Sheep Canyon Loop via Toutle Trail
16.7 mi
Distance
7 hrs 40 min
Time
terrain
1,555 ft
Elev Gain
Overview
This is a difficult lollipop loop route in Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument. Highlights of this hike include Blue Lake, Upper Sheep Canyon Falls (after a short detour along Sheep Canyon Trail) and great views of the Toutle River and Mt. St. Helens. Much of the hike is forested.
Getting Started
The hike begins at the end of forest road 8123, which is blocked due to a washout. More detailed forest service directions. Find the trail to the right (east of FR 8123) and very soon the junction with the Toutle Trail. Turn left (north) to Blue Lake and onward.
Taking Children
Appropriate for teenagers.
Sights to See
Rate this Hike
★★★★★
Public Tracks
Sheep Canyon
A hike in the Mt. St. Helens Volcanic Monument: from the Blue Lake trailhead at the end of Forest Road 8123, across Coldspring Creek on logs, up on the west side of the Coldspring Creek canyon on the Toutle River Trail, across the bridge over Sheep Canyon Creek, down to check out 100-foot Sheep Canyon Falls, then to the canyon gouged by the South Fork of the Toutle River during the 1980 eruption of the mountain. Then up Crescent Ridge alongside the Toutle River on the Loowit trail with views of Mt. Ranier, through alpine meadows below the mountain's western glaciers, across the head of Sheep Creek canyon, then down the Sheep Canyon trail to return. It was an 80-degree mid-July day with cool breezes blowing down off the mountain and rich forest smells. Wildflowers were in bloom everywhere: queen's cup, bunchberry, inside-out flower, vanilla leaf, paintbrush, twinflower, tiger lily, columbine, beargrass, goat's beard, penstemon, phlox, bunchberry, bugbane, lupine, corydalis, and more.
Sheep Canyon Lollipop loop
Secluded day, only ran into two groups of trail runners the entire loop.
When I want a reminder how small and insignificant I am, I visit Mt St Helen's to be in awe of what nature is capable of. Always amazing to see an ever changing landscape.
