It's a beautiful day for a hike with friends today. We started up to June lake from parking lot at 9:45 AM and it only took us about 30 meandering minutes to get there. The lake cannot be seen from the trail due to the tall brush close to shore but a side trail cuts through to a nice spot across from the waterfall. We then went on up the hill to connect to the Loowit trail and headed west for Chocolate falls. It's somewhat slow going over the boulders but the trail is well marked with cairns and posts so we didn't get lost. We had good views of Hood and some of Adams while crossing the boulder fields. We enjoyed an early lunch on the rocks above the falls. I took off my footwear and soaked in the stream which was not as cold as I expected it would be. We then hiked back via the winter climbing and snowshoe trail to the Marble Mountain snopark parking lot. That trail is wide and easy. We walked back to our car on the road. Be careful on the way up - there are several dips on the road that are not well marked that can be hard to see in the sun/shade on a bright day. We almost bottomed out on one we didn't see until last moment.

We set out on Saturday to do an easy hike to June Lake. The road in is closed at the Marble Mountain Sno-Park, so we stopped there and decided to try the winter route. (Ran into a ranger who said they're going to try to open it for next weekend.) Hiked up the Swift River Ski Trail to the junction with Trail 244D. The trail was snow-covered after the first mile or so. I used microspikes, but my boyfriend didn't need them. At lunch,we decided to try to hike up to the Worm Flows, hook up with the Loowit Trail, and make a loop of it, hitting the lake and hiking the road on the way back. Got up to Chocolate Falls and enjoyed some stellar views! We could see Adams and Hood and of course St. Helens was putting on a show. Because the trail was covered in snow and we couldn't easily see the Loowit Trail, we chose to hike back down to Trail 244D and try that one. The first half mile was fine, but then we hit the basalt field. The snow is pretty thin here, and we kept breaking through snow bridges so we decided to try scrambling over the rocks. I got nervous on the rocks, so we turned around and went back. All in all it was a great day - the views from Chocolate Falls were incredible. If you do decide to hike this trail, check with the Forest Service to see if the road is open yet. There was easily 3 feet of snow up above Trail 244D and covering the Loowit Trail. The ranger we ran into mentioned that hiking down the road from the Sno-Park and then up to June Lake may be a good option right now.

I was up at Ape Canyon earlier in the day and decided to stop by here on my way back home. I did a work party here earlier this summer and wanted to see how things were looking. The road to the trail head is in good condition with the exception of a couple dips on FR 83 that aren't marked very well. Parking can be pretty terrible on the weekends, though. The trail has some drainage problems which, not surprisingly, have caused some damage to the trail. It's not too bad, though. June Lake is quite nice, I definitely see why people like to camp there. I'd actually forgotten about the waterfall until I got there today. I did this hike in the late afternoon so everything was especially beautiful.

Volunteers needed for July 23rd, Saturday. WTA and the Mount St.Helens Institute (MSHI) are co-hosting a day of trail work on this great little trail. Info and registration at: https://www.wta.org/volunteer/schedule/workparty/a2mA0000000PcD0/

Hiked with a 4 year old and 8 year old, they loved this trail. The lake at the end is nice but what they really enjoyed was the boulder field. They didn't want to leave. Parking was tight as the trail was busy on this sunny Sunday. Lots of kids and dogs on the trail but not so busy that you couldn't find a private spot to have lunch and play in the sun.