Mt. St. Helens - A climb like no other
Climbing permit - 22$
Stay at motel close to trail head - 85$
Peeking into the crater from the summit of an active volcano - Priceless...
That's exactly how it felt when I completed this arduous 9-hour hike last weekend. I have been hiking here in the Seattle area for 3 years now and ever since I heard that we would be able to hike up to the rim of the St. Helens crater, I have been waiting for the day when I would be atop the summit of the mountain, standing at 8365 feet (The St. Helens Wiki is a good place to know about the mountain's eruption history). Last year, we had a very busy hiking season with close to 100 miles covered during summer. But we just didn't plan enough to finish the St. Helens hike before the hiking season ended.
But this year around, we had decided right when the hiking season started, that we should finish this season with this hike. Though we did not do as many hikes as we did last year, we still covered enough miles to keep us in shape to complete this hike. We knew that you have to register to climb this hike and so, when we started the process to register for this climb, we ran into a small snag - the forest service only distributes 100 climbing permits per day during the summer and almost all the weekends in summer usually get booked right when the online booking started back in February or something. So, when we started looking for dates with available permits, all the weekends & most of the Fridays in summer had been sold out and finally, we got one Friday towards the end of summer - on September 12.
Thus began our preparation & anticipation for the big climb. Many a time during the hiking season, this climb proved to be the motivation for the regular day hikes that we do in this area, bcos on days when we were not motivated enough to go on a hike, the thought that we had to be ready for St. Helens convinced us to go on the hike that we had planned for that day. The other preparation that I did for this hike was by making myself as the person who has read the maximum number of trip reports of people who have hiked the mountain :) I would frequently search for St. Helens trip reports, both on the hiking forums and in blogger and by the time the D-day was around, I would have read at least a good 50 trip reports. All trip reports basically said one thing: that the hike is not merely tough but it is brutal. Even professional hikers seemed to agree to that.
The terrain and nature of the hike is what makes this hike unique and a hike unlike no other: the first 2 miles through the forest is like most other trails but you only gain 1000 feet over those 2 miles. Trailhead is at 3800 feet and so, after the treeline is done, you are at 4800 feet. Then starts the first of 2 tough phases of the hike - the scramble through the rocks & stones over 2 miles where you gain a good 2200 feet. Then comes the 2nd tough section of the hike - walk up loose sand (it is actually lava ash and is almost like beach sand) for close to a mile over which you gain the last 1365 feet.
Then came the big day. Most hikers camp at the trail head on the night before the hiking day. But since we have never done camping before, we decided to book a motel 30 mins from the trail head. Left Seattle on Thursday evening, checked in at around 9pm and then went to bed rightaway as we had planned to get an early start. Woke up at 4:45 and were at the trail head at 6:30. The forecast for the day was just perfect hiking weather.
Only when we came face to face with the rocky section of the hike, did we realize the magnitude of the task lying ahead of us. Then, we started the long hard hike up the rocks (some of them being as big as big as compact cars). Bcos of the rocks, there was no set trail. There were only tall white poles every 100 feet or so, that kind of acted as guide to the hikers, as to where they should be headed towards next. The rocky section was truly energy sapping, as we drank a good 60% of the water we had carried during this section. Often during this section, we would come across a really steep vertical section of rocks (like in the picture below) and we would think that should be the end of the rocky section.
But only after we get to that point, would we discover the next one. And this one went on for a good 7-8 times after which we were finally done with the rocky section (time at this point was 10:30)
There were couple of seismographic equipments at this point which I presume, were observing the mountain in some way.
After this, was the long hard climb up the lava ash. The only good thing about this section is that right after the rocky section is over, we were able to see the summit of the mountain and people sitting at the rim of the crater.
But this phase of the hike was easily the toughest and the fact that the rocky section of the hike had sapped all the energy out of us, only made things much more difficult than they already were. There is not even a good place to rest during this section and the hiking poles were our only source of rest. And finally, after a lot of huffing & puffing and countless number of stops and shouts of 'you can do it' among ourselves, we made it to the summit exactly at 12.
The feelings that went through my mind as I realized that I am looking into crater of an active volcano was just unbelievable. You can almost call that feeling spiritual. The size of the crater as such was huge and even looking at all those pictures from those umpteen trip reports had not prepared me for what I saw.
There were some gases that were fuming at a few places and since I have read before that they are normal activity, I didn't panic!!
From the summit, one gets amazing views of 5 of the tallest peaks in the area - Mt. Rainier, Mt. baker, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson (the last 2 in Oregon) We spent not more than 30 mins at the summit bcos of the high winds and the sand the winds were kicking up. So, took a lot of pictures and then it was ready for us to leave. We had originally planned to have our lunch up at the summit but then bcos of the winds & the sand, decided against it.
While we were at the summit, another cool thing happened. A hiking group had brought a golf club & a bunch of golf balls along with them and they were taking turns hitting the golf balls into the crater. That I thought was pretty cool and added to our list of unforgettable memories at the summit.
So, here are the vital stats:
Distance: 9.4 miles (Round trip)
Time: 9 hours (Ascent - 5.5 hours, descent - 3 hours and 30 mins at the summit)
Elevation gain: 4500 feet
Difficulty level: Most difficult
When I finished the hike and got back to the trail head, I looked back at the mountain we had just conquered and I was truly surprised that I had just climbed that towering mountain. This was easily the toughest hike that I have ever done and the unique terrain of the trail just makes this a hike unlike no other. I am even tempted to call this the biggest accomplishment of my life and when I do ponder about it now, a week removed from the hike, that line of thinking would not be way off the mark.
