Reaching Volcanic Heights: Mt St Helens P3

My favorite beaches are not the sandy ones where you lay out on a towel and soak up the sun. My favorite beaches are the ones with things to climb on and explore. I really enjoy scrambling around on big rocks picking my way from Point A to B and back again. The next leg of the trail reminded me of those beaches sans ocean.

The Boulder Field

There is something so empowering about picking your way among the boulder field and successfully reaching your destination plus it’s so much freaking fun that I was doing happy dances at each mini-summit.

The song of the day was (mostly) Watermelon Sugar and this stretch was no exception. Other than offering my two cents to Snesha about the easiest path and asking Chris, who had darted ahead, if he could see the next trail marker, I sang and danced my way through the field.

Your Mom was Here

Hi mom! I had no idea you had summited Mt. St. Helens! Why didn’t you tell me?!

When you research this hike, they break it into 3 key terrains broken up by 2 main waypoints. The first terrain is the wooded trail and ends at the tree line. The next is the boulder field which ends (allegedly) at the EarthScope Observation Station which helps determine when this mountain will blow again. The final stretch is the vertical beach.

The observation station is one of the key places where you are advised to take stock of how you’re feeling. Do you realistically think you’ll be able to make it up the next bit and, more importantly, make it all the way back to the trailhead?

Before reaching it, I know we talked about doing said evaluation but I for one was all about snacks and video documentation. I thought about it again on the vertical beach and the way down. Too little too late I know but facts are facts. I’m not saying I did the right thing. I’m just telling you what happened.

You’d think that this would mark the beginning of the next major section, the vertical beach, but you, like us, would be wrong. The boulder fields continue for a bit longer and this is where the mountain claimed blood. Many swear words were said by yours truly. All the same one I’m sorry to say. I’m the daughter of a sailor and I should have more variety but I kid you not I said the same boring one over and over and over and over again until we knew the sacrifice was safe. After the sacrifice was safe we took a few long minutes to consider if we really did want to keep going. Spoiler: we did.

After a mental health break, we continued upwards and made it to the beach.

Chris here: Many of the guides and YouTube videos present this stop as if the summit were just a hop, skip, and a jump away. As Devin pointed out, it is not. I think it gets highlighted because it is the only landmark that sticks out prior to reaching the top.

The Vertical Beach

The final section up the mountain is the hardest. They call it the vertical beach and I think that’s accurate. It reminds me a lot of climbing sand dunes but worse because you’re exhausted from all the prior hiking and it’s SO. MUCH. STEEPER.

This section of the trail is comprised of a ton of ash and small rock (aka scree) along a very steep slope which forces you to slide backwards with practically every step you take. This is where the song of the day switched briefly from Watermelon Sugar to Opposites Attract. “I take two steps forward. I take two steps back.”

We took approximately a bajillion breaks on this section. I wish I was joking but I’m positive I’d take anywhere from 5-10 steps and then take a break to catch my breath. This is also where I seriously questioned my decision to climb this mountain. I was so freaking close to reaching the top but oh my goodness it was so hard to get up that last bit.

Snesha beat Chris and me to the top. She got to the top, looked into the crater briefly, then turned around and sat down facing the way she came. This means she had prime placement for filming Chris and I reaching the top. It took a while 😂

Chris here: If you watch this GIF a couple of times Snesha apparently expected us to keep going off the edge.