the Belly of the Beast
I've told the story before, so long time 'listeners' feel free to left click on by..... :)
I'd been to Johnstons Ridge Observatory several times and always wandered along Boundary Trail #1 taking picks of our most volatile volcano, I'd never seen a spur and thought that was it due to the fact that this land is being studied to see how it reacts over time after the 1980 eruption. On a whim I stuck my head in and asked the ranger at the desk what else is out there, she said Loowit Falls. Falls?.... Where? she hands me a map and says eight miles, she looks me up and down (I kid you not!), both ways. Challenge accepted! I had NO idea that people were allowed down into the pumice fields and I was freakin' elated. I'd come without a plan, certainly hadn't packed for a 16 miler but I was going.
It was several miles before the Truman Trail and I walked it in thick fog, never saw Saint Helens until I made that right and descended into the decimated Toutle Valley and then, there it was ...... :)
Loowit Falls is actually visible from here just below the killer cloud to the right. It's a much shorter hike from Windy Ridge, but you won't get this view.
Zoom in and look at the hummocks, fancy word for large pieces of mountain strewn about. A closer look at the falls in comment section, along with a description.
the Belly of the Beast
I've told the story before, so long time 'listeners' feel free to left click on by..... :)
I'd been to Johnstons Ridge Observatory several times and always wandered along Boundary Trail #1 taking picks of our most volatile volcano, I'd never seen a spur and thought that was it due to the fact that this land is being studied to see how it reacts over time after the 1980 eruption. On a whim I stuck my head in and asked the ranger at the desk what else is out there, she said Loowit Falls. Falls?.... Where? she hands me a map and says eight miles, she looks me up and down (I kid you not!), both ways. Challenge accepted! I had NO idea that people were allowed down into the pumice fields and I was freakin' elated. I'd come without a plan, certainly hadn't packed for a 16 miler but I was going.
It was several miles before the Truman Trail and I walked it in thick fog, never saw Saint Helens until I made that right and descended into the decimated Toutle Valley and then, there it was ...... :)
Loowit Falls is actually visible from here just below the killer cloud to the right. It's a much shorter hike from Windy Ridge, but you won't get this view.
Zoom in and look at the hummocks, fancy word for large pieces of mountain strewn about. A closer look at the falls in comment section, along with a description.