Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens was a wonderful day hike. It’s tough but not too tough. The entire trip took me six hours including the snack/lunch break I had up top…although if you’re not in hiking shape, I wouldn’t count on that time. I ran into my coworker and her friends on the way up, they had started about an hour and a half before me, and they were still making their way up when I was coming back down.
The day was extremely foggy, so I can’t say much about the view at all. I was actually a bit worried I would miss yet another summit because as I was going up…five different parties came back down, and from speaking to them briefly, none of them made it to the summit. All of them got nervous because of the dense fog and decided to turn around. Hiking on this volcano was quite different from many other hikes in that, there’s a lot of easy rock scrambling to do…and with rock scrambles, there’s not an obvious packed down trail. The trail is marked with tall wooden posts spaced ~20 yards apart which is a helpful guide on clear days, but yesterday, the fog was so dense it was hard to see from pole to pole. People turned back because it was hard enough to find the next pole, they were very worried they’ll lose the trail on the way back down. I brought my GPS so I just marked the poles as I went along, so that the worst that would happen was my not finding the next pole – at least I knew I could always find my way home.
The fog did slowly lift a bit through out the day, but never enough to allow for a spectacle view of where we stood. At the peak, we nearly got a glimpse of the center of the volcano, but then more fog quickly rolled in, and our hopes were dashed. It was such a sad moment, one moment I heard a girl yell to everyone up top, “Guys, look! Look!” Everyone peered over the ridge, “Ooooh.” And then nothing. It snowed quite a bit on my way back down, but about 2/3 of the way down, the sun lifted a bit and I actually saw bits of my surrounding for a change. What little I could see was glorious.
I brought my helmet as per instruction on the website, I was the ONLY one with a helmet. Not only was I the special kid on the mountain, but I was the special kid that has no friends. It would appear everyone else hiked with five generations of family or a 50 member pit crew complete with cheerleading squad. They all asked me if I was hiking alone. Yes, I have no friends, just let me put on my helmet before I hurt myself.
Hike slide here.
The day was extremely foggy, so I can’t say much about the view at all. I was actually a bit worried I would miss yet another summit because as I was going up…five different parties came back down, and from speaking to them briefly, none of them made it to the summit. All of them got nervous because of the dense fog and decided to turn around. Hiking on this volcano was quite different from many other hikes in that, there’s a lot of easy rock scrambling to do…and with rock scrambles, there’s not an obvious packed down trail. The trail is marked with tall wooden posts spaced ~20 yards apart which is a helpful guide on clear days, but yesterday, the fog was so dense it was hard to see from pole to pole. People turned back because it was hard enough to find the next pole, they were very worried they’ll lose the trail on the way back down. I brought my GPS so I just marked the poles as I went along, so that the worst that would happen was my not finding the next pole – at least I knew I could always find my way home.
The fog did slowly lift a bit through out the day, but never enough to allow for a spectacle view of where we stood. At the peak, we nearly got a glimpse of the center of the volcano, but then more fog quickly rolled in, and our hopes were dashed. It was such a sad moment, one moment I heard a girl yell to everyone up top, “Guys, look! Look!” Everyone peered over the ridge, “Ooooh.” And then nothing. It snowed quite a bit on my way back down, but about 2/3 of the way down, the sun lifted a bit and I actually saw bits of my surrounding for a change. What little I could see was glorious.
I brought my helmet as per instruction on the website, I was the ONLY one with a helmet. Not only was I the special kid on the mountain, but I was the special kid that has no friends. It would appear everyone else hiked with five generations of family or a 50 member pit crew complete with cheerleading squad. They all asked me if I was hiking alone. Yes, I have no friends, just let me put on my helmet before I hurt myself.Hike slide here.
posted by SteakGirl at 10:53 AM
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