Wonky Weekend

• GPS file here (or click above for more hike details and other file types)

Friday afternoon we decided to hit up REI for some boot spikes. We had plans to check out Mt. St. Helens on Saturday, so we car camped it Friday night. We rolled in at 9:30 pm to find that the road was closed down at Cougar Sno Park, leading to Marbles Sno Park. A guy in a Jeep told us he was going to go around the road closure and see how far he could get, so we followed suit. We made it to the upper lot by 9:50pm with little difficulty. However, when we got to the lot it was a bit deeper and we started burying the wheels. Luckily, Nick had picked up an ice ax at REI and that saved us. While Nick dug out snow from under the subi I hit the gas and steered us out of there. We made it back down to the lower lot by 11:00pm. Nick had ordered snow tracks earlier in the week for the subi, and they were waiting for us when we got home…those will come in handy next time!

Route Planning

Saturday morning Nick started making coffee and oatmeal to get the day rolling and all the while the road was filling up with cars and even more snowmobilers before 6am. The park rangers/volunteer avalanche rescue team said they would open the road in an hour. We talked with another car of hikers and they offered to give us a ride to the upper lot to avoid hiking the additional 4 miles each way to the trailhead, which we gladly accepted!

On the drive up in daylight we caught our first glimpse of Hellen Keller (our new name for Mt.St.Helens) and boy was she pretty dressed in all white against the dark blue sky! It’s not exactly what we think of when we picture an active volcano. Once we made it to the trailhead, registered, and self issued our climbing permits, we hiked a few hundred feet and realized we definitely needed snow shoes for this trek. I was falling through to my waist with each step. When we returned to the lot there were a dozen cars stuck in the lot and all along the road down to the first lot. Within an hour of opening the road they had to close it right back up. So plans changed and we spent the morning helping get cars out of the lot and back on the road. One car we helped was a group of Romanians who were really nice and gave us a ride back down to our Subaru.

Pushing cars

Our plan was to head into Portland to pick up some snowshoes and give Hellen Keller another attempt on Sunday, but on our way out we chatted some more with the rangers and they said there was little chance of the lot or road being plowed in the next couple of days, and our shots of catching a ride to the lot on a snowmobile were slim to none so we decided to put Hellen on hold. So we headed to Portland for snowshoes and to make another new plan for Sunday.

Fueling up at the Fat Moose and testing our new gear

We found a secondhand shop in Portland called, Next Adventure. We both got a pair of Adventure Research snowshoes, nothing fancy, just a pair to test the waters with. To size snowshoes it is actually based on your weight! You also have to consider the weight you’ll be carrying while wearing them. We were running out of daylight to do an actual hike so we headed to Wahclella Falls in Oregon for a short jaunt. On our way there we passed the sign for Multnomah Falls, which we had just visited on Thanksgiving. We were curious if it was frozen over so we stopped to check it out. Then, on our way to the big falls we spotted a frozen Horsetail Falls. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Horsetail Falls

We did eventually make it to Multnomah, but it was not quite as brilliant. We decided we needed to come up with a plan for Sunday. We looked up some hikes recommended on The Outbound Collective, and found the Mt. Pilchuck lookout tower hike. We drove home for the night and slept in our own bed for the first time on a weekend in a long time.

Multnomah Falls

Sunday we woke up bright and early and headed to Mt. Pilchuck in Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. Once we arrived we found out the road was closed down at Heather Lake Trailhead, a whole 6 miles before our trailhead. We strapped on our shoespikes and started the hike to the Mt. Pilchuck trailhead. Within those 6 miles we gained 1600 ft. in elevation. Once we got to the trailhead we had a beautiful view of mountains and a bathroom! The snow up there was like nothing we had seen before. So fresh and powdery, but as you looked closer at the 4 foot mounds of snow around you realized you could see the individual snowflakes. I picked one up and was able to hold it for a picture without it even beginning to melt. (For more snowy pictures check out Winter Wonderland).

Giant Snowflakes!

We strapped on our snowshoes and started up the 5.4 mile loop. About a quarter mile in we hit a steep incline, which was a good test for us first-time snowshoers. It was a beautiful start to the hike with snow fields, and snowcovered trees, and glimpses of surrounding peaks and ridges. Then Nick figured out we had made a wrong turn, and were not on an actual trail, but a ski trail. We had to backtrack to before our steep climb! Once we were on the right path we started toward that lookout tower. Around the 8 mile mark I was really beginning to struggle. I don’t know if it was the altitude, the difficulty of climbing in 4 feet of snow, or my weak heart, but this climb was kicking my ass. We were running out of daylight, and I couldn’t pick up the pace so we decided it would be safer to turn around. It was really difficult giving up, but I definitely was running out of energy and we needed to make it back down another 8 miles. On our descent I started to really have difficulty breathing and felt very nauseas. Once we finally made it to the trailhead of Mt. Pilchuck it felt like such a tease, we still had 6 miles to go to our car, luckily it was all downhill and less steep than our last 2 miles had been. I wanted so badly to make it to that lookout tower, but my body was exhausted. When you’ve made it up the mountain 8 miles, you have to remember you still have to make it down 8 miles. Downhill is easier in a sense, but 8 miles is still 8 miles. I learned a hard lesson, it is better to acknowledge when you need to turn around than to be too stubborn to give up. But we’ll be back to finish the climb, we already have a victory beer waiting in the fridge!

The Peak