Getting There
I drove from Portland to Randle, then dropped down on NF-25 to Wakepish Picnic Area & Sno-Park, at the junction for NF-99. I was technically "camping" but I just slept in the back of my Jeep. It was good to have access to the pit toilet there.
In the morning of the hike, I drove about 16 miles to the Windy Ridge parking lot to meet the guides, fellow volunteer, and guests.
The clouds/fog filled the valleys to the east so I had to stop to snap a couple of pics.
After a short talk in the little amphitheater, we carpooled to the trailhead, about 2 miles. (Funny to pass hikers, mostly on the way out, who look surprised and wonder why we got to drive beyond the gate.)
The Hike
Elevation Gain: 1,760 feet
Max. Elevation: 5,277 feet
Note: This isn't the actual hike route. We are accessing an area that is off-limits to the general public through special permission from the USFS & the Cowlitz Tribe, I didn't want to make the actual route public. This is just the AllTrails map for Loowit Falls, which IS open to the public.
Additionally, we had access to the trail from the staging site for the Spirit Lake tunnel project road.
This was my third trip to the Glacier Overlook. I'd first been here in mid-July for the training hike with all the volunteers, guides, and some staff. I came back as a "paying" guest on at the beginning of August. This time I was supporting the guides as an MSHI volunteer. Plus, I'd hoped to get a third picture of the crater & domes for comparison.
While everyone was getting their gear ready for the hike, we spotted a herd of elk traversing the lower flank of the mountain, somewhere between Sugar Bowl dome, a nearly circular protrusion of hypersthene-hornblende dacite, and Windy Pass on the Loowit Trail.
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| Elk herd (middle right of the image) |
Everyone was in good spirits and glad to be out on the Pumice Plain, despite the limited visibility of the mountain or Mt Margaret backcountry. We hiked to the closest point the the glacier for this hike. I turned around and snapped a pic of ravine were Loowit Falls is located. Incidentally, on the right is an old helicopter landing pad. What's left are some concrete posts to secure the aircraft in high winds.
Near where we had lunch, we spotted this pumice "bomb", a chunk of pyroclastic debris ejected from the volcano. It look a bit like Dutch crunch bread or tiger bread. I was cooling and cracking on the outside but still molten on the inside. We found other other rocks that were similar but completely shattered.
The next four pictures are various angles of the crater and zoom levels. It looked like the recent rains had washed some of the dirt and rocks from the leading edge of the glacier. It's about 60% ice, 40% rock. We caught a glimpse of the rim but it quickly disappeared behind the clouds/fog.
After lunch and a short talk by the guides, we headed back down to the Loowit Trail. The fog/clouds were hanging just above Spirit Lake. When we got down to the official trail, we took a poll to see if we had consensus to take a side trip to Loowit Falls. I'd never been that far west on the Loowit Trail and was happy for the bonus trek.
The falls is about 0.7 miles from where we were. You can see it once you make the 'turn' from the Loowit Trail.
One more look at Spirit Lake as we started heading back to the cars.
