Mount St. Helens - Monitor Ridge — Sunday, Sep. 1, 2013

South Cascades > Mount St. Helens

We hiked this as a sunrise hike. Started out at 11:45 PM the night before. Got up to the outhouse around 12:30 AM. Moved into the boulder field a little before 1 AM. Without the views or the sun to keep us back, we made it up to the end of the major boulders around 3:15. Great views of the milky way (you could also see it from the Climber's Bivouac), and of the lights of Portland/Vancouver. There were quite a few wildflowers blooming between the rocks, but we didn't see any animals. We really started up too early, and ended up waiting about an hour and a half at the end of the boulder field so we wouldn't have to wait for sunrise on the summit. It was very cold and extremely windy when we did get to the top (around 6:15 AM). Beautiful views abounded. I would highly recommend doing this as a sunrise hike - it was MUCH easier and faster than doing it during the day.