Mt. St. Helens

Mt. St. Helens

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Washington state biologist and true outdoorsman, Amy Spoon shares a little trip that she took. “I decided to climb Mount St. Helen’s and if you are going to do it you need to plan on it early because they only allow 100 people per day to climb so you need to buy your access permit well in advance and it only costs about $30. It is well worth it but you do have to plan in advance because they sell out really fast. In April they are pretty much sold out especially on the weekends. You definitely want to do it in the summer months because you get better views when you get up there and it is a clear day and you do not want to be climbing it in the snow. We went last year in August and the weather was absolutely perfect. You start out in the timber, which is really cool, there is a lot of old blow down that you walk through and then you start gaining elevation. We knew it was a 10 mile hike but it was so much harder than we thought. The last little bit was the toughest because you are walking through really loose, small, sandy rocks and ash. Once you get to the very top it is amazing. You actually stand on the very rim of the crater. This thing is a volcano and what you get up to the very top, you are standing on the rim of a volcano looking down and it is steaming, there are rocks falling into the crater and the views are breathtaking.
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