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Mount St. Helens from Portland: All-Inclusive Small-Group Tour

Recommended by 100% of travelers
Portland, USA
  • 9 hours (approx.)
  • Pickup offered
  • Mobile ticket
  • Offered in: English

Overview

Cross state lines into Washington on this full-day trip from Portland to Mount St. Helens, led by a professional naturalist guide with extensive knowledge about the local geology and ecosystem. Learn about the Pacific Northwest’s most famous active volcano through nature walks and exhibitions, and then make it back to Portland by evening.
  • Full-day tour of Mount St. Helens from downtown Portland with a naturalist guide
  • Hike along the Hummocks and Eruption trails while learning about local ecology and geology
  • Visit the largest lava tube in the continental U.S. at Ape Caves
  • Small-group tour ensures personal attention
  • Fresh family-style picnic lunch included
  • Park fees and round-trip hotel transfers included

What's Included

  • TripAdvisor "Hall of Fame" professional naturalist guide.
  • Lovely guided hikes and treks tailored to your group's tastes. Spend lots of time outside.
  • Local coffee plus tea options and some light pasty snacks
  • Seasonal local lunch! We'll find a quiet spot outside for a picnic and big views.
  • Lots of snacks, sparkling water, and water provided.
  • Transportation in a newer Ford Transit van
  • Pick-up and drop-off at your downtown Portland hotel, Airbnb, or rental.
  • Mt. St. Helens National Monument entrance fees.
  • Entry/Admission - Seaquest State Park
  • Entry/Admission - Mount St. Helens Visitor Center
  • Entry/Admission - Coldwater Lake
  • Entry/Admission - Eruption Trail
  • Entry/Admission - Hummocks Trail
  • Entry/Admission - Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
  • Gratuity
  • Breakfast
  • Dinner

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

We'll pick you up at your Downtown Portland hotel. If you are staying outside our legal pick up zone, we are happy to meet you at our default pick up location—The Portland Visitor Center.

or

Meeting point

  • Portland Visitor Center
    1132 SW Harvey Milk St #104, Portland, OR 97205, USA

    We'll pick you up at your Downtown Portland hotel. If you are staying outside our legal pick up zone, we are happy to meet you at our default pick up location—The Hotel Monaco.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Operating hours
.8:30 am

Itinerary

Meet your guide at your hotel in downtown Portland and climb aboard a luxury Mercedes van for a drive along Spirit Lake Highway to Mount St. Helens. Stop by the largest continuous lava tube in the continental United States at Ape Caves, where you can walk along the Hummocks Trail or admire the view of Mount St. Helens from the banks of Coldwater Lake before continuing to your destination.

Upon arrival, enjoy a family-style picnic lunch and visit the renowned Johnston Ridge Observatory and Visitor Center to learn more about the Mount St. Helens. Then embark on a fully guided interpretive walk along the Eruption Trail, which offers views into the crater and a bounty of wildflowers in mid-to-late summer.

Throughout your trip, learn about the geological science and personal stories of Mount St. Helen’s eruption in 1980, discover how the ecosystem is recovering, and watch for sightings of wildlife (like elk, beavers, and birds) with the help of your professional naturalist guide.

Transfer back to your hotel in Portland at the end of your tour.
1

Seaquest State Park

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

2

Silver Lake

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

3

Mount St. Helens Visitor Center

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

4

Coldwater Lake

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Mount St. Helens (Pass By)

5

Hummocks Trail

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Columbia River (Pass By)

Additional Info

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Near public transportation
  • Most travelers can participate
  • Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
  • Comfortable walking shoes are recommended
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 10 travelers
Supplied by

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

4.8
based on 25 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
We perform checks on reviews

Mt. St. Helens

Penelope_D, Oct 2019
Our guide was great can’t recall her name talked about so much concerning the volcano and what tourists mean for some families to survive. Would recommend you guys to everyone.

Must do tour!!

Angela_L, Sep 2019
MT. St. Helens has always been a fascination for me, so i had to book this tour..no matter the cost. Don't think twice about this tour just because of the price. It was worth every penny! Firstly, my guide Jordan was amazing! He is super nice, knowledgeable and just an overall awesome guy. Jordan, thank you for still doing the tour when there was only myself and Tina and for making it a tour I'll never forget! Besides seeing the volcano...you get to walk through Ape Cave, which is just such a surreal experience while you're down there realizing you are in a lava tube! We also stopped at this really cool place before lunch that you just have to see! The views the entire drive are simply just stunning. Our lunch was incredible. The walk along Johnston Ridge was spectacular! I just can't say enough great things about Jordan or the tour to do the experience justice. Everyone should go on this tour!

Fantastic day trip

Kevin_C, Jul 2019
Our guide for the day was Aaron. He was knowledgeable, thoughtful, engaging, courteous, and an absolute gentleman the whole time. This was a fantastic day trip into the Ape Cave and Mt. St. Helens area. I highly recommend this trip and guide! I would definitely book from this company again.

Small Group Tour to Mount St. Helens

Pamela_D, Jun 2019
I liked the small group format. The guide was likable and provided a very nice lunch. Although both sides of the mountain were interesting, the added time to go to the south side made the trip just too long.

Fascinating views of a legendary mountain

JAlan_F, Sep 2018
Maybe we were just lucky but our guide was very knowledgeable, courteous, and packed a great lunch. We traveled in the comfort of a Mercedes sprinter van. The skies around Mount St. Helens were mostly clear so we had full view of the devastation that wreaked havoc upon this area nearly 40 years ago. This is an experience not to be missed. Jordan took us to some sights, like Ape caves and the semi buried house that I doubt we would studied enough to know about on our own. I recommend the guided service.

This was one of the BEST tour's I've...

Karen S, Sep 2017
This was one of the BEST tour's I've completed. The guide was fantastic and clearly knew his history. Aaron went out of his way to make the day enjoyable as well as informative even though the weather and fires in the area were determined to limit out views. The small tour allowed us to move much quicker and see much more versus a large tour. We were able to see both sides of the mountain in one day. It was a long day but would definitely take this tour again!! Great job Aaron. My only suggestions is maybe a few more stops for photo opportunities :o

Fantastic tour guide, very...

Thomas E, Aug 2017
Fantastic tour guide, very informative throughout the trip and despite the many stops and sites on this tour still went out of her way to make sure we squeezed in a few extra waterfalls and still had enough time at each location. wouod highly recommended.

Excellent tour. The morning on the...

Ian A, Aug 2017
Excellent tour. The morning on the south side of the mountain was fascinating. Walking down a Lava tube was so cool. Also seeing the pristine forest and previous lave flows set the scene to scale the devastation of the afternoon. It is difficult to get the scale of the eruption without seeing it, pictures really do not do Mt St Helens justice, you have to see it and get the dust in your shoes. Excellent guide Jordan Singh was able to take us to the interesting things point out many things that you would just miss on your own like the tree truck sticking out of the hill side upside down like it was thrown into the hill like a dart. Do this tour it is an absolute wow.

From $295.00

per person

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

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