Pam, Athena and I were the first to arrive at Mable Mountain Sno Park which is the trailhead for the Winter climbing route of Mt St Helens. We set up the RV, ate some lunch and pulled out some books to read. We had been told when we picked up our climb permits that our group would make 510 permits issued for Saturday. This is the last weekend before the permits are restricted to 100 per day.
We had already decided to discuss with the group a very early start to avoid the traffic jam that was surely going to happen.
The next part of our group to arrive was Sherrie and Spencer. They had decided to hike past the tree line and get an early start and we figured that we would meet somewhere on their way down since they would have a head start on us.
Athena isn't fond of being tethered to anything and has a precocious was of making her point. She wrapped Sherrie up and when Sherrie didn't give in and unwind her she forced her head through Sherrie's legs to get her to comply and then gave her a sly smile.
Sherrie and Spencer headed off and we went back to reading until Lisa arrived. We had dinner and decided on 3:15 for a wake up time. Garry wasn't to arrive until late so we didn't have a chance to give him the schedule, but Saturday morning after the alarm went off I took Athena out and quickly found Garry parked near us and already awake.
We ate some breakfast and were on the trail at 4:05 AM. Pam led us quickly in the dark, covering the first 2.33 miles in just over an hour. That is where the trail ends and the mountain begins. The first 2 miles has 1200 feet of elevation gain leaving 4200 feet in the next 3.5 miles.
First light had us in great position for some pictures only available at that time of day. We gathered our prizes and headed up. We added our dresses after day break so that we stayed within the tradition. I have never hiked in a skirt before and really don't recommend it, but masked by the party atmosphere and silliness is a tradition that honors Moms for all they do. It was certainly more poignant than I thought it would be.
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| Mt Jefferson |
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| Mt Hood |
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| Mt Adams |
We plugged along and ran into Sherrie and Spencer just under 7000 ft. We were on our final food and rest break before the last push up the mountain. They decided that we wouldn't be far behind them since they still had to break camp on their way down.
Pam kicked butt on the last stretch padding one hiker along the way and we summited and shared the top with around 20 people including one guy who decided to ski into the crater and hike back out. I do not think that was smart since there were obvious crevasses throughout. He did live to tell the tale, though.
After a break at the top and more pictures we hit the glissade chutes for the easy way down. The first chute took us 850 feet of elevation in one shot. In total we glissaded the bulk of 3250 of elevation down to 4900 feet.
The final piece was the hike down to the Worm Flows trail and out to the trailhead. The entire trip took us 8:15 minutes including breaks along the way and a nice stop at the summit.
On our way down the lines of later risers were forming en masse. Dressed up and enjoying a warm day on the mountain, they envied us sliding on our butts on the slope they were trudging up. The total permits issued for Saturday ended up at a record 685 and it ended up being perfectly timed by us. We had no traffic going up and very little in our way coming down.
We packed up and headed down to Beaver Bay Campground for some well deserved calories and adult beverages. Another great dinner and some more beverages and we all retired early. The rain began about 6:00 AM so we packed up and headed home.
Traffic was thin and we now have our pictures transferred, our clothes washed, our groceries purchased and my blog post complete.
Be very well and more soon....
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