Norway Pass

Norway Pass climbs a ridge on the north edge of the Mount St. Helens blast zone, where the 1980 eruption flattened forests in a single moment and left the mountain a field of ash and toppled trees. The first mile cuts through ghost-tree blowdown, the trunks all lying parallel and pointing away from the crater. The ash is fine and dusty; in dry summer it hangs in the air with every footstep.

At 0.9 miles the trail meets the Independence Ridge junction. Turning right, the Boundary Trail climbs another 1.3 miles to the pass itself, where the view opens onto Spirit Lake, still carrying its enormous log mat from the eruption, and the breached crater with its pumice plain stretching below. Mount Adams rises to the east, Meta Lake lies beneath the first climb, and the scale of the 1980 event becomes visceral.

Trails branching from Norway Pass are subject to periodic landslide closures, especially toward Mount Margaret. Check conditions before heading beyond the pass. Dogs are not permitted within the National Volcanic Monument.