Congrats on hiking St. Helens, Brian, and that was a great trip you did, combining that with the Olympics and Timberline Trail. St. Helens is an outstanding, one-of-a-kind hike, especially on a clear day. I hope you get back there again. And you’re right, my mom has an indomitable spirit.

Hi Michael,
I was able to get a permit and I completed the hike up to the summit of Mt St Helens last August (after hiking the Timberline Trail and Seven Lakes Basin/High Divide Loop at Olympic NP with my wife – a fantastic trip). I remember the 1980 eruption very well, and I’ve always wanted to see the mountain. What an outstanding hike! The only disappointment was that I didn’t have the beautiful skies and long views that you obviously had. Although the weather was fine, there was a lot of smoke from nearby wildfires. Still, the climb was great and the views into the crater, with the steam coming out of the lava dome and rocks constantly sliding down the crater walls, were impressive. For those contemplating the climb, I highly recommend camping at Climbers Bivouac, which is at the trailhead. Good campsites (free!), large parking lot, bathrooms, and you can just get up and start hiking without having to drive.
HUGE respect to your mom for completing that difficult climb!

Brian C

Thanks, Brian, I appreciate that. And good luck getting a permit to hike St. Helens, it’s a great day.

Thank you for the quick reply, Michael. We’ll definitely add Norway Pass to our itinerary, in place of Johnston Ridge. And that’s a great idea; I will contact Gifford Pinchot NF to inquire about road conditions.

I love your blog. Your trip reports and photos are inspiring!

Hi Brian,

Yes, we hiked to Norway Pass and it does offer a great view of the blast zone from the 1980 eruption. It’s under five miles and 1,000 feet of uphill and the forest roads to the trailhead were fine when we hiked it several years ago but I don’t know if there was any more-recent damage. Check with the Gifford Pinchot National Forest about conditions.

Good luck.

Great hike and an even better story! My wife and I have a trip planned to the Timberline Trail and Olympic NP in August, and we are also planning to spend some time at Mt St Helens. Our original plan was to go to Johnston Ridge Observatory at the end of Route 504 on day 1 and do some short hikes in that area, then climb the mountain on day 2 (assuming we can get a permit). However, just this week there was a landslide that obliterated part of Route 504, and as a result, the Observatory will be closed and the hikes in that area will be inaccessible for at least a year. So now I’m thinking of hiking to Norway Pass on day 1. It looks to me that the view into the crater from Norway Pass might be similar to the view from Johnston Ridge, and the hike is relatively short. Since you included a picture from Norway Pass, I assume you did this hike too. Is the Norway Pass hike worth doing? And how are the roads on the east side of the mountain? (We would need to drive on the east side from the Norway Pass trailhead to Climbers Bivouac in order to do the climb the next day.)
Thanks in advance for any info.

Brian C

Thanks for sharing your story, Kyle. I know well the type of situation you described. Glad everyone got down safely.

The group I hiked with was comprised of various skill levels. I joined the group after receiving an email at my workplace and did not know any of the other hikers. Upon starting our ascent I quickly realized I was the most experienced (the group leader had some hiking experience) and a couple of the girls had very little experience (if any). I stayed at the back to ensure no one fell behind, which would have given me opportunity to take plenty of pictures had the weather held. When the clouds dropped at 6000ft I made it clear to the two beginners that it was potentially dangerous to continue, but if they wanted to press on I would stay with them for the rest of the ascent and descent. I was disappointed with the rest of the group once we got to the summit. Because it was so cold, they were in a rush to get down and failed to make a plan to meet up or to tell us what their plan was for the descent. I was left standing on the summit with one of the girls as two other hikers returned the way we came and the other four proceeded to glissade down the snowy slope. We decided to return the way we came up as well because of the low visibility.

I am certain that the girl I helped down would have had a very hard time reaching the bottom. I found it very disorienting at times even for myself due to the lack of visibility and fatigue from the drawn out ascent and even slower pace on the descent. We were the last to arrive at the parking lot, but not by much. Two of the hikers that chose to glissade arrived only twenty minutes before us. They had apparently slid further and further away from the main route and eventually had to sidetrack back to the trail.

Despite the circumstances, I came away from the hike with no regrets. Most of my past hikes have been solo and I was able to learn some important lessons about hiking with a group. Of these, the most important is to know the abilities of not only yourself, but of those hiking with you. This is especially important if you are leading the group and making decisions on their behalf. Judging from this article, it appears this is something you have a pretty good grasp on.

Congrats on reaching the summit on such a beautiful day. I’m sure it is a memory your family will hold onto for quite a while.

Thanks, Kenny, glad you enjoyed this story. Nice to hear from you.

THANKS AGAIN!!! Every time I find myself slogging through life with the feeling of being content, you manage to somehow inject my psyche with inspiration! After being snowed in here in northern NJ for much of this Winter, now is the perfect time to start planning a late Spring/early Summer adventure. Congrats to your kids, and especially to your mom…WOW!

Kenny Ross