I had read about this hike a bit and was not expecting to be wowed... BUT the real star of the show is the fall foliage on the way to the trailhead. It's a great time to take a drive through that area and stretch your legs on one of the local trails. We didn't arrive until the afternoon, but there were no crowds. 

Arrived at June Lake TH at 10:04am, 44F degrees outside. Four other vehicles, all overnight. No one else present. 

Had a pleasant hike with partner, and my two kids (7 & 10), enjoying the beautiful fall colors and crisp air. Perfect sunny weather for an autumn hike. 

Once we reached the lake at 10:45, we continued up to Loowit, then took the left fork and headed across the lava fields. This was slow going. We stopped at a trail marker at noon for lunch, and were joined by Forest friends; two birds and a tiny salamander. 

We continued to the intersection with Worm Flows, then turned south to Swift Creek and across Pika to meet up with June lake again. In all, we passed two hikers, saw two others from a distance, then passed several more once we headed back down June to TH. Made it back to TH at 2:45.

The autumn leaves at the Loowit/June intersection were phenomenal; like walking through Golden Arches in Lothlorien. 

Small patches of snow here and there, but not much. Beautiful and peaceful hike complimented by warm fall weather. 

We ran the Loowit trail Clockwise from June Lake.  We started in the dark and got off track on the boulder fields a few times but had a .gpx track which kept us from losing too much time this way.  Other than the boulder field we found the trail to be quite easy to follow.  Two of the river crossings were possible just by jumping (although one in our party had to ford because it was a long jump).  All of the treacherous washout descents/ascents had a rope in place, 4 in total if I remember correctly.  We were able to fill up on water at the Toutle & Loowit creek using a water filter.  There were TONS of blueberries and a ton of bear scat along the trail.  We didn't actually see any bears but we did see a herd of elk trotting out from the crater while crossing the blast zone.

For those looking for berries, we saw a bunch on the descent into the south fork of the Toutle (south of the river along Crescent ridge), and a TON along the trail on the SE side of St Helens.  Between the June Lake trail junction and Pumice Butte.

Stats: ~31mi ~7k gain 9.5 hours

We were the third car to arrive at the TH. Most of the wildflowers were past their prime, but we did see some fireweed, pearly everlasting, one paintbrush  and some yellow flowers we have not identified. There were three American Dippers on the lake. Lighting for photos this time of year is  best after 2:00PM as there was a lot of contrast when we first arrived at noon. We hung around watching the dippers and had lunch hoping for better light. The lake was very low with swarms of bugs hovering above, however, they did not bother us!

We got to the trail head just before 9am and the parking lot was fairly empty. The trail was in great shape as it followed along a nice creek. Before we new it, we made it to June lake. The lake is gorgeous with a perfect waterfall flowing into the far side. Very picturesque! To see more about this hike Be sure to watch my video below!