Mt St Helens circumnavigation / Loowit Trail

There are giant volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest.  You can run around them.  Since Volcanorunning has a pretty good writeup of the logisitics and I'm feeling lazy, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Mt St Helens circumnavigation on the Loowit trail - 10/15/2011.  Garmin says ~31 miles, but it runs a lot slower.  I think we (me an my wife April,  Frank and Ken were a bit faster) managed about 11 hrs.  It's a fantastic run, very accessible from PDX for out of town runners as well.  This one was awesome!

Frank and Ken navigate the lava rocks at dawn.  We started at 6 am with an hour climb through the forest by headlamp. 

A new day dawns in the WA Cascades

The first part of the trail (clockwise circumnavigation on the Loowit trail) alternated between islands of firs and large coarse lava rocks

Is Mt St Helens still on the right?  Then you are not lost.

April, Frank, and Ken navigate the lava fields.

Climbing out of the Toutle River valley was one of the highlights

Toutle River valley

This years fresh crop of Douglas Fir cones on the branch.  Really makes me miss the fresh hop beers of the PNW

April climbs up out of the Toutle Valley

The money shot.  Mt St Helens from the North.  The 1980 eruption came down this way.  Here is a nice aerial view.

April in the blast zone

Up and over Windy ridge and off the Plains of Abraham

April smells the barn

Yep.  You can run around Adams too.

The last portion of the route (4 to 5 o'clock) goes up and down a series of deep lava valleys.

More Adams

Aid Station on the way back in.