Conditions:Fossil Creek (Mt. St. Helens)-20250616015053

Latest:	15 Jun 2025 (8 days ago)

Reported by:	K arc (378 reports), Treyshoe (37 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Moderate Low
Wetsuit:	Full wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time:

Team: 4 people

Trip report URL:

Comments: Returning to Fossil, we descended the west trib, jumped out, then went over to descend the east side. Wow, a couple nice technical sequences, waterfalls, and pools. Two very short slides add to the appeal of Fossil East, together with an easy walk out. Too bad it's so short. The allure was dampened somewhat by target shooters who'd set up shop just down the road from our exit car. Disconcerting to exit to the sounds of gunfire, but the creek is great. (This area may be popular with target shooters.) Water levels had dropped significantly since last visiting in May. Fossil East was fun and splashy. Possibly Fossil East should be broken out into it's own ropewiki page.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
15 Jun 2025	Good	Moderate	Thin wetsuit	Normal		4 people Intermediate to Advanced	EricAbseil (3 reports)
Comment: I give East Fossil **** and West **. West is worth doing for sure - more raps, all decent, but East was stunning despite having only 4 raps. Will do again. And again.
15 Jun 2025	Great	Moderate Low	Full wetsuit	Normal		4 people	K arc (378 reports),Treyshoe (37 reports)
Comment: Returning to Fossil, we descended the west trib, jumped out, then went over to descend the east side. Wow, a couple nice technical sequences, waterfalls, and pools. Two very short slides add to the appeal of Fossil East, together with an easy walk out. Too bad it's so short. The allure was dampened somewhat by target shooters who'd set up shop just down the road from our exit car. Disconcerting to exit to the sounds of gunfire, but the creek is great. (This area may be popular with target shooters.) Water levels had dropped significantly since last visiting in May. Fossil East was fun and splashy. Possibly Fossil East should be broken out into it's own ropewiki page.
3 May 2025	Good	Moderate	Drysuit	Normal		3 people	K arc (378 reports)
Comment: No other anchors were found, so likely our visit was a first descent. Pretty action-packed creek without much creek-walking until the bottom. Seemed like a substantial increase in water between top and bottom (possible snow-melt up in the heights). Very cold water. Few snow patches still visible in the upper basin. Had originally planned to run East Fossil too, but one member of our team was getting cold and East Fossil sports a lot more water, so decided to call it a day.