Fall Bikepacking
September 2026 Mt. St. Helens Bikepacking Loop
September was an active month of Bikepacking for me. I have been keeping an eye on wildfires all summer here in the PNW and had a few ideas for a September bikepacking trip. I pulled together a couple of friends for a Thursday evening through Saturday afternoon bikepacking loop with Start/Finish in Randle, WA near Mt. St. Helens.
On Thursday evening we rode about 30mi and 2300ft of gain to get into the National Forest to camp for the first night. The planned route was untested and a big unknown was on this first section around 10mi into our journey. We did run into a road that eventually ended into thick blackberries and brush. We tried to fight through for a little while but eventually had to give up and backtrack around 6mi. This made our riding extended a bit later into dark and added miles overall. As a result, we didn’t quite reach the camp 1 destination that was part of the original plan. Oh well, it’s all part of the adventure!
Breakfast at Night 1 Camp
Day 2 started with a long steady climb up a paved FS road with no traffic. We rode a few miles and then filtered water in one of the first streams that we came across. It was enjoyable climbing up this paved FS road and we eventually entered the Mt. St. Helens blast zone where trees were all knocked over from the mountain eruption in 1980. Once the road enters this area there is good visibility of the valleys and ridges coming out of the forest into what now looks like brushy clearings almost 50yrs later. We continued to climb and eventually joined the main road to Windy Ridge viewpoint and we stopped to see the old miners car that was destroyed in the blast (see gallery below). Along the ridge we had spectacular views of Spirit Lake, Mt. Rainier to the NE, Mt. Adams to the SE, Mt. Hood to the South, and Mt. St. Helens looming straight ahead on our route. Once we completed the bulk of the climbing we stopped for a lunch break to enjoy closeup views of Mt. St. Helens and great views to the south where we would be riding later in the day. After lunch we continued onto the Plains of Abraham trail which goes through the pumice and lava rock fields on the eastern flank of Mt. St. Helens. There was some steep hike-a-bike here starting out on this singletrack section, but once through those steep sections it was fun singletrack with net elevation loss for the next several miles. Eventually we made it down to the lava canyon trailhead and continued on as we still had to try and reach c campsite along the Lewis River preferably before sundown. We stopped for a quick snack at the camp store in Northwoods but then pressed on to the Lewis River trail. Even though were were going overall uphill, the trail was mostly all ridable and very enjoyable. We snagged a great campsite here on this stretch a few hours before dark. Day 2 milege was: 51mi with 7600ft of climb and significant portion of singletrack.
Day 3 started out with more riding along the Lewis River trail complete with a few steeper pushes, but overall a fun little trail. Once we popped back out on the paved FS road we made our way to the lower falls to go check out the views. Then we had another long progressive climb working our way closer to Mt. Adams. We got a few good glimpses of Mt. Adams between the trees, but there were never any big clearings where we had a great view of the mountain. We kept plugging away on the climbing and found a good stream to filter water and then eventually made the summit of Baby Shoe Pass.
Baby Shoe Pass
After the summit at the pass we put on a windbreak layer of clothes and bombed down FS roads eventually back to Randle to complete the loop. We finished just in time as the weather moved in right after we finished and started raining. This final day 3 was 59mi with 6000ft of climbing. I made some adjustments to the overall route after the ride to add a bit more gravel overall and avoid the dead-end road that we took the first evening. This is such a scenic and unique route that I would love to ride it again with maybe more time to explore the lava canyon trails and more of the Lewis River falls (middle and upper) as well as the alpine lakes near the top of Baby shoe pass.
I hope you can get outside and enjoy some of the fall season. If you have any questions related to bikepacking or bikerafting in the PNW feel free to Contact Us. Thanks for following along!
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