3.7 hr
Overview
This is an expanded version of the Larch Mountain Crater Loop Hike, taking you down the west rim of the crater and up the east rim. You’ll miss the boggy meadow inside the crater unless you make a short detour, but there will still be big old-growth conifers and far fewer people. The route skirts both the boundary of the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness and the Bull Run Watershed. This loop was unaffected by the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire. If you arrive at a relatively empty parking lot and it’s a clear day, begin your hike by visiting Sherrard Point before the hordes arrive. From the upper corner of the parking area, near the payment kiosk, a paved trail heads through shady noble fir, silver fir, and Douglas-fir forest. At a junction, make a right to head up the first flight of a total of about 120 steps. You'll pass above a steep, dry meadow blooming with paintbrush and penstemon. The trail switchbacks and then takes you up concrete steps to the fenced viewpoint area at the very top of Sherrard Point. Blooming on the steep rock faces are Howell’s daisies, alumroot, rock penstemon, matted saxifrage, and Cardwell’s penstemon. There’s a view of a tarn below and the crater meadow. You can see west to Washougal and east along the Columbia River Gorge. The Cascade peaks are in view. Concrete slabs name them, and give their heights and distance (for Mount Saint Helens, it’s the pre-eruption height!). Return to the junction below the steps, and keep right this time on the Larch Mountain Trail. You’ll rise to the old auto turnaround, lined by a stone wall. Once upon a time, there were splendid views from here. Cross the turnaround to continue down to a picnic area of old mossy grates and tables, keeping right at another junction. You’ll be descending the east rim of Larch Mountain’s crater in a dense young forest of silver fir. The trail drops more steeply to cross gated Road 315. (Beginning their hike at where Road 315 meets Larch Mountain Road is how some avoid paying a parking fee.) The road is buttressed by a rock wall
Trail Stats
10.0 km
439 m
1236 m
0 m
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