We almost completely skipped out on Mount St. Hellens thankfully there were a few road closures in the area due to fire that forced us into its strong gravitational pull and we ended up absolutely loving this place! Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument has much fewer visitors than its bigger sister Mt. Rainier and for this reason alone we really enjoyed the peace, quiet, and abundance of outdoor activities this National Monument has to offer.
Lava Caves
Mount St. Helen’s fiery past has created some pretty cool geological features. Easily our favorite adventure at the volcano was the lava tubes. Ape cave is one of the longest lava tubes in the world! You can walk about 3 miles total in this cave! It’s dark and wet so bring a headlamp and a backup flashlight and proper outerwear. Don’t forget to check out the Trail of Two Forest Interpretive Site on your way either to or from the cave. We loved this little trail we highly recommend crawling through the lava tube off the boardwalk.
Waterfalls
If you weren't stoked enough on the lava tubes well there’s plenty more in store for you here. If you are into gushing waterfalls your in luck because the Lava Canyon Trail has a plethora of gushers. This can be a pretty dangerous trail so use caution and if it’s wet forget about it. There is a suspension bridge on the trail and it was closed at the time of writing this. I will note that the trail after the suspension bridge really starts to drop off and become increasingly dangerous from here down.
Hiking
This Volcanic Monument is jam-packed with amazing hikes. If you are feeling up to it you can even summit Mount St. Helens but you’ll need to obtain a permit in the summer months before the expedition. For more information on permits check here. Other than climbing the summit there’s plenty of hikes that range from easy to difficult. You can circumnavigate the entire ring of the volcano (Lowit Loop) or hike any spur trail that takes you to the trail. We recommend Ape Canyon for a nice afternoon hike.
Camping
Outside of the National Volcanic Monument is National Forest land which you can disperse camp on. We found some awesome campsites here with incredible views of the peak. We even got some late summer snow and got to see St. Helens get a snow cap crown while we were there.
The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is a must-do stop over on your PNW journey. There was so much more here than we were expecting and we are so glad we were able to experience this amazing place.
