Three days. 36 miles. One very rude canyon.
In September 2026, Aaron Holden and his hiking partner, Ryan Thompson, set out to hike the Loowit Trail, the full loop around Mount St. Helens. On paper it was a long weekend. In real life it was 6,660 feet of climbing, 14-hour days, rain every day, temperatures under 40 degrees, somewhere between twenty and thirty gullies of loose ash and rock, rope climbs, downed suspension bridges, cliffs for most of the way, and never enough water.
Told in photographs, video stills, and plain talk, Ash, Rope & Ridgeline follows the trip mile by mile: across the blast zone of the 1980 eruption, down the ropes into the South Fork Toutle canyon, over Windy Pass, through the fog, past a herd of mountain goats, a crater that is still smoking, and back to the waterfall at June Lake.
Based on true events, it's an adventure story for anyone who has looked at a trail map and thought, how hard can it be.
Adventure warning: contains fog, lava rocks, washouts, cliff detours, and strong language.
