Attempted to hike Sheep Canyon but turned out to be a bust. Road to trailhead (FR 8123) was closed at Goat Marsh trailhead due to washouts last October. If you want to hike this trail you will have to allow for an approximate additional 8-10 mile round trip to get to trailhead and back to your vehicle. You can either go up 8123 or go via the Toutle Trail. We did neither as we arrived way to late to make that kind of distance.

It was raining when I began my drive from Tacoma, but soon resolved to high overcast as I arrived at Beaver Bay on Yale Lake to meet my group. We drove up Road 81 and then to the end of FS Road 8123 to the Sheep Canyon Trailhead. This area is scarred both the depredations of man (clearcutting) and nature (mudflows). The trail starts up the hill through a lovely forest. Then at about 1/2 mile we came to a junction with Trail #238 which crosses Sheep Creek on a bridge. Climbing over a ridge it comes out above the S. Fk. Toutle River. The ridge across the river was shaved clean by superheated gases and the river bed churned with masses of melted snow and mud. The river has already carved down through soft layers. Vegetation is coming back, with pioneer plants, alder, lupine, huckleberry, fireweed, penstemon, etc., predominating. We came to the junction with the Loowit Trail, a route that circumnavigates St. Helens. This trail is very rough in places, but we traveled on a part with good grade and views. When we reached a high spot on Crescent Ridge, we could see Johnston Ridge Observatory and beyond a corner of Coldwater Lake, the Visitors Center and strangely naked peaks in the distance, devoid of their tree cover. The huckleberries along this stretch of our hike were unbelievable, huge, juicy and thick. We had lunch while admiring views of the mountain, which was still mostly in the clouds. Next, we traversed the Loowit Trail back to its junction with the Sheep Canyon Trail and back to the cars. We counted ourselves lucky to have avoided rain during the hike. Except for some slide areas, the thread was in great shape. One bridge on lower Sheep Canyon Trail is broken but passable. The bridge over the main creek is in great shape. The loop is about 7 miles and 1900' gain. Beware! Bow hunters are wandering around in the mountains now.

Sheep Canyon Trail passes through the northern fringe of the largest forest of noble fir in the Cascades. You can see how the mudflow came down this canyon and sloshed back and forth as it careened to the Toutle River. The trail is in great shape with logs cut and just a few patches of snow. At timberline, you hit the Loowit Trail and wind through upper Sheep Canyon's basin, with a strange mixture of surviving tree groves, extensive meadows and recolonizing conifers. The next stop is an overlook over the upper canyon of the South Toutle, an impressive gulch with perpetual landslides and views out over the landslide hummocks and the Mt. Margaret peaks. The trail continues down to the Toutle, dancing in and out of the eruption impact line. Ford the river (a pretty easy rock hop, actually) and head up the ridge on the north bank at least a little ways to get great views of St. Helens' west side. I didn't climb too far because it was scorching hot in the blowdown on this day. The climb back up to Sheep Canyon is a real treat-- this is some of the most beautiful forest you will ever see, with towering Douglas-fir and giant noble fir. Big blowdowns encountered on this trail in June have since been cleared. Pause at the Sheep Canyon waterfall before you make the ten-minute walk back to the trailhead. A longer approach to this trail is from the Blue Lake trailhead, which I prefer as it winds leisurely through the wonderful noble fir forest, south to north.