Mount St Helens

This is a repeat if you read our daughter Jill's blog, at least most of these pictures are from my camers...

Several weeks ago our son-in-law, Kiff, called Paul & invited him to hike Mount St Helen's with him.  Paul loves outdoor adventures - he was thrilled with the invite!  Naturally, I wasn't going to let him take a trip to Washington without me so I tagged along...

We got there just in time for the guys to get ready to leave.  

I made myself comfortable & got me some Baby Gack snuggles...

I was happy to keep Jill & the kids company while the boys "took a hike."  I stole the following narrative right off the pages of Jill's blog without her permission - I know, I have no shame! (At least I'm giving her credit!)

Kiff and my dad left Thursday night from our home toward Mt. Saint Helens.  After a three hour drive, they arrived about 15 minutes from the trail head.  They camped out at a little, local hotel and tried to get some sleep for their big day.

They woke up early Friday morning in order to meet their group at 6:00am.  There were two guides and six other climbers besides them.  (Two of those climbers didn't make it up the mountain before turning around.)  They took care of some registration basics and had a little safety talk before they took off on their adventure.

The climb itself could be categorized into three different phases.  Those phases consisted of:

1. A normal walking trail up until the end of the tree line. (~2 miles to climb 1000 vertical feet)

2. A boulder field.  The boulders are actually covered in ash pumice and shred the skin.  It was required that they wear gloves since they had to literally use both their arms and legs for the entire length of this phase.  Exhausting!  (~ 3 miles, climbing 2500 vertical feet in roughly 4 hours)

3. A vertical beach to the crater rim.  This was the most difficult part of the climb.  They walked up a 60ish degree incline covered in ash and small rocks.  Kiff said it was like sand.  Every two steps forward meant one step back.  (~ less than a half a mile, climbing 1000 vertical feet in roughly 30 minutes)

Total stats: 5 miles, 4500 ft elevation gain, in a little under 6 hours.  That's not a walk in the park.

Here they are at the end of phase two (the boulder field)...

This shot gives you a pretty good idea of how steep that vertical beach was (phase three) with Mt Adams is in the background.

Here's Paul on the home stretch - the poles were necessary to help you from sliding back too far as you tried to progress up the mountain.

Finally at the top...a spectacular view with Mt. Rainier in the distance.

Meanwhile, back at the Holyoak Homestead, I had a great time playing with the kiddos...

We flipped & flopped & played at the park...

And yes, this is me falling OFF the merry-go-round...I got a nice little goose-egg on my noggin' from hitting one of the metal poles underneath that hold the thing up, but it was worth it!

The day after the guys got home, we hopped on the ferry to Seattle...one of my favorite things & one of my favorite places!

It was a beautiful day & we were looking for some good eats on the waterfront.  We found a fun place called The Crab Pot.  They bring your food over & just dump it onto the table...awesome!

The kids rode the carousel & we strolled along the waterfront, found some ice cream & enjoyed the beautiful weather...

Baby Jack enjoyed his first trip to Seattle, too.

Thanks for the excuse to come & visit.  We had a great time & Dad has another wonderful experience to add to his collection.