My main goal for this trip to Portland was to climb Mount Saint Helens, which is only 1.5 hours away. This seemed to be the perfect time to go, since I'd be climbing snow rather than ash, and the permit season hasn't started, so you can just go and climb. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate, and the day with the best weather seemed to be Thursday, April 1. I then found out the night before that April 1 marks the beginning of the pay permit time! There's no quota until May, but you have to pay $22 to climb above 4800 feet. I thought of just going there and staying lower, but 4800 feet seemed to be where the fun begins. I ended up registering on the internet and picked up my permit at the Lone Fir Inn. Here I am a the Marble Mountain Sno-Park, which was free at least.
I was the only person registered to climb that day, so I'd have the mountain to myself! However soon after I arrived a convoy of snowmobilers came as well. But they weren't allowed on the trails I was taking.
I'd read a trip report from 3/20, just 12 days previous, saying the trail up to treeline was entirely melted out. It had snowed since then but I figured it couldn't be too deep, so I started out carrying my snowshoes strapped to my backpack. I immediately postholed into very deep snow and then put on my snowshoes! It was clear how useful they were. Amazing what just a few days can do--the snow was several feet deep. There was a boot track of sorts to follow but not a good one, and although not as powdery as Hood the day before the snow was deep and loose enough that I still sank in quite a bit even with snowshoes.
I didn't bring my map (which is still on the wall of my classroom at school) but had a small outline map of the trails picked up at the trailhead. The route was well marked, in any case, and the boot track distinct enough to follow. It was very tough and slow going, however, by far the toughest of the three snow hikes I did this trip. It was exhausting to have to go so slowly.
On top of that, the weather didn't really seem to be getting good. It would snow for a while, then stop, and the sun could be faintly seen at times. But then it would start snowing again. The weather was significantly worse than the forecast predicted.
Here's an idea of the track (mine plus the existing one) and the weather and scenery.
Continuing onward, I got my first glimpse of the upper mountain as the weather seemed to improve slightly.
I still couldn't see it that well, but it looked impressive, far more intimidating than I guessed given that this is supposed to be an easy, straightforward climb.
Coming into a clearing, you can see the upper mountain better.
It was clear at my incredibly slow pace (only 1.1 mph uphill and 1.4 mph downhill) that I wasn't going to make the summit or even get that close, but I wanted to keep going and at least get above 4800 feet to get some of my money's worth! But it was not to be. The weather turned even worse, with heavy snow and the wind picked up. I kept going for a while, hoping it would improve, but it didn't, so I turned around.
I'd only made it to 3800 feet, a full 1000 feet below the pay zone, and 4500 feet below the summit! Clearly the weather and conditions were not on my side this day.
The weather would go in cycles, seeming to improve at times but then going back to heavy snow. I'd made the right decision to turn around.
Here the sun almost seems out even though the sky was completely overcast.
Here it did peek out briefly. Notice the snowmobilers went up the base of the trail (which they were allowed on).
A little blue sky visible as I packed up, but by the time I headed out there was a small blizzard. Weather continued to be variable, improving overall as I got back to the coast. Perhaps I should have waited, but I'm sure I wouldn't have made it to the top and another big storm was due in that night--I was worried the storm had in fact come early.
Here's how far I got and how much was left (zoom in to see the detail). It took 4 hours to go only about 5 miles and climb and descend a mere 1200 feet. It was frustrating to go so slowly on a trail that if melted out I could run up. Well perhaps I'll try again next year. My Spring Break is in mid-April in 2011, which is before the quota period but might have decent weather. I'm looking forward to returning!
