June Lake (in Winter)

June Lake

June lake is a small alpine lake on the south west side of Mt. Saint Helens. I like to snowshoe to it in January. It is a easy to medium to hard hike, depending on the weather. But before we go, let's get our heads on straight.

In good weather, this is a lovely and straightforward outing that you could probably do with a Precis and a pair of snowshoes. But the weather up there is unpredictable and you really should be ready for some bad stuff. So:

1. Go in a vehicle with some ground clearance. A Subaru Forester is good enough (if you know when to turn back)
2. Have Chains or Snow Tires.
3. Practice putting your chains on.
4. Have gloves, flashlight, and tarp for assisting in putting on the chains (the tarp is to sit on in the snow).
5. Have several layers of clothing with an outside waterproof layer. It has rained on me in January up there before.
6. Get a Map.
7. Don't trust your Smart Phone (very spotty coverage, and it could be raining).
8. Have a set of dry clothes to put on at the end.
9. Have a big black trash bag for the wet stuff at the end.
10. Don't do this one alone unless the weather really is perfect. It is so easy to slip and fall on snow.
11. Oh, and a get a snow park pass from REI the day before. 3 bucks.

Ok. Do we feel safe now? (Hey, I am assuming you bring the usual shelter, matches, first aid, warm hat. Etc.)

Off we go.


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It is a bit of a drive up to St. Helens from Portland. Not too bad, and much of it is curving winding mountain road, so it keeps your attention. Don't speed through the small towns !! It isn't polite. And be careful around the sharps turns and bridges, There is Ice and Deer.

But all in all, things don't really get interesting until you pass Cougar (which is where you should stop and use the facilities at the somewhat hidden but decent rest stop on the right).

Just after the rest room, we will pass over the swift river and start up into the mountains, the snow will start accumulating now, and the plows are less frequent, so watch what you are doing and stop and put on chains if you need them. ASSUME YOU WILL NEED THEM. (though, on this trip, I didn't).

Follow the road signs toward “SNOW PARKS” (and Ape Cave). We want to go to the second SNOW PARK on the road (the first one is Cougar, the second one is <something> mountain.

But in the winter, we are really going to the end of the road. When you see the big mound of snow (usually with a plow parked by it) in the middle of the road, you know you are there. I usually park in the lot to the right, because the upper park, on the left, is filled with snow-mobile paraphernalia.

Today there were only about 6 cars in the lot. Empty. The sun was out and the sky was blue forever. Wow. Nothing like the fog we left in Hillsboro. It was around 28 degrees, but no wind, so we changed into a few layers, threw on our packs and snowshoes and headed out on the hike.

There are a couple of ways you can approach June Lake from this parking lot. Some involve going up and over and around the local lava flows. This is a favorite loop for cross country skiers. There are also some in-woods trails. But as we were making a late start of it (it was almost 1:00 when we finally got hiking) we decided to take the road to the June Lake Trailhead. It is around a half mile. And the bad thing about it is that the snow-mobiles going by give off so much exhaust that it makes it hard to breath. Really. With the very light breeze we had both of my hiking partners where coughing.

But the view was grand. We passed a couple of mountain creeks on our way to the trailhead. And quite a few people out to enjoy the day and explore. I met a very nice couple that asked the way to June lake and they had an Osprey packs, much like mine. What a great pack.

Chip gets in close for some snow shots.

When we got to the trail head we had already heated up a little, so I stopped and took off my jacket in preperation for heading up hill. I ended up being quite comfortable in just my base layer and a thin thermal vest. I do NOT like getting all sweaty when the temperature is below freezing.

In the summer you can drive to the trailhead and park. In the winter there is 4 foot of snow and you can look down on the trail map from above.

And from there it is 1.5 miles to the lake. Up hill. Medium grade.

Lots of pines. Lots of Snow. And on this glorious day, lots of blue sky and views of the mountain.

 

 

Wabbit Twacks !!

The younger guys spent a lot of energy going off trail and having fun. I pretty much stuck to the well trodden trail because I wanted to enjoy the brief time we would have at the lake.

After much walking you finally come to a steep incline that leads you to the last little bit which is on steep-to cliff siding. The June Lake creek down below you. Around the turn, over the bridge and there you are at the foot of a lava flow and the true cliff, with a waterfall feeding the little lake called June. She is so cute. And for some reason, not frozen even in the height of winter. It must be that the water is moving quickly enough to stay liquid. There is even green moss still growing in the lake, though everything that sticks above the water is Ice.

 

 

 

When I go on a hike like this, I like to spend a little time at the destination and relax and refuel. Brian and Chip had brought quick boilers, and I had brought the actual food (soup and Subway !!) and we spread out a space blanket in the snow and had a nice relaxing lunch. Earl Grey for me.

We spent about a half hour eating lunch and shooting pictures. But it was getting toward 4:30 and the sun was starting to sink in the sky. Great Time for some Photos !! But also time to get back to the car. Besides, as the sun sank, the temperature was dropping and we had lost our uphill heat. Time to pack up and head back down.

I am always amazed at how much easier it is to walk down hill than up. It also seems much steeper going downhill than up. Sections that I didn't even notice coming up seemed almost dangerous going back down. Strange.

But we did stop at each of the mountain views and get some pictures of St. Helens in the orange and red paintings of dusk. It was great lighting.

 

 

We got back to the car just as Jupiter was starting to shine. So of course we paused to try some star shots.

One tradition my friends and I have is to stop in the Cougar Bar and Grill on the way back home (in Cougar, natch). It is handy and easy to find and a great place for dinner. They have good beer and good food and pretty fun local venue. CHECK IT OUT !!

