Mount St. Helens 2006

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Washington

Story and Photos by Dar

We arrived at Cougar, Wa. About 7:30 p.m and went straight to Jack’s to pick up our permits to climb the mountain. The young man that issued our permits was very helpful with information and tips about the climb. He suggested that we leave before dawn to beat the heat. After that we ate a very nice supper in Jack’s restaurant.

We drove to the Lone Fir Lodge and went straight to our room to get ready for the big day. The rooms were very nice but it was hot and we needed to run the fans to cool it off. We got our packs ready and filled our water bottles and all that was left was to try to rest. It was decided that we would get up at 3:00am and leave the lodge at around 4:00am. The alarm came way too early—I had hardly slept at all but was ready to get going. We got lost going to the trail head because the sign had been spray painted over but we realized our mistake after about 20 min and turned around-we learned later that we weren’t the only ones that made that mistake.

We arrived at the trail head about 4:45 and after a restroom stop we hit the trail about 5am. It was creepy hiking with just the two of us and I was a little scared—but about 1.5 hours later the sun began to come up and about that time we had come to the restrooms just below the timberline. Made another potty stop and was ready to go on. Just about daylight we started up the boulder field. To mark the way there are posts and you need to follow them—this is not easy—you have one in sight and before you know it disappears. This field was not an easy task—especially for me. The boulder field seemed to last for ever but I kept looking up and could see the ash ahead and I thought that might be better.

The heat was building and I was getting really tired. I started the ash and it was one step forward and two back---a ranger passed me and told me to dig my toes in and push up—if she hadn’t told me that I would have never made it to the top. Alex made it up about 1.5 hours ahead of me and had lots of time to rest I got to the top about 11:15am and there we several people waiting for me that had passed me and they yelled and clapped for me when I got there. (Thanks I needed that.)—I stayed at the top about 45 min—enough to get water and food and look around quickly. I did see a helicopter drop off some scientists---they looked like little specks in the crater though my binoculars—that gave me an idea of just how big it is. I could see rocks falling in the crater and the ranger pointed out lots of things to see—we could just barely see the mountains from the crater—it wasn’t very clear.

We started back down about 12pm. Again we needed to stay within sight of the posts—going down was a bit easier but still hard. The ash was loose and made it hard to walk; I found it best to walk sideways. The boulder field was easier going down—once I got to where I could see the timber line I don’t think I stopped once—I wanted down off that mountain. To my surprise my son and husband had hiked to the 4800ft marker to meet us—what a great feeling to see them—I had someone to carry my pack the rest of the way down and my husband has realized what work these hikes can be. I got to see the trail on the way down that I hiked in the dark and it was beautiful. I talked to allot of people on the way and they were very nice and encouraging. Several were right along with me in the time it took for the trip.

The hike took me about 11 hours—much longer than I had anticipated. It was beautiful and I was so glad that I did it. This was a hike that I’ve wanted to do for several years and I would like to do it again and hopefully be in better shape to tackle it—my husband still says he would like to try it…maybe someday we can do it together.