Summiting Mt. St. Helens

Before I moved to Washington state, volcanoes didn’t cross my mind that much. Now, on clear summer days, I hardly go more than a few hours without marveling at majestic Mt. Rainier. Washington has four other major volcanoes as well: Mt. Adams, Mt. Baker, Glacier Peak, and the infamous Mt. St. Helens. Because Mt. St. Helens is the only one that doesn’t require technical mountaineering and rock climbing skills, it is on many a hiker’s bucket list, including mine. A few days ago, on October 19, 2020, I was able to summit Mt. St. Helens and triumphantly place a checkmark next to that dream. 

Even though I hiked the mountain earlier this week, my planning actually started about a month ago, somewhat unexpectedly. Because the land in and around Mt. St. Helens is delicate, a permit is required to hike above 4800 feet. This prevents too many people from being on the mountain at once and destroying a fragile ecosystem. Permits go on sale in the spring for the summer months and quickly sell out. One morning in mid-September, I decided to check the permit website, just for grins, to see if there were any permits left for the season. I found two permits available for Monday, October 19, so I snatched them up for my boyfriend and myself.

Permit required sign at 4800 feet

The first step of the journey, obtaining permits, was complete, but still I wasn’t sure we would be able to complete the hike. The weather in mid-October is unpredictable. It can be perfectly sunny and nice, or it can be raining and miserable. For the two weeks before our hike, I was constantly checking the weather. Amazingly, October 19 was predicted to be sunny and clear, with temperatures in the 40s. One thing we were a little worried about was the wind, since 45 mph gusts were predicted. But, we decided to go for it anyway. 

Since the trailhead, Climber’s Bivouac, is over 3 hours away from Seattle by car, we decided to drive down the night before and camp. There are tent pads at the trailhead that are first come-first served, so this is a pretty common thing to do. There was no one else there when we arrived at Climber’s Bivouac, although two other groups arrived shortly after us. We set up camp, had dinner, and then went to bed early. 

Tree trunks stained by ash

When we woke up in the morning, it was drizzling, but we were not deterred. After a hurried breakfast, we hit the trail at 7:15am. The first two miles of trail are through the forest and there is minimal elevation gain. One thing I did notice during this part of the hike is that many of the tree trunks are very dark, stained with ash from the eruption decades ago. My boyfriend and I are decently fast hikers, so we quickly arrived at the next section of the hike: the boulder field. 

There isn’t really a trail through the boulder field. Instead, wooden posts guide you up towards the summit. When I first read about the boulder field, I expected to be climbing on all fours through the whole section. But, it wasn’t really like that. There were a few parts where I did use my hands a lot, especially at the beginning and end, but there were also a lot of “mini trails” around the boulders that I was able to traverse just using my legs. 

Looking up at the summit from the boulder field

As we climbed higher, we began to rise above the clouds, into the sunlight. It was nice to be out of the drizzle, and our chances of reaching the summit were getting better. Once we were fully above the clouds, we could see the top of Mt. Adams to the east and Mt. Hood to the south. At this point, the wind began to pick up. It was fairly intermittent until we exited the boulder field above 7000 feet. Unfortunately, it would be constant from that point on until we were half way down the boulder field on our descent. 

The last mile of the hike is the ash mile, sometimes known as the vertical beach. There are no boulders here, just ash. The trail runs straight up the mountain, with very few switchbacks, so it is quite steep. Ash is also not easy to walk on. With every step forward, I slid backwards a little bit. Thanks to my research, I knew this would be the case, but again, it wasn’t quite as bad as I expected. Maybe precipitation in recent days made the ash firmer and easier to walk on. 

Ascending the ash mile

The hardest part for me during this section was the wind. I’m not sure how fast it was blowing, but it was definitely the windiest conditions I’ve ever been in. There were times I had to stand still until a gust died down so I wouldn’t lose my footing and get knocked over. My hair was getting pulled out of my braid and was flying all over my face. My nose was running like crazy and there was definitely snot everywhere. I’m sure I was quite the sight, but at this point, everybody was too focused on their own individual struggle to really notice anyone else. 

At last, the summit was in sight. Every few steps I would look up, and the people already at the top began to look bigger and bigger. I took one step at a time, until I too, was at the summit, staring down into the incredible crater of Mt. St. Helens.

Crater with Mt. Rainier in upper left

Incredible doesn’t even begin to describe it. The rock layers inside the crater are exploding (no pun intended) with color: red, pink, blue, yellow, grey, black. I was in awe of the jagged crater edges, testament to the power and destruction of the eruption. Visible steam was rising from the lava dome in the center of the crater, framed by a faint rainbow created by the clouds. The cloud layer added to the wonder of the moment. It truly felt like we were on top of the world. Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood broke through the clouds, as did Mt. Rainier to the north. I wanted to freeze time and stay there forever, taking it all in. 

Colorful Rock Layers in crater

Unfortunately, it was still very windy and the crater edge is not that wide. If you get too close to one edge, you could fall into the crater, and getting too close to the other could cause you to slide down the ash on the side of the mountain. We reached the summit at about 11:15am, and only stayed for about 15 minutes. We were one of the first groups to the top, but several others were getting close, and there wasn’t much space. We took as many photos as we could and got ready for our descent.

Lave dome in crater

Going down the ash was much easier than going up: we basically just slid down the side of the mountain. We descended in a fraction of the time it took us to ascend the ash mile. At this point, we were getting pretty hungry, but didn’t want to stop and sit in such heavy winds. We waited until we were down at the boulder field to find a rock that would shelter us from the gusts. Our vantage point allowed us to look out over the clouds while we ate and relaxed for 30 minutes.

Looking over the clouds at lunch with Mt. Hood in distance (upper left)

Full and rested, we began to navigate down through the boulder field. In some ways, navigating down was harder than going up. On the way up, we could always see the next post, but on the down, we struggled a bit more to find them. Finally, the wind began to die down and I could feel the air getting warmer, a sign that our elevation was getting lower and lower. Eventually, we dropped below the cloud layer and it began to drizzle again. Thankfully, it never turned into anything more than a slight misting. 

At last, we reached the forested section of the trail. Even though we still had two miles to hike, we celebrated. We had successfully and safely hiked to the top of Mt. St. Helens and back down. Tired and aware of the long drive ahead of us, we hiked quickly through the forest and arrived at the trailhead at 3:15pm, almost exactly 9 hours after we had started. Summiting Mt. St. Helens was hard, but it was, without a doubt, the most unique and rewarding hike I have ever done. And I can’t wait to do it again!

Summit success