Lake Cave

Lake Cave

If you are not claustrophobic and you don't mind a little hard climbing and cold, wet, darkness, you might set out to do a hike through one of the Northwest Lava Tube caverns. There are a many scattered around the Volcanic rich cascade mountains. Some are miles long many 50 feet high, others are just little things you can barely crawl into. The biggest 3 that I know about are the Lava River Cave near Bend, Ape Caves, on Mt. Saint Helens, and Lake Cave, which is close to Ape caves.

All three of these caves are fun to hike and each has its own personal charm. Lava River is the longest and highest. It goes for like 2 miles, at one time you pass a sign indicating that you are under the highway. When you get to the end, you are really just at the spot where the sand has filled in the hole. I understand that the rangers are now encouraging everyone to bring a handful of sand out with them, finally a way to have park theft do something good.

Ape Caves was first discovered and explored by some boyscouts back in the 50's. They named it (or rather, it was named after them, “the apes”). It's unique feature is that you can hike the upper part (1 mile or so) and eventually come to the end and ascend a ladder to another exit and then loop back to your car.

Both caves are run by the National park service and have rangers and such at them. Ape caves is “open” year round (and 24 hours a day)(cause there is no fence). I think Lava River cave has a fence and hours associated with it.

But today, I went hiking with some friends in Lake Cave. This is a slightly smaller cave near Ape caves. It's location is not marked on maps nor by signs on the highway. And I am sworn to secrecy (well, unless I am with you). On this particular Sunday, myself and two of my adventure buddies are going to spend a dark and dank day hiking the cave and doing photography.

Chip has enough gear to sink a fish

Lake cave starts out as all of these lava tube caverns begin, a part of the ceiling has colapsed down into the cave and you have to climb down the rubble to get inside. The big park caves have nice stair cases that get you down in comfort (you and the 100 or so other people in the cave). Lake cave is a low ceiling and scramble down some rocks to the upper flow cavern, and then a rickety ladder down to the bottom of the second flow tunnel. 

 

This is a good picture of the collapsed cave ceiling, that is our entrance

See, Bigger than you thought. Why is Bryan going that way?

THis is the only ladder. After this, you slug it.

I think the lava caves have this same “double flow” construction. Like a lava tube on top of a lava tube. I am guessing they came from consecutive flows. Anyway, they often combine together and you get this double tube shape, And then the tubes will separate and come back together.

Lake cave has a lot of places that you have to rock climb or sand crawl to get past rock jumbles caused by partial ceiling colapse. Gloves, Hard Hat, and Helmet light are pretty much required. (Bryan found one low hanging rock with a large mass of hair stuck to it. Someone not wearing a helmet).

More (once) Molten stuff.

That is our backpacks down there (our lunch spot) while were are up on these boulders setting up our candle shots. I took this one with a 60 second exposure and lit the area by just tracking my headlamp around. See how that right wall looks like flowing water?

One of my favorite features of this cave is the curious melted mineral that looks for all the world like solidified molten Lead. It appears to be silver colored at least by out headlights and the smoothness has the appearance of metal also . I am guess if it was silver, it would be gone.

That Silver Lead like stuff.

It was raining pretty hard when we started the hike and descent into the cave, and it is raining pretty hard in the cave also. A lot of water dripping down from the roof. By the time we got around a mile into the cavern, there was a nice little stream running down the middle of the tunnel. Just a crick really, it didn't cover your shoes, except in the places where the fallen ceiling made little dams and little lakes. 

Negotiating one of the little dammed areas on a previous hike.

Toward the end of the tunnel, it slopes down pretty sharply and the river was loudly running. Right into the lake at the end of the tunnel. And thus the name, Lake Cave. In the middle of the summer there is no lake, but you can still only get made 50 yards further than we on this day.

We threw a flashlight into the lake and took us some pictures:

I brought booties for the occasion

because someone has to put the light out there.

while Chip and Bryan set up "real" cameras

One of Chip's Masterpieces (copyright(c) 2012 Chip MacAlpine)

One of the other standard properties of these caves is that they are cold. They are like 42 degrees all year round (which is pleasant enough in the summer). Once you get warmed up in your hiking, you can see your breath, which makes photography hard because all you can see in the flash is steam.

On our second setup shoot Chip wanted to experiment with some remote controlled flashes he had rented. That didn't work so well, but I got a few cool shots of people wandering around with their headlights on. I call it my Plasma Discharge shots. Lave cave is an energy Vortex, you know.

Plasma Discharge in Vortex Cavern

Another fascinating object found in these caves is the predominant life form. There is a very shiny and wondrous form of Lichen. There is yellow and green (perhaps some black) varieties. They are so shiny because they have little water drops clinging to them.

Freddie Fungus and Susie Sludge Lichen each other

Or maybe it is Freddy Fungus and Annie Algae.

For our next location, I wanted to get some pictures using candle and antique lantern light on a group of boulders to try and show what it would have looked like to explore a cave like this before electric lights. We did some long time lag photos. Here is one Chip took.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (Copyright (c) 2012  Chip MacAlpine)

Being underground for so long is a strange experience. When your batteries go dead, or if you just forget that you had your light off during a camera shot, you suddenly find yourself in a blackness that one just does not get on the surface. There is NO light. No passing cars, or street lamps, or night lights, or even stars. Just Nothing but black. And the sound of running water. And that strange growling noise. Better be my stomach.

Really Really Dark. ....ah.... is that a glowing eye?

We sat still so long doing this shoot that I got pretty cold (and cranky) and so decided that it was time for us to get moving. We couldn't see the entrance to the cave even when we got close to it, it was dark outside!! It was also pouring rain. We had spent 7 hours underground hiking and taking pictures. There is a little adventure for you.

After a long hike on the backside of Mt. Saint Helens, I encourage you to stop at the Cougar Bar and Grill(in Cougar WA). What a great little place. Lots of local color and stuffed cougars, plus great food and beer.