Loowit Falls

From the town of Randle, follow FSR #25 south towards Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument (Windy Ridge) for 19 miles and turn right onto FSR #99, signed for Mount St. Helens and Windy Ridge. Follow Road 99 to its end at Windy Ridge and begin hiking along the Truman Trail at the south end of the parking lot, following signs pointing to Loowit Falls at all trail junctions. For the first two miles it follows the old road. At the first junction stay right, then at the second junction at the end of the old road (where there may be a few cars parked) stay left. At the third junction the Loowit Trail will be intersected, 2-3/4 miles from the parking lot. Head right and then bear left at the fourth junction which marks the Loowit Falls Spur Trail. The Loowit Falls Trail climbs about half of a mile from the Loowit Trail, but the falls can be seen from the beginning of the spur. The total distance from the parking lot is about 4 miles. Be sure to bring extra water on this hike as there are very limited sources of clean water (be sure to filter all water too).Loowit Falls is one of two major waterfalls that occurs along the so-called "Sasquatch Steps" on the north flank of Mount St. Helens. When the mountain erupted in 1980, it basically created a catchment basin in the resulting crater. Beginning in the winter of 1980-1981 the Crater Glacier began to form and is currently the largest glacier on Mount St. Helens, as well as the youngest and fastest growing glacier in the United States. Once the glacier began growing, it also began melting and its meltwater has channeled largely into what is now Loowit Creek. As Loowit Creek intersects the blasted out north slope of the mountain it carved out the rugged Loowit Canyon, with Loowit Falls found at its head.
Loowit Canyon formed as its namesake Creek washed away and eroded material that was either pulverized by the 1980 eruption or was unstable enough as a result of the eruption that the continual erosion of the creek would induce further landslides along the sides of the canyon. The entire canyon was formed over a period of about 15 years and in that time Loowit Falls has constantly evolved in appearance. Imagery available in Google Earth shows the brink of Loowit Falls has retreated upstream by 40 feet since 1994, some time between 2006 and 2009 a smaller but significant lower tier of the falls was buried almost entirely by a landslide, and over the years there has been an increase in rockfall debris collecting at the base of Loowit Falls. When surveyed in 2011 the falls were measured with a drop of at 186 feet, and as of 2020 LiDAR data indicates the drop to be closer to 200 feet. The height of the falls will likely continue to fluctuate as further slides fall into the canyon and are washed away by the stream.
Because of the geologic instability of the area Loowit Falls may only exist for a minute fraction of time on a geologic scale. The continual erosion of the canyon could see the waterfall migrate further upstream (depending on how stable the current cliff remains), or the continuous growth of the Crater Glacier - which is currently just two-thirds of a mile upstream from the falls - could potentially encroach on the canyon and possibly result in part of its flow being redirected (though this is probably a less likely scenario) or even contribute to accelerated erosion.Loowit is the Native American name for Mount St. Helens. The title currently graces the falls, canyon and its creek, as well as another waterfall in Oregon's Columbia River Gorge.