St Helens from Climbers Bivoauc -- Oct 4th 2014

This forum is used to share your experiences out on the trails.
hiker4fun
Posts: 175
Joined: March 11th, 2014, 12:13 pm

St Helens from Climbers Bivoauc -- Oct 4th 2014

Post by hiker4fun » October 20th, 2014, 10:52 pm

Here is a report on the culmination of an year long plan among our friends. It all started with a casual discussion on a clear day looking at St Helens from the office. Within a span of few minutes a group of 6 people said Ok for a plan to do a hike on St Helens. Lot of things happened personally and officially and we missed the initial couple of weeks when the permits became available. By the time we booked the permits, the earliest Saturday that we could get was in October and begrudgingly we took it. As you might have (if you had seen my earlier TRs) noticed it, all the other hikes I did this summer were like training hikes for this one.

Since we were supposed to pick up the permit at Lone Fir resort, we booked a cabin there itself to make it easier and it worked out pretty well. We got the permits, did the check-in process in the night itself.

We planned to start at 5 from the resort, but were late by about half an hour.

Image

Getting to the Climber's bivoauc was uneventful in the darkness. We still had to ask someone on where the trailhead was. We started at 6:20, it was that dark and we had our headlamps on.

First glimpse of what we are getting into.

Image

Normal trail, just to please the enthusiasts, only to fool them later. :D

Image

Hood and Jefferson under the tree branch.

Image

Our gang of six became 2 gangs of 3 each. I was in the leading gang, but not for long. ;)

Sunrise and the sights of other mountains made me to stop and take pictures and videos. And hence I became a gang of ONE. :D

Image

Who's next to the sun?

Image

Yes, it's Mt Adams. I didn't care about losing my friends at this stage and started enjoying the sights.

Image

With Clouds. Are these the ones created by the mountain itself?

Image

Only junction on the tree line, with clear board sign, but a blurry picture.

Image

Good and needed one, especially on the way down. It was much better than the one I noticed at Devil's lake TH at South Sisters.

Image

More to come....

hiker4fun
Posts: 175
Joined: March 11th, 2014, 12:13 pm

Re: St Helens from Climbers Bivoauc -- Oct 4th 2014

Post by hiker4fun » October 20th, 2014, 11:01 pm

Expect to see him more and more.

Image

Beginning of the boulder section. While I read about the boulder section before going there, but didn't realize it's a loooooooooooong one.

Image

Getting away from Timber line.

Image

Probably the last sign board on the way to the summit. I didn't see any other sign board, but may have missed by taking a different route.

Image

First glimpse of the summit rim, basically telling myself not to worry about the rim (not even close) and concentrate on the boulders. :roll:

Image

Overcast clouds all over the place including Adams, not a good sign. :cry:

Image

Far away from the timberline with views of Hood and Jefferson. Not so much clouds. Hoping to see the clouds near us to move away.

Image

Looking back at the boulder section.

Image

Customary picture of the equipment for their glory. :)

Thanks to myself for breaking the hiking pole while hiking Mt Defiance. I thought I would manage it with my Ski poles. It was a pain to hold those poles all the way, especially in the boulder section. Lesson learnt. :(

Thanks to Kathyhaynie's blog and other sources online, we took some gloves with us and it was more useful than the hiking poles for this hike. :idea:

Image

Boulder section with poles as reference. Thank god and the smart people for fixing those reference poles. One could easily lose track and time without those.

Image

What lake is that? Also, I don't know the significance of the different colors of ribbon (or whatever you call them) on the different sections.

Image

Can't seem to take my eye off Adams, clouds clearing up now, a good sign.

Image

Looking back to get a good feel of the distance covered so far.

Image

Signs of the GPS station, a major milestone to cross and reach the pumice section. By this time I caught up with my 2 friends who were in the leading pack.

Image

To be continued....

hiker4fun
Posts: 175
Joined: March 11th, 2014, 12:13 pm

Re: St Helens from Climbers Bivoauc -- Oct 4th 2014

Post by hiker4fun » October 20th, 2014, 11:07 pm

Pumice, at last. Surprisingly, we were the leaders (not by much) for the day at this point. Couple of people just went past us.

Image

I warned you about the zillions of Adams pictures. :(

When I did South Sisters, I couldn't take my eyes of Broken Top and Mt Bachelor to a lesser degree. Here it was Adams and a bit of Hood.

Image

There's still some snow left on the mountain.

