Today our plan was to summit Mount St. Helens. Our plan. Mother
Nature had plans of her own.
My brother flew in from the
East Coast to climb St. Helens. A friend of his, Wayne, organized a climbing
group with high school classmates and Russ was one of them. I planned to climb St. Helens for a second time this season and just happened to choose the same
date as my brother’s group so we were all climbing together. I was
excited to experience another
climb with my little bro.
Yesterday was beautiful and
sunny. Last night Russ and I sat on the porch of the Tiny House we were staying in (so
cute!) near the trailhead, talked, went on a walk, and watched the full moon
move across the sky. It was stunning! Today was a completely different story. The clouds moved in
and it started raining with a vengeance. The forecast predicted winds of 25-35 mph on the mountain and 4 inches of snow before we
hit the summit. Definitely not an ideal situation.
We arrived at the trailhead at 6:30 a.m. and it was POURING RAIN.
Wayne and two others from our group were the only three to show up which wasn’t
really a surprise due to the circumstances. We decided to hit the trail and see
what happened. The snow was predicted to hit us about half way up the mountain
so our main goal was to STAY DRY down below so we wouldn't suffer once we hit
the freezing temperatures further up (hypothermia is a real danger). That goal
proved to be impossible. It was raining hard, there was water everywhere, and
the wind was crazy! As we were hiking up the trail through the trees, water was
flowing down the trail like a river. We had to go through multiple large
puddles (more like lakes) already covering the trail.
Wayne’s feet were the first to get soaked. His gloves were soaked
(“Waterproofing means nothing!”) and his clothes under his rain gear were getting soaked. The summit
was no longer part of our plan. Because Wayne had not climbed on Mount St.
Helens before, we suggested we continue on a little further and get above the tree line. We wanted
Wayne to see what Monitor Ridge was like and experience climbing on a few boulders.
Once we were out of the trees and on the Ridge, we were completely
exposed. It was very obvious that we needed to call it a day and made the decision to end our climb. Visibility
was low, the rain was becoming slushy with ice, and the wind was strong
and wild. Knowing we were turning back, Russ and I let our guards down (aka jacket
hoods) and let ourselves get wet while trying to nab a few pictures to document
the soggy (but still fun) adventure! We laughed at the craziness of it all, took pictures and
headed back down the river… eh, I mean... trail. As we were going down the
temperatures were noticeably dropping and the the "lakes" were spilling over. We
splashed through the water (my feet were now soaked!), laughed some more and SWAM our way back to the trailhead. (We missed the gear list memo suggesting flippers instead of micro-spikes!) Within
moments of us arriving at our vehicle, the other two from our group showed up
having turned around too (they went ahead early on). Everyone we saw that day seemed to turn
around... even the group hiking with the Mount St. Helens Institute. Mother Nature made the decision for all of us. Safety
first.
We all ended up back at a restaurant in Cougar (including the MSHI
group), ate breakfast, talked about the day, and made puddles
of our own with our sopping wet, dripping clothes.
Until next time, St. Helens. I know you'll be waiting for our return. xoxo
As for you, Mother Nature… thanks for giving us the opportunity to laugh, dance and shiver in the rain! It was good for our souls! 💗 You do always know best! ;)
2019 Hike 38/52
4.95 Miles
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