Mount St. Helens

What's that? Mount St. Helens is just down the road from Mt. Rainier? Let's check it out!

I drove in through the East entrance where the road abruptly ends at a parking lot 4 miles from the mountain. Some nice views of Mt. Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood and Spirit Lake. Dead trees can still be seen floating in Spirit Lake from the 1980 eruption.

Beers were shared with a fellow traveler as we watched the sunset over the lake. Then, late at night I awoke to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower which was absolutely spectacular. 

The next morning I set off towards the active volcano. The trails from the East don't actually lead up the volcano, so I hiked as close as I could via the trails and then found my own way up, occasionally following mountain goat tracks. A couple months back, I had talked with a guy who mentioned that he hiked around Mount St. Helens 20 years ago and happened upon some hot springs. I made it my mission to try and find these supposed springs. 

Spirit Lake with Rainier towering behind it

I ended up getting into some pretty dicey situations as I struggled to find a good way up the steep and crumbly slopes. I eventually reached an impasse where going farther or higher was too dangerous. Satisfied with how far I got, I carefully made my way back down and back to my car. No hot springs were found, but it was a fun hike regardless.

This steep slope of pumice and ash was no easy climb

The path of destruction caused by the eruption in 1980 can still be clearly seen.

Mt. Rainier

"The most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings."-John Muir

After getting my fill of Olympic, I felt it almost necessary to stop at Mt. Rainier. It's prominence and majesty loom over everything around it. Free camping on a forest service road just outside of the park allowed me to get an early start and maximize my adventuring time.

The aptly named Reflection Lake

The rolling meadows of wildflowers and critters below the mountain were spectacular. The paved "trails" and hordes of visitors were not so spectacular, which motivated me to hike to higher ground.

Mt. Adams in the distance

Someone asked if I wanted a photo of me and Rainier. Why not? Two thumbs up ol' chap.

For most of my hike, I followed exposed rock to the right of the trail that led to Camp Muir. It was much quieter and solitude was achieved. Unfortunately, around 8,000 feet I was forced onto the snow and into the queue of climbers making their way to the top. To my relief, crampons were not required.

After just over 4 miles with 3,000 feet of elevation gain within the last mile, I made it to Camp Muir, which serves as the most popular base camp used when making a bid for the summit. Camp Muir sits at 10,000 feet elevation, leaving 4,000 more feet between you and the summit. Given the presence of crevasses, I did not venture any farther. A splendid adventure it was!

PS: I've made some updates to the desktop version of the blog template. Feel free to tell me if it sucks.

Olympic National Park

A wild chicken!! 

A random waterfall suddenly appears.

Lakeside camping at its best.

Grand Lake

Not a bad view to wake up to.

I wonder if those deer know that there's giardia in that water...

Winter is coming?

Tempting to climb those cliffs, ain't it?

It turns out that camping on the coast is really nice.

I hopped into my Saturn and boogied my way out of the national forest and made my way to the Olympic National Park visitor center. There, a ranger and I busted out a sweet 3-day plan to get me camping by a lake in the mountains followed by an ocean-side solitary snooze. With bear canister in hand I stumbled into the wild. Camping at Grand Lake was quite grand. I almost had the entire lake to myself, barring a couple that set up camp down the trail a ways. The hike into and out of the valley provided all sorts of nice views.

On day 2 I drove to the ocean and hiked along the coastline. I've never seen so much driftwood before. The rain forest comes right up to the shoreline and consequently makes a damn mess of the beach. To my benefit, the burning of driftwood is allowed and I had myself a roaring (and legal) fire all night long. Sleeping right on the sand with a rainfly above me was a nice change from the typical hammock or car bed sleeping situations.

I've now made my way out of the park and am currently figuring out my next course of action. I'm thinking of exploring Mt. Rainier National Park, however the weather doesn't look promising. We'll see!

Olympic National Forest

Drove as far as I could along an old forest service road. Don't think I'll be seeing other people from up here. 

Hiked around the Olympic National Forest. It rained on and off all day, but the dancing of clouds and fog kept me in constant awe. The solitude and complete lack of human induced noise was a buffet for the soul.

Slacklining: It's Totally A Thing Now

Cliff jumping

The janky raft to connect the 3 lines in the middle of the lake. It totally fell apart before any line was even walked.

One of the best rope swings I've been on. This guy's gainer attempt was just as successful as mine.

Sweet midline.

Apparently the water moving below the line was quite trippy and disorienting.

Made some new friends at camp the night before and they invited me to join them for a good ol' time slacklining across Brohm Lake. It was an interesting insight into the slacklining community. Previously I had assumed that slacklining was just something climbers did on their rest days. Nowadays there seems to be an entire community surrounding the sport. It was fun watching them setup the lines across the lake. Although the shorter (an intrinsically easier) lines fell apart due to a faulty dock, I enjoyed watching others struggle on the long midlines. A great day out on the lake and a solid way to end my Squamish adventure. 

Given the start of the Olympic games, I thought it was fitting to visit the Olympic National Park in Washington as I make my way back south.