Loowit Trail Map Poster

The Loowit Trail is a loop of about 28 mi (45 km) around Mount St. Helens in Washington, entirely inside the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. No trailhead sits on the loop itself, so everyone walks in on a spur trail, most often from Climbers Bivouac, which brings the whole walk to 30 mi (48 km) or more. The trail stays between about 3,200 and 4,900 ft (980 and 1,490 m) all the way round, through lava fields, canyons, the 1980 blast zone and the pumice of the Plains of Abraham.

Most people walk it clockwise over three days, with about 6,500 ft (1,980 m) of climbing. Shade and water are scarce, and on the lava and pumice, wooden posts and cairns mark the way. Fixed ropes lead into and out of the South Fork Toutle canyon, and camping is banned on a 10 mi (16 km) section from the Toutle to Windy Pass, the high point at 4,856 ft (1,480 m).

It is the stretch people come for. The eruption of May 18, 1980, stripped this ground bare, and scientists have studied how life returns to it ever since; today there are elk on the plains, lupine in the pumice and Loowit Falls pouring out of the open crater. Loowit is the Klickitat name for the mountain. You walked all the way around a volcano; relive it with a Loowit Trail map poster.