Mount St. Helens Hike - Lava Canyon Trail

August 18, 2012, we hiked the Lava Canyon trail on the south side of Mount St. Helens located in Skamania County, Washington. The south side was not directly effected by the volcanic eruption back in 1980. We had previously hiked the north side of Mount St. Helens here: The Desertnut Vlog: Mount St. Helens Hiking

The most exciting part of this hike was crossing a springy suspension bridge above the Lava Canyon Gorge. The trail winds along a steep and narrow trail, passing "The Ship" spur trail, which leads to scenic views of nearby waterfalls. We also climbed down a 30-foot ladder. The trail offers a unique perspective of the river cutting through the ancient lava. Watch the above video.

The Elevation Gain was 1600 feet. Normally it takes 5 miles round trip to complete, however we extended our hike to 7 miles.

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Mount St. Helens Hiking

It was a beautiful day last Thursday when we hiked the Mount St. Helens area. We started our trek from the Johnston Ridge Observatory parking lot. We hiked the Boundary trail to the Truman trailhead that gave us captivating views of Mount St. Helens and a large lake.

Check out USGS website about: 30 Cool Facts about Mount St. Helens.

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We saw plenty of ground squirrels along the way to take pictures. I think they are so cute!