What an experience! Jonathan, Chris and I left early Monday morning for Climbers Bivouac, our starting point to reach the crater summit of Mount St. Helens. Every Muscle in my body is a constant reminder that we really did it, while we were under the assumption that it would take a mere 7-9 hours to make the round trip, we were shocked to discover that our intrepid little band managed to stretch out our workout to make it a whopping 12 hour climb and descent. The terrain was rough and unfriendly, except for a local chipmunk, that I named Charlie. Charlie showed up when we took a break for a snack and followed us for a little over 30 minutes- when he quit only because we ran into another group that had food out. at Another stop we found an adorable little burrowing owl, watching the silly people climb the mountain- naturally I named him Oliver. While we were annoyed at the mist that shrouded our climb, I am now very thankful for it- the heat would have made the climb nearly unbearable, and this way we never really knew what lie ahead until we had manged to get through it! We were all glad that we didn't give up and made it to the impressive overlook into the crater. From the top we could see Mount Rainier, Mount Hood and Mount Adams- it was spectacular!
The Climb down was almost as arduous, made so because we were already so sore from the 7 hours it took to get to the top, but the mist had cleared so we had the enjoyment of a beautiful view of the green forest on our way down.
