Hiking St. Helens

Our Mt. St. Helens crew!

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  You would have thought growing up in the Northwest and going to college in Colorado, I would have hiked my fair share of mountains. But until a few years ago, that wasn't the case. I was never a skier (except for the water variety), so I never had reason to venture up into the mountains. It was normal for me to spend the weekend in a gym playing basketball as a kid. And in college, if there was any free moment to catch up your rest, you took full advantage by doing absolutely nothing.

On my way up Mt. St. Helens.

   So that meant I never saw Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Longs Peak, Pikes Peak, or any of the other beautiful mountains in the NW and Colorado, up close and personal.

  Over the past few summers though, my former Colorado teammates have managed to drag me up a mountain or two. It was always fun, but nothing too serious. Hiking is a nice way to change things up. Do something different. You get a decent workout in, and you get to see some pretty incredible sights while doing it.

Royal Arch hike in Boulder.

  The hiking got serious last summer however, when my friend Tera (shout out T-money!) told me that her mom and a group of her friends from Minnesota wanted to hike Mt. St. Helens. And since it was in my neck of the woods, if I would be interested in hiking along with them. I said, 'sure!' without giving it a second thought. Figured if I was a true Oregonian, hiking Mt. St. Helens was something I HAD to do.


   Let me just tell you right now, hiking Mt. St. Helens was the most difficult thing I have ever done. I had previously hiked a 14'er in Colorado (a mountain that exceeds 14,000 feet), and while it was hard, it wasn't scary and it was something I knew I could do again. The hike was just tiring and time consuming (and made your hands and ankles swell, but that's beside the point). So I think hiking Mt. Quandry gave me a false sense of security or false confidence. St. Helens only tops out around 8,400 feet. So I thought surely THAT wouldn't be more difficult than a 14'er!!!

At the top of Mt. Quandry.

Hiking Mt. Quandry with some of my Buff teammates.

  Wow, was I wrong. The hike took nine hours total. About five to climb, and another four to descend (side note: I would love hikes even more if there were helicopters waiting at the top, so there WAS no descent!!). The first hour and a half was your normal switch backs through the trees. Nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary there. But once through the tree-line, that's where things really got interesting.

Me and my mom. Just out of the tree-line.

  For the next two and a half hours we were subjected to the 'Boulder Field'. Essentially it was climbing up and over giant boulders. Not only was it tiring, but it was a little scary. One wrong move, and you could fall backwards. Not a good ending if you're climbing a mountain. This was physically, as well as, mentally draining (add on the fact that I was worried about my mom. She was hiking with us, and I didn't want her falling off the mountain either!).

Our very own motivational speaker, Rene. :)

My mom & Tera maneuvering their way up the boulders.

Once we were nearing the end of the Boulder Field, Tera and I talked that surely 'this had to be the worst part.' A guy who wasn't in our group, but climbing along with us said, 'nope, we still have the ash and pumice to go through.'

  For those that don't know, Mt. St. Helens is a volcano. It famously erupted about 30 years ago, literally blowing the top off of the mountain. That eruption, along with some other more-recent volcanic activity, left a thick layer of ash and pumice rock. We hit the ash and pumice field about four hours into our hike. You can imagine our legs were on fire. I know my quads and calves were screaming at me. 

The lovely ash & pumice. There's my mom & Tera's mom making their way to the top!

  The ash and pumice made things all the more difficult. Imagine taking a giant step forward, and then sliding backwards a foot and a half. Pretty counter-productive, isn't it? So to keep from sliding, you were forced to take tiny steps. This turned out to be exhausting, and even harder on your legs. But an hour later, we could finally see the end in sight (not exactly the end, but the summit none the less).

Chillin at the top (some more than others)!

A look into the crater. Mt. Rainier behind.

  Once at the top, it was pretty exhilarating. You could see into the crater, and you could see countless other mountain tops along the Cascade Range. We sat at the top for some time, refueled with some PB&Js and trail mix, and tried to catch our breath. After about 30 minutes, the excitement had worn off. Now we had to figure out how to get down the mountain!!! :)

  The descent is a story for another day. Because it was just as difficult, and just as out of the ordinary, it deserves an entry of its own!! 

  Til then, have a great weekend! Game day tomorrow for me as well! Talk soon...

~ Sabrina

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