If I tell you that this route also starts from the Marble Mountain Sno-Park, you’ll start thinking that this is my new favorite place to go snowshoeing. You may actually be right or at least, it’s nice to explore a new area for a change right. So having done Chocolate falls and June Lake, the remaining loop I had to try was the Worm Flows. Originally I wanted to combine this with June Lake but I haven’t found yet a way to connect the two. This loop is a bit east of the June Lake trail and traverses an area that was pretty much created by flowing lava. I haven’t been here in the summer but supposedly, the entire hill is a lava flow that formed the wall where the water fall to June Lake comes from. Being a nice, warm day, Val and I decided to try it out by ourselves. Also, after navigating and leading some hikes, I needed a rest so I even left the GPS at home and navigated the old way… with map and compass. Is not that this area is too difficult, but you just need to make sure you’re turning where you need to. The first part was the usual forest walk heading towards the June Lake trailhead but at that point, instead of turning left, we continued straight. Soon we reached a stream big enough not to be covered in snow but narrow enough for us to jump to the other side. This was actually fortunate as we did not see any tracks after the creek leaving the entire area to ourselves. I can almost say it was a bit disappointing that most of the loop traverses new forests with limited views of St Helens or the surroundings. There are not many signs that you are walking over a lava bed. That said, we had solitude, incredibly nice weather and a lovely day.
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