentor sessions, one for the 83 Road sites and another for Ape Cave specifically.

It seems like more since I started the Ambassador training in late May at the Visitor Center in Castle Rock, followed by the Mountain Steward Training at the Science & Learning Center in early June. My first solo roving session wasn't until July 31st.

Anyway, I started the day at the Trail of Two Forests but no one showed up while I was there. I just used the time to pick up bits of trash in the parking lot and by the picnic tables. I also took a spin up to the viewpoint to see if the mountain was out.

MSH from the viewpoint near Ape Cave

From there, I drove out to the end of NF-83, stopping at the Lahar Viewpoint. I figured I see if there were any cars and stay as long as it seemed to make sense.

There was one car there but the occupants had disappeared out of view on the trail. I picked up more trash while I waited for them to come back. To my dismay, I found two used diapers wedged against a rock next to the parking lot. Argh!!!! Fucking gross! I cursed the kind of people that would do that. I couldn't leave that stuff there, so I found a zip lock in my car and emptied out a grocery bag I was using for my spare clothes. I need to pack trash bags and several pairs of rubber gloves. I found another zip lock bag and used the 'picking up poop' technique to grab the baby-shit pouches and secure them inside the zip locks. Then I put them in paper grocery bag. I lathered on my hand sanitizer but still felt unclean.

I rinsed my hands with water but considered the bottle to be contaminated. What else could I do?

I met the visitors and chatted with them for a minute. Another car with three people showed up. They had no plan and were happy to get some advice about where else to go. I directed all 5 to check out Lava Canyon as I talked about the lahar and Shoestring Glacier.

They left and I was alone again. I picked up some more trash (just candy wrappers and bottle tops).

I considered going to Lava Canyon myself but decided to head up Ape Canyon for a bit, not the full hike to Pumice Butte. I needed to save my feet & legs for the MSH summit next week. I bailed after a few hundred yards.

Muddy River Lahar from Ape Canyon Trail

I decided to walk to Lava Canyon rather than drive over. I chatted with a family of 3 briefly, then walked over.

When I got back to my car, there was some creature high in the tree tops dropping things. Dozens of objects hit the forest floor with a heavy thuds like rocks! I'm pretty certain they were Douglas squirrels way up in the tree tops throwing/dropping conifer seeds; they were landing with quite hard, dozens "rained down" within 3-4 minutes. I thought Sasquatch was hucking rocks LOL.

My next stop was going to June Lake. I figured it was an easy trail and not too long. I figured I had more opportunities to engage visitors by hanging out at the lake. Unfortunately, that was mostly a bust. Just 3 cars in the parking lot. A family of 3 were getting ready for an overnight. One was a little girl about 8 with her own pack. They seemed to know what was up. I saw them again near the lake.

It was getting later in the afternoon but I wanted to stay until 5pm, so I returned to the Trail of Two Forests. The lot was empty but I figured I'd take a spin around the boardwalk and look for my photographs. The sun was getting low so the light was pretty nice.

When I got near the trailhead, I saw two guys starting the loop. They asked a lot of good questions, some I didn't have an answer. Another car of people arrived. I only chatted with the one person that had gone to read the signage. She asked if she'd have to crawl around to see the site. She was referring to the short tube and I assured it was optional and it was a 1/2 mile boardwalk loop.

Trail of Two Forests

The Hikes

Lava Canyon

Distance: 2.02 miles
Elevation gain: 381 ft
Maximum Elevation: 2,871 ft

Even though there was 5-6 cars in the parking lot, I didn't see anyone right away. I took the metal bridge across the river and headed down the far side of the canyon. There was a group of three: a man, a little boy, and an older woman. they accepted my offer to take a photo for them. The little boy had a big rock and was saying "this is my phone". They played along. I secretly hoped they weren't expecting to take this rock out of the monument. I hoped I wouldn't see anyone on the bridge: there weren't.

I met some people on the way back and took another photo for two guys on the bridge.

One man asked about my red shirt and if it was so they could report me when I was napping. Bizarre. He was upset that the bridge was closed and wondered why its repair wasn't a higher priority. I sympathized but didn't offer any reason.

I went down the other side of the canyon. Two people said the trail was sketchy but it was beyond the bridge, behind a sign that essentially said the trail was sketchy.

I crossed paths with more people on the way out.

June Lake

Distance: 2.66 miles
Elevation Gain: 446 ft
Maximum Elevation: 3,163 ft

I made quick work of the 1.33 mile trail. I did see a bunch of plants I hadn't noted before. Pearlyeverlasting, Bunchberry dogwood, False Solomon's Seal, Devil's Club.

As I anticipated, there wasn't anyone there. I took a few photos. They family had said they were meeting another family to camp together but they weren't there. I even ventured to the dry creek bed to look at that huge log.

Pretty uneventful but it was peaceful.