Mount St. Helens - Monitor Ridge — Friday, Jul. 25, 2025

4:15am start, parking lot was maybe half-full. ptarmigan is well marked and easy to follow, even in the dark. monitor ridge requires some route finding but nothing hard. summited at 7:00am

passed by a few slow groups early on and then had the trail to myself until the final push to the true summit. good views of hood, adams, rainier, and baker in the distance. tons of people coming up as I was on my downhike, seemed like most opted to start after sunrise. brought 3l of water which was overkill, only ended up drinking 1l. finished at 11am