Image

Not many people were following us at this time. We were among the early birds.

Image

Another look back, as an excuse to take some rest on this slow section. So far 3 people passed us while we enjoyed the views aka rest.

Image

Ok, one last break as we approach near the summit rim.

Image

Yes, we made it at sharp 11 AM. :)

Image

View of West side.

Image

East side of the rim and Rainier in the North.

Image

Other side of the rim.

Image

East side and Adams.

Image

Rainier and Spirit lake. Clouds won't go away. :(

Image

Inside the crater, smoke was coming out in few spots.

Image

Hood, Jefferson and 2 of the sisters. This picture doesn't show clearly, but we could see North and Middle sister from there.

Image

Really, we do the painful way and you just show off like this ?!? :roll: :evil: :mrgreen:

Image


Will wrap up soon....

hiker4fun
Posts: 175
Joined: March 11th, 2014, 12:13 pm

Re: St Helens from Climbers Bivoauc -- Oct 4th 2014

Post by hiker4fun » October 20th, 2014, 11:18 pm

We spent close to 2 hrs at the rim, enjoying the views, had lunch and waited for the rest of the gang while taking pictures and encouraging others to take the last few baby steps as they approached near the rim. Friends came and had a quick lunch and we started our way down. The pumice section was a breeze as we crushed thru quickly.

It was much easier going down on this pumice section compared to the Cinder ridge on South Sisters. Sorry to bring the comparison, as these are the only comparable mountains that I have done so far in my novice hiking experience.

The leading pack really took off and were not in a mood to even turn back. I wasn't in a mood to leave the mountain that fast and decided to take a break and wait for the trailing friends.

Waiting for the crowd to move so that I can go and hide behind that wall from the sun. It was getting warm and my outer layer was gone too.

Image

Looking back at the hump to see if friends are coming. They came about 30 mts later. I met a SAR volunteer and chatted up while waiting for friends. He mentioned that someone tries to make it to the mountain almost everyday. He kept looking at the rim thru binoculars to see if everything was ok. He questioned someone who was going up late in the afternoon by himself with shorts and small bag and that person repeatedly assured him about the food and safety plans. That's when I came to know he was a SAR volunteer.

Image

Of course, another picture of Adams in the afternoon sun.

Image

Solo hike, looking back at the peak from the boulder section. My friends were following me on the boulder section but slowly we drifted away and I lost sight of them. It's easy to lose people in the boulder section even though you won't get lost totally.

Image

Back to being near the greenery.

Image

Some plants are growing.

Image

Spots of green here and there. I waited here for about 30 mts for my friends, but they weren't coming. Sitting there against the sunlight, despite having hat and sunglass, didn't help and I started to get a headache.

Image

So, I wanted to go into the trees and wait there. Now, I am getting past this one, into the timberline.

Image

I waited near the restroom for another 30 mts. I queried some other people coming down, and they mentioned about my friends coming down slowly. I decided to end the wait and go down and had the trail all by myself.

Is this from any recent fire or is it from the aftermath of the eruption 40 years ago?

Image

Didn't notice these boards in the dark while climbing up.

This tree line definitely feels much easier and a welcome relief after the loooooooooooong hike down from the boulder section.

Image

Mission accomplished, back to the trail head. :)


Image

Two of my friends who went before me were happy to see at least one of us coming back. We chatted about the hike and the stops while waiting for the rest of the friends who were taking it easy as someone got tired.

Lot of people made it back in jubilation and were promptly telling us how much time it would take for my friends to come back even before we asked. :D

When they finally made it, it was almost dark. We packed off quickly and started out. We missed direction somewhere and couldn't finish the climber's checkout and called/mailed them about it.

All the training hikes definitely helped and I could enjoy this hike instead of being tired.

Just a week after our hike, we could see the mountain top with snow and now half the mountain seems to be with snow. We just got LUCKY with the wonderful weather in the beginning of October. It was an awesome day, except for some 20 Mph wind at some spots, especially in the pumice section. There were few drops under the overcast cloud while going up, but soon the clouds broke out and we had clear day and it was even warm coming down on the boulder section.

All in all, it was a fun experience. If you had seen my other TRs, I get excited after every hike and this one was something special and naturally we keep talking about it even today. ;)

Now, every time I look at this mountain from my office, I am telling myself that I had been there at the top, and feel good about it. Ok, enough of the boasting. :) It was a wonderful hiking year for me and I hope I get to do interesting things next season. I want to thank all the people at PH for the trail guides, helping info/tips and encouragement on the TRs.

