Lava Canyon, Ship Trail — Monday, Aug. 6, 2001

South Cascades > Mount St. Helens

We went down the Lava Canyon trail to the Ship Trail, and up to the viewpoint on the Ship Trail. This hike gives fabulous views of a canyon created by lava flows, and scoured out by mudflows when Mt. St. Helens blew in 1980. The result today is a canyon with many rushing waterfalls and interesting rock formations. The top part of the trail(s) on both sides of the canyon are easily strolled. The suspension bridge connecting the sides is quite sturdy, but nonetheless could be scary for those afraid of heights. It does give wonderful views both up and down the canyon. Heading down the canyon past the suspension bridge is probably not a good idea for those afraid of heights. The trail is pretty narrow, and essentially hacked out of cliff sides. Although it's perfectly safe, it's also pretty scary. I definitely wouldn't want to do this if there were snow or ice on the trail -- but of course that wasn't an issue in August. The trail is also relatively steep in places -- in fact in a couple of places the trail is actually a ladder (including one thirty foot one) attached to a cliff. The junction with Ship Trail is not well marked; there's a sign for the junction, but it's not located even within sight of the actual junction. However, the trail treads are quite clear, so just look for the trail to fork, and ignore the sign. Ship Trail is a short (and steep in places) climb up a rock formation, leading to a viewpoint back up the canyon -- a very nice place for a lunch, and also a good turnaround point. The top (easy) part of the trail sees a lot of traffic, but below the suspension bridge we ran into only one other party.