Loowit Trail CCW 7/7 - 7/9

[bostonhiker]

Per the suggestion in my thread asking about Timberline Trail conditions here: http://www.oregonhikers.org/forum/viewt ... =9&t=25678 I did the Loowit Trail 7/7 to 7/9 (I know, sorry I'm slow in posting). It was fabulous!

I tried embedding photos into this post but have given up. It took me a while to figure out how to get them lined up in the right spot, and then many of them exceed the 2mb restriction. So if you want to follow my narrative in picture form here's a link to an imgur: http://imgur.com/gallery/fLz6c. Sorry it's not embedded.

I started at June Lake and went counter-clockwise. After getting up at 4am EST, 6+ hours of flying, a few hours of driving/transit I finally hit the trail Friday 7/7 at around 2:30pm. It was beautiful and sunny and I encountered just a bit of snow on the more wooded portions of trail. Crossings were all very manageable.

Pumice Butte was absolutely breathtaking! Honestly it was one of the most beautiful nights of camping in my life. It is an incredible spot, and overnight it was a clear sky and full moon that allowed me to clearly see Adams in the distance (and of course St Helens looming above me). No bugs, a slight breeze, heaven! If you make this hike you should absolutely camp there.

I was in a hammock which was not the best selection for this particular hike (as you locals know). But fortunately I did find 2 trees at Pumice Butte that held me up ok.

The next day I awoke to an incredible sunrise over Mt Adams. The clouds hung in the valley below me - it's hard to describe how beautiful it was! I headed out early across the plains of Abraham.

I lost the trail a couple of times here - having a GPS was invaluable. I used Gaia GPS which worked great. I had one stretch where I had to scramble up a steep slope with no sign of trail but otherwise eventually found my way. There was a great water source a couple of miles before Loowit Falls (not silty and easy to retrieve). Loowit Falls was not as amazing as I'd hoped (you can't get too close to it) so not sure I'd stop there next time. I had one wet crossing in the blast zone but it was a warm and clear day so I dried out pretty quick (it was only up to my shins).

Toward the latter half of the blast zone the trail was very overgrown in sections. I met a friendly hiker carrying some tools for clearing overgrowth so hopefully he made a dent in it. The worst sections were completely blind pushing through dense branches/bushes...I kept doubting whether I was on the trail but I was!

The Toutle River crossing was fun using the ropes. After crossing I dunked myself to cool off which was wonderful on this hot day. I had originally planned to camp just on the other side of the river but found myself there at about 2pm and I don't like just hanging out in my campsite when I'm solo so I pressed on taking my chances of finding another spot to stop. Fortunately the rest of the way had plenty of places to throw up a hammock so I never worried too much about it.

The western side had plenty of snow fields which are probably all gone now (two weeks later). There were a few tricky crossings where I can't imagine doing it without trekking poles. I fell a couple of times and the poles helped to keep me from sliding down the snow too far. All of the crossings were manageable.

I made such good time that I eventually found myself just 5-6 miles from June Lake at around 7pm. I prefer to just hike until I collapse into my hammock so I kept going and ended up hanging very near my car below June Lake. It was a long but wonderful day.

Overall I would very highly recommend this trip. I was disappointed to miss the Timberline Trail (too much snow) but can't thank Mike (GoalTech) enough for pointing me in this direction. It was everything I was looking for!

[mjirving]

Awesome! So glad that worked out for you. Sounds like a great time. I agree, my camp at Pumice was one of my best ever.

Congrats on successfully completing the loop!

Mike (aka GoalTech)

[mjirving]

Oh man! Just saw your sunrise pics at Pumice. Exact scenario I had there. Isn't that just stunning!?

Mike

[bostonhiker]

Stunning. Worth the whole trip for just that!