Hope you enjoyed this TR and the pics. Happy Hiking. :)

raftingdog
Posts: 413
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 2:23 pm

Re: St Helens from Climbers Bivoauc -- Oct 4th 2014

Post by raftingdog » October 21st, 2014, 3:52 am

April or early May ... easier and so more beautiful .... fun glissade

User avatar
sprengers4jc
Posts: 1036
Joined: October 22nd, 2013, 11:35 am
Location: Vancouver, WA

Re: St Helens from Climbers Bivoauc -- Oct 4th 2014

Post by sprengers4jc » October 21st, 2014, 7:06 am

Great job! What an accomplishment (and at one of the tougher times of the year to do this hike)! Some of these pics are absolutely incredible. I especially like these:

http://img540.imageshack.us/img540/5210/ap3v41.jpg
http://img661.imageshack.us/img661/3091/BMTIe5.jpg
'We travel not to escape life but for life to not escape us.'
-Unknown

User avatar
Waffle Stomper
Posts: 3707
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: St Helens from Climbers Bivoauc -- Oct 4th 2014

Post by Waffle Stomper » October 21st, 2014, 7:34 am

Congratulations! Those rocks don't look like too much fun.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir

User avatar
Peder
Posts: 3401
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:02 pm
Location: Lake Oswego

Re: St Helens from Climbers Bivoauc -- Oct 4th 2014

Post by Peder » October 21st, 2014, 9:10 am

Congratulations! That is kind of a dust hike (with free boulders included) at this time of year. Now you can look very proudly at Mt St Helens.
Some people are really fit at eighty; thankfully I still have many years to get into shape…

User avatar
Zia
Posts: 252
Joined: September 1st, 2013, 8:30 pm
Location: Salem

Re: St Helens from Climbers Bivoauc -- Oct 4th 2014

Post by Zia » October 21st, 2014, 4:48 pm

Congrats! I just recently did this hike on labor day. The permits really do go fast. I bought mine at 5pm the day they went on sale and labor day was the first weekend that had 2 permits available. I want to go back in the late spring/early summer and see how it is to climb when there is snow on the ground.

hiker4fun
Posts: 175
Joined: March 11th, 2014, 12:13 pm

Re: St Helens from Climbers Bivoauc -- Oct 4th 2014

Post by hiker4fun » October 22nd, 2014, 12:33 pm

raftingdog wrote:April or early May ... easier and so more beautiful .... fun glissade

I had never done glissading. Hopefully I will do it sometime in the future. :)


sprengers4jc wrote:Great job! What an accomplishment (and at one of the tougher times of the year to do this hike)! Some of these pics are absolutely incredible. I especially like these:

http://img540.imageshack.us/img540/5210/ap3v41.jpg
http://img661.imageshack.us/img661/3091/BMTIe5.jpg

Thanks. I am glad you liked it. The views are the major rewards after such hikes. I couldn't see top of Rainier because of clouds that wouldn't go away, but can't complain when I got all other beautiful views in October.
Waffle Stomper wrote:Congratulations! Those rocks don't look like too much fun.

Thanks. I think the rocks aren't too bad as those are stable ones and it was ok to go up and down on those. But it's there for almost 2+ miles. You have to concentrate all thru the time while you go thru that distance. That was the pain, especially coming down in the warmer weather. Morning weather and motivation were at a better state going up. :)


Peder wrote:Congratulations! That is kind of a dust hike (with free boulders included) at this time of year. Now you can look very proudly at Mt St Helens.
Thanks. Yes, since none of us have experience in any kind of snow climbing, the dust hike was fine for us. But, the amount free boulders weren't what we expected, as it was too generous. :D

Yes, it definitely feels good looking at the mountain now, whenever we get a chance. With the weather that we have now, it's hard to see the mountain. :(


Zia wrote:Congrats! I just recently did this hike on labor day. The permits really do go fast. I bought mine at 5pm the day they went on sale and labor day was the first weekend that had 2 permits available. I want to go back in the late spring/early summer and see how it is to climb when there is snow on the ground.
Thanks. I do remember seeing your report with pictures of it with clouds. One thing I should have mentioned before, there were some permits available for Saturdays, but we needed 6 and hence this was the 1st available Saturday. I would love to do it when snow is there. It's actually there now, but my skills are not there yet. :)

Post Reply