But this year around, we had decided right when the hiking season started, that we should finish this season with this hike. Though we did not do as many hikes as we did last year, we still covered enough miles to keep us in shape to complete this hike. We knew that you have to register to climb this hike and so, when we started the process to register for this climb, we ran into a small snag - the forest service only distributes 100 climbing permits per day during the summer and almost all the weekends in summer usually get booked right when the online booking started back in February or something. So, when we started looking for dates with available permits, all the weekends & most of the Fridays in summer had been sold out and finally, we got one Friday towards the end of summer - on September 12.
Thus began our preparation & anticipation for the big climb. Many a time during the hiking season, this climb proved to be the motivation for the regular day hikes that we do in this area, bcos on days when we were not motivated enough to go on a hike, the thought that we had to be ready for St. Helens convinced us to go on the hike that we had planned for that day. The other preparation that I did for this hike was by making myself as the person who has read the maximum number of trip reports of people who have hiked the mountain :) I would frequently search for St. Helens trip reports, both on the hiking forums and in blogger and by the time the D-day was around, I would have read at least a good 50 trip reports. All trip reports basically said one thing: that the hike is not merely tough but it is brutal. Even professional hikers seemed to agree to that.
The terrain and nature of the hike is what makes this hike unique and a hike unlike no other: the first 2 miles through the forest is like most other trails but you only gain 1000 feet over those 2 miles. Trailhead is at 3800 feet and so, after the treeline is done, you are at 4800 feet. Then starts the first of 2 tough phases of the hike - the scramble through the rocks & stones over 2 miles where you gain a good 2200 feet. Then comes the 2nd tough section of the hike - walk up loose sand (it is actually lava ash and is almost like beach sand) for close to a mile over which you gain the last 1365 feet.
Then came the big day. Most hikers camp at the trail head on the night before the hiking day. But since we have never done camping before, we decided to book a motel 30 mins from the trail head. Left Seattle on Thursday evening, checked in at around 9pm and then went to bed rightaway as we had planned to get an early start. Woke up at 4:45 and were at the trail head at 6:30. The forecast for the day was just perfect hiking weather.
The first 2 miles were as I had mentioned before was almost like a stroll in the park. We finished the forest section of the trail at around 7:40.
Only when we came face to face with the rocky section of the hike, did we realize the magnitude of the task lying ahead of us. Then, we started the long hard hike up the rocks (some of them being as big as big as compact cars). Bcos of the rocks, there was no set trail. There were only tall white poles every 100 feet or so, that kind of acted as guide to the hikers, as to where they should be headed towards next. The rocky section was truly energy sapping, as we drank a good 60% of the water we had carried during this section. Often during this section, we would come across a really steep vertical section of rocks (like in the picture below) and we would think that should be the end of the rocky section.
But only after we get to that point, would we discover the next one. And this one went on for a good 7-8 times after which we were finally done with the rocky section (time at this point was 10:30)
There were couple of seismographic equipments at this point which I presume, were observing the mountain in some way.
After this, was the long hard climb up the lava ash. The only good thing about this section is that right after the rocky section is over, we were able to see the summit of the mountain and people sitting at the rim of the crater.
But this phase of the hike was easily the toughest and the fact that the rocky section of the hike had sapped all the energy out of us, only made things much more difficult than they already were. There is not even a good place to rest during this section and the hiking poles were our only source of rest. And finally, after a lot of huffing & puffing and countless number of stops and shouts of 'you can do it' among ourselves, we made it to the summit exactly at 12.The feelings that went through my mind as I realized that I am looking into crater of an active volcano was just unbelievable. You can almost call that feeling spiritual. The size of the crater as such was huge and even looking at all those pictures from those umpteen trip reports had not prepared me for what I saw.
There were some gases that were fuming at a few places and since I have read before that they are normal activity, I didn't panic!!
From the summit, one gets amazing views of 5 of the tallest peaks in the area - Mt. Rainier, Mt. baker, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson (the last 2 in Oregon) We spent not more than 30 mins at the summit bcos of the high winds and the sand the winds were kicking up. So, took a lot of pictures and then it was ready for us to leave. We had originally planned to have our lunch up at the summit but then bcos of the winds & the sand, decided against it.While we were at the summit, another cool thing happened. A hiking group had brought a golf club & a bunch of golf balls along with them and they were taking turns hitting the golf balls into the crater. That I thought was pretty cool and added to our list of unforgettable memories at the summit.
So, here are the vital stats:Distance: 9.4 miles (Round trip)
Time: 9 hours (Ascent - 5.5 hours, descent - 3 hours and 30 mins at the summit)
Elevation gain: 4500 feet
Difficulty level: Most difficult
When I finished the hike and got back to the trail head, I looked back at the mountain we had just conquered and I was truly surprised that I had just climbed that towering mountain. This was easily the toughest hike that I have ever done and the unique terrain of the trail just makes this a hike unlike no other. I am even tempted to call this the biggest accomplishment of my life and when I do ponder about it now, a week removed from the hike, that line of thinking would not be way off the mark.
Labels: St. Helens, Weekend Hikes
posted by Filbert at 7:51 PM
5 Comments:
Sounds like a tough climb - thanks for sharing.
Yes, it was a tough climb. The only good thing about this hike was that I knew this is how tough it was going to be, based on all the previous experiences of hikers. But the view from the summit is worth all the pain one goes through :)
I am glad the masses don't understand the reward - otherwise - it would be too crowded at these places!
awesome! btw, since it seems pretty steep, how was the climb back down?
Balaji, only after seeing your comment did I realize that I had completely forgotten to write about the descent.
Yes, it was tough but the hiking poles helped big time in us not tripping over. Inspite of that, we did fall a good 2-3 times and at the end of the hike, looked like we just came out of a construction zone or something :)
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