Loowit #216: Ptarmigan - June Lake

Dogs Unknown

Features Views

This section of the Loowit Trail #216 starts at its junction with Ptarmigan Trail #216A and runs East to the June Lake Trail #216A junction.

On this section of the Loowit Trail you'll pass through a subalpine forest setting where you can discover hoop trees. During the 1980 eruption, small saplings were weighted down by heavy ash fall. Their tops remained buried, so they grow in a "hooped over" position. Enjoy spectacular views of Mount Adams as you travel through a vast meadow at timberline's edge. Then descend into the many-layered canopy of an old-growth forest.

Ford the snow melt creek at the crest of Chocolate Falls, a slurry of rock- and silt-laden waters that roll and churn down a 40-foot drop. Follow the trail over rugged rocks of an ancient lava flow that coursed down the mountain 350 years ago. As you near June Lake, pass through trees that managed to elude Mount St. Helens' eruptions for hundreds of years.

This minimally maintained trail travels at timberline for most of its route. It passes over the rugged rocky terrain of lava flows and occasionally enters into sub-alpine or old-growth forest.