Loowit / Mount St. Helens


Loowit, or Mount Saint Helens, is an active volcano in the cascades mountain range. Famous for its 1980 eruption, Loowit and the area around it provide a unique opportunity for explorations of cascades volcanism in its action and its consequences. Summiting the mountain can be done without specialized equipment since it does not require travel on glaciers, and the view from the summit rim is fascinating. The Loowit trail takes you around the circumference of the mountain and reveals both lush green forests and massive meadows built on and carved out of the ash and debris from the mountain's eruptions.

 

A view from the summit of Loowit or Mount St. Helens in early spring looking down at the snow-covered cone building in its crater.
A zoomed in view of meadows filled with yellow flowers below a snowy slope of Mount St. Helens / Loowit on a sunny clear day.
A wide view of a very deep river valley on Loowit or Mount St. Helens with partial forest running down the rocky ashy slopes.
A view with one of the insides of Mount St. Helen's crater visible, looking out towards Mount Rainier in the distance, in snowy spring.
A closeup view of the delicate patterns of snow and ice draped on the very steep walls of the inside of Mount St. Helen's crater.
A closeup of a tall ridge that is part of the summit rim of Mount St. Helen's crater, covered in snow on a cloudy day.
A wide open field of lupine wildflowers beneath Mount St. Helens / Loowit in the background on a bright sunny day.
A view of a river cutting through layers of ash in the blast zone north of Mount St. Helens or Loowit, in summer with sparse meadows above.
A view of Spirit Lake at Mount St. Helens with bright red Indian Paintbrush flowers in the foreground and lupine wildflowers beyond.
A wide view of the re-growing north side of Mount St. Helens in the summer showing the large blast zone where the mountain erupted in 1980.
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