Mount St. Helens - Monitor Ridge — Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025

 I  climbed Mt St Helens 46 years ago,  in July of 1979; a lot has happened to the mountain since then! 

We arrived the night before our permit date, around 4, and had many camp sites to choose from. No water but most sites have a nice level tent pad; the fire pits were taped over. Pit toilets weren't bad either. The climbing permit includes the camping/parking fee. 

We started at 5am, made it briskly through the forest section; and then the boulder fields. Ah the boulder fields, they are amazing but also never seem to end, you get through one and there's another. The first has a pretty obvious route but then come the poles. If you stick to following the poles you will end up going over more boulders. We started out this way but soon notice people down below, to one's left,  going on a pretty nice path along the ravine. This is the route we took back and it will save a lot of time and energy going this route. 

The next boulder fields didn't seem to have a bypass option, it's simply up and over very steep piles of boulders. No video I watched really captured just how massive and vertical these fields are. You will need to find your own path of least resistance here,  you will see foot prints here and there in the sand. These sections are pretty easy to scramble, it's just that there are so many! they never seem to end. We didn't use gloves but I can see where they would be very helpful should one fall; the rocks are quite sharp; a fall/slip could cause serious injury!

Finally one comes to the steep sandy/rocky area and then the final sandy stretch. Poles and planting one's feet firmly helps; It's steep but I really didn't slip that much here. We summited at Noon, and spent about an hour on the ridge. Butterflies were everywhere at the summit; wind was mild. 

Coming down was the reverse but the boulder fields are more difficult to navigate and at 68 I was extra careful to navigate the boulders with care.

Pretty much out of energy,  we made it back to the parking lot at 5pm. It was a very hot day and I used all 5 liters of water I brought. In hind sight I should have worn boots instead of trail runners.