Loowit #216: Sheep Canyon - Butte Camp

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Features Birding · Views · Wildflowers

This section of the Loowit Trail #216 starts at the Sheep Canyon Trail #240 junction and runs south to the Butte Camp Trail #238A junction.

This section of the Loowit trail weaves in and out of timberline skirting Mount St. Helens' western slope. The trail crosses large glacial canyons and avalanche chutes that are more typical of Mount Rainier or Mount Adams, the Cascades' older and more weathered volcanoes.

Here, you can enjoy the beauty of subalpine settings and a bounty of wildflowers during the summer season. Explore numerous mudflows and the rugged jumble of rock from past lava flows. Please stay on the trail and protect the fragile meadow of Upper Butte Camp where important plant succession research is taking place. Check out the panoramic views to the South and East including views of Mount Hood, Mount Adams, Yale Reservoir and the Lewis River Valley.

This section of trail receives minimal maintenance and traverses the western slope of the mountain, connecting Sheep Canyon Trail #240 to Butte Camp Trail #238A. It gains little elevation on the route, descending and ascending steeply only out of the glaciated valleys.