I had read so many dire trip reports on this trail. Once you get past the main tourist hustle at the top area, it gets really fun, at least if you are the type of person into gorgeous glorified goat tracks with 1-2 feet of cliffside trail over some you-fall, you-die terrain.

WARNING: This is really NOT a family-friendly trail, a trail for kids or pets, or a trail for people that are not extremely sure-footed. Experienced mountaineers and climbers will likely find it fun, and I would recommend it to only agile and experienced hikers. This trail is dangerous, people have died falling on it, and I am quite serious on the you-fall-you-die descriptor for some parts of this trail.

I would love to know the backstory of who built this trail - it is wild. Follow the cliffside trail past loads of waterfalls and the roar of the river rushing thru the gorge for about 1 mi. Soon after the metal ladder, things calm down and its flatter, more overgrown, the trail following the bottom of the gorge rather than hugging the side. Trail is still easy to find tho.

Having just finished the 10mi, 2150ft of Ape Canyon prior to starting this trail, I only made it about 1.6 miles in and 1000ft down before calling it, but wow, what a great 1.6 mi. I turned around at the lower bridge. Maps show 2 trails at this point. Theres a sign for Smith Creek Trail if you stay on the same side of the river, and following this for 200m or so will lead you to a landslide. Its about a 10ft slide down and then a 25ft scramble up a bare dirt embankment thats very steep to reconnect with the trail. Given the less dramatic scenery, the risk-reward of continuing on while facing a hillside promising a deeply exfoliating full body abrasion in the event of a fall seemed not worth it.

I didnt go any distance down the trail on the other side of the bridge. It looked to have significantly less use than the upper trail, but frankly I was just too tired to keep going.

Trail is fairly rocky. Esp compared to the smoother Ape Canyon trail. Be prepared for narrow trails with steep dangerous drops, eroding material, ladder climb, some downed logs, big rocks to hike over, and generally rough terrain - oh and fantastic views.

I've read some people think this is so dangerous it needs to be closed. I dont think its that bad, but you def want good shoes and maybe trekking poles. I would not even consider doing it in the rain, partly out of fear of slipping, partly out of fear of trail collapse. It could def use some TLC, but it would be a difficult endeavor and likely cost-prohibitive. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple bad storms hit it that the trail closes indefinitely. Again, see the warning above. If you get to a point and are unsure, then turn back - the best hike is the one where you return home alive.

Maybe avoid Mt st Helens next weekend Aug2/3, the Volcanic 25/50k is that weekend, so it will be busy.

Driving:
made it in a Hyundai Elantra. drive slow and careful. Theres a couple big bumps where the road is carved away, another dip/bump in pavement, and a huge berm. Stick to the side you came up on for these if you have a tiny car (uphill/right lane followed by downhill/left lane), the berm and dips are gentler on that side. I made the mistake of staying in my lane on the way down for the last bit of excavated road and scraped a tiny bit. Driving back in late afternoon with sun in your eyes and dappled roadway made it hard to see that this side had way deeper tire ruts than the uphill lane.

Fascinating trail, but there are a number of dangerous spots at this point. Parts of the trail been eaten away, leaving steep exposed hillsides. The ladder is cool, and the side trail out to “the ship” is great, but I won’t be doing this trail again until it gets some solid maintenance work. Too risky.

FS road 83 closed. No explanation so no guess if or when will reopen

Road conditions: Ice!!!  83 road not closed at Marble Mountain sno-park for the winter yet but I’m guessing that it will get closed soon based on how much snow is there already!
90 in pretty good shape. 83 has some big flagged holes near the junction with the 90 road to watch out for. Ice - including slick black ice and 30 degrees F. this morning on the 83 road! The washout near June Lake has been graded and there is no longer any standing water there. However there is now a large berm of dirt and gravel which I was able to inch over with my VW golf wagon. Probably if you go slow you can make it with most cars. There is also a lot of snow alongside the 83 road if you are considering car camping over there.

Trail conditions: Ape Canyon is snow-free for about the first 1.5 miles, then intermittent snow patches easily crossed. At about 2900 feet elevation the snow becomes pretty much continuous to the junction with the Loowit Trail. Some hard crunchy snow and some softer snow in sunnier areas. Microspikes and poles were helpful. Definitely I was glad to have opted for boots over trail runners. There’s enough deep and sloshy snow that sneakers would just get wet and have snow sneaking in. 

Some debris, pine needles, but nothing too bad until you exit the tree tunnel part of the trail then there are several annoying fallen trees to negotiate. We stopped just short of the junction with the Loowit Trail- it would be tricky with the snow and ice patches we encountered up there to reach the Loowit Trail. We could see that the dicey crumbling part of the Ape Canyon Trail near that junction was covered with large snowbanks.

Many interesting animal tracks in the snow but no wildlife sightings. Snowshoe hare, bobcat, mouse, deer and many elk. Plus some possible mountain goat tracks. The goats seemed to be scampering in and out of Ape Canyon and ascending to the higher ground above the canyon and across the way from the trail. Elk prints were on the Ape Canyon Trail and seen in the distance below on open slopes near the woods. We passed by one elk hunter (just starting his day) but otherwise the Ape Canyon Trail was very quiet.

Trail conditions: Lava Canyon had a handful of people enjoying the gorgeous weather. The path and walkways were in pretty good shape though the suspension bridge is closed so one of the loops isn’t fully open. No snow. 

Note: no toilet paper in the Lava Canyon trailhead outhouse.