Road conditions weren't too bad, somewhat icy, but manageable. Due to snow, the last 1 mile or so of road is closed so that adds a bit to the hike. A parking lot is available (Marble Mountain Sno-Park), but you have to have a snow park pass which can be bought at the store in Cougar. We did a day hike today with a small group and a dog. Snow covered trail the whole way, up to 1 1/2 ft. deep. Came across one other group of hikers. Took us about 3 hours round trip with multiple stops for pictures. Great views and beautiful lake/falls.

We hiked the Loowit from June Lake to the Ptarmigan trail.  The trail to June Lake was in good shape.  The Loowit had some over grown sections from which we got a little wet, but we dried out quickly crossing the lava fields.  We returned via the Swift Creek ski trail (jct at Chocolate falls) and the Pika ski trail (also a bit overgrown).  We thought this might be faster for the return, but decided it probably wasn't as we still had to negotiate a lava field, though it did turn the trip into a loop (or at least a lollipop loop) which is always nice.

We have done several sections of the Loowit but the section from June Lake west to just before Ptarmigan was new to us. We were treated to some nice fall color with much more to come in the coming weeks.  The falls at June Lake were running nicely.  Chocolate falls was more than a trickle, it was like 2 trickles, well maybe a bit more than that but not much. I don't know what the flow is usually like, but I assume it is low this time of year/especially in a dry year? At any rate, right now you can see how the stream cuts through the rock, like a mini-lava canyon.  Neither of us recall ever seeing photos above Chocolate Falls so we were pleasantly surprised at how cool the creek/creek bed was. 

We didn't see much wildlife but came across plenty of "evidence" of elk, deer, goats, coyote and even a bear.  

Trail is super easy to follow, you hear a river almost the whole way. Cleaner water at the bridge definitely not the lake water. Trail is easy enough for young children. Beautiful spot for lunch. Leaves have started to change so in another week or so they should be perfect! 

 On our way up at about 5:30 AM just before cougar one of the dudes in our hiking party got really sick.  At this point we offered to turn around but he said he would be OK and we continued to climbers bivouac parking lot. 

 We arrived a little after 6am and there were 10+ cars here already.  Once we finally got situated and ready to go we headed up to Monitor Ridge.  I arrived at the Loowir trail/Monitor Ridge junction about 2 miles in 15 minuets before the rest of the hiking party.  Once everyone was there, the sick dude still didn’t look too good so we decided to head to June Lake about 3 miles to the east instead of heading for the summit. I was a little bummed, but what’s  an adventure without last minute changes. 

The first 1.5 miles-ish the trail is well maintained with a few downed tress and one big hornets net in the ground. We flagged it with orange tape on both sides of the trail.

Next we came to the Worm Flow/Loowit Trail junction. Continue .2 mile and cross and small creek with a small water fall. At this point it’s a boulder scramble for about a little over a mile. The whole time on the boulders the trail is marked with white and orange pipes. Once off the boulders the trail is a little over grown but is still clearly marked. The last .5 mile is down hill to the lake. 

June Lake is not that big this time of year, but you can see how big is gets from where the water line usually is in the fall/winter months. The lake is shallow and the bugs weren’t to bad here at all. We  hung out for about 30 minutes for a quick bite to eat before heading back. 

This in and out hike was about 10+ mile and super fun. I’ll be back again to summit St. Helens this year. 

Lovely hike up to June Lake then to Loowit Trail, where we turned left, or west, and continued to Chocolate Falls. The section from junction to falls is across an amazing section of broken up lava. Mostly not to hard to follow. Seek out the flatter sections of lava, follow the white poles, and pay attention and you'll do fine. The falls is pretty darned nifty, once again revealing the awesome power of geology and erosion. Don't mess with them.

By the way, we found two mylar balloons on this hike, our third and fourth balloons of the month. If you must choose to celebrate with one, please dispose of it properly; they fly way to far and end up in places where they should not be.