Mount St. Helens (Washington)

Mount St. Helens

On Saturday, July 11, 2009, Ira Ungar, my daughter Wendy Huffman, myself and  others  from the Washington State Department of Revenue hiked one of the premiere hikes in the State of Washington; Mount St. Helens.  Mount St. Helens is an active volcano which erupted in May 18, 1980 and lost about 1/3 of it's height.  Even though it still active, it is hiked by many avid hikers each year.  This is a "permit only" hike due to risk of injury and damage to the environment.  Permits are obtained through the Website http://www.mshinstitute.org/ and run out shortly after the 1201 a.m. February 1st opening of availability.

Having made many difficult hikes in the past I would consider this nearly if not the most challenging hike I have ever attempted.  For those of you who know the Arizona hikes I would say that St. Helens has the attributes of hikes like Camelback, Mount Humphries and the Grand Canyon all combined but in a much larger scale.   The hike starts out with 2 miles of gentle forest hiking to the tree line like Mount Humphries, followed by about 5 miles of steep bouldering like Camelback and finishing at the top by a very steep, higher elevation climb to the caldaria rim in a skree composed of volcanic ash where the hiker literally takes two steps up and slides back down one step.  To make things more difficult there are areas of snow on the ground that must either be crossed or avoided.

From the Climbers Bivouac we started up the Ptarmigan trail #216A which joins the Monitor Ridge Climbing Route at the tree line at 8:23 a.m.  After a 2 mile hike up the well marked trail through the forest we approach the tree line.  Just before the tree line are the last restroom facilities for hours.  Most of took advantage of them before starting up the climbing route.

Starting up the climbing route it was quite obvious that we had to remain aware and watch for the route markers which consisted of logs standing up where logs don't grow.  Even then the route is hard to find and may go many different directions.  Some routes are steeper with larger boulders, some are blind alleys and none are easy.  To think we had to cover many miles of this terrain was almost overwhelming enough to have us turn around and go back.

Click on photographs to enlarge

Climbers Bivouac Trail Head	Ira, Wendy and I all ready to go.
Two miles to the climbing part of the hike.	Easy going.
Is that snow?	Don't trip!

As we continued up over the boulders we came upon areas of snow down beside the ridge and wondered if the going might be easier going that way.  We were advised that it  sometimes was but we had to be careful to make sure the snow was soft enough to drive our toes in to make steps so we could proceed.  After trying it we decided that both methods worked and each was equally difficult.  We just continued up the ridge, sometime together, sometime alone but always keeping the route markers in sight.  From time to time the steep slope would even out some and that was a great time to take a break on the climb.

Along with the bouldering there were many areas that consisted of the skree composed of volcanic ash where we would take two steps up, and slip back one.  This was just as difficult as climbing over the boulders, some of which were as large as an automobile.

Click on photographs to enlarge

Just before the ascent.	If you look closely, you can see the trail.
Figure the angle by looking at the trees.	Snow or boulders, the choice is yours.
Is this what you call "looking up"?	Higher yet!
Steeper and rockier.	The top's in sight.

After a little more than 3 miles and over 2,000 ft. of bouldering; the summit came into sight.  Not only could we see the caldera at the summit we could also see the most difficult section of the climb.  The skree of volcanic ash where as before we took two steps up and slid back one.  The major difference with this over before is that it went up a remaining 1,000 ft. and extended for .6 of a mile.  After completing that section which was much slower going than the rest of the trail the edge of the caldera was accomplished.  After enjoying the views and the accomplishment, it was time to return to where we started the hike. 

Where experience has always told us that the going down was easier than the going up we were sadly mistaken.  Our bodies were so tired from going up that it was sometimes hard to maintain our balance going over the boulders.  We found it much easier to descend in the skree every time we had the chance.  It was soon obvious that in order to be safe the return part of the hike was going to be almost as long as the hike up.

Click on photographs to enlarge

Is this for real?	Into the caldera and the lava dome.
Ira in all his glory.	The top of the world!

The other surprise we encountered was that it took more water going down, than up.  All three of us experienced hikers, Ira, Wendy and I ran out of water.  I carried 3 liters, Ira carried 5 liters and Wendy carried just short of 3 liters.  The last mile and a half are rough when you are dry.

Would I recommend this hike?  If you are in exceptional shape and want the experience of the lifetime, I certainly would but I can assure you, it's not a walk in the park!

Additional links to Mt. St. Helens:

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/index.shtml          http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/StHelens.html          http://www.mjjsales.com/articles/mt-st-helens.html

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Larry Wayt (larry@live2hike.org)