The Climb

Mt St Helens


God is truly amazing. The past two weekend have just been incredible. I am so thankful for all that he gives us and for the ability to enjoy it.

Mother's Day weekend I went to Mt St Helens. A lady from work invited me a long time ago to climb the mountain with her and a small group of people. I was pumped and of course said I would! Then as time went by and with more talking and researching this climb, I start getting a little nervous. I was thinking it would just be a little more intense than hiking a fourteener in CO, come to find out that it was going to be unlike anything I had ever done or thought I would ever do. Nancy, my co-worker planning the trip, started telling me how I was going to need to get an ice ax and crampons so I would be able to climb up in the ice and snow then glisade down. I was thinking to myself, what! I have no idea how to glisade! And, since I am travel nursing, I have very minimal gear. So I was thinking, ok, I only have my small camelback, I would just stuff it as full as it would get with gear. Nancy kept telling me that I would climb it a lot faster than any of them because they were all slow. I really thought I would be slow as well. A few reasons why I thought this: First time to ever do anything like this, they had all climbed this before (Nancy has done it multiple times and has some awesome stories), I was going to have to rent mountaineering boots (sketchy to know how my feet would do with these), and my vertigo problem. I did a small , steep hike the week before helens, pretty fast, and got severe vertigo on top of the mountain. So I feared I would freeze on the mountain with too little gear, get severe blisters, and pass out or throw up on top of the mountain. But God truly is amazing. Nancy is the sweetest person and she is a great boy (girl) scout. She has done stuff like this for a long time. She has a split board and has taken that up Mt. St. Helens. She even got lost coming down and didn't make it back to the trailhead until after dark. I would be so scared and cold if this happened, but she is very tough. She gave me the suggestion to hike up with my snowboard and ride down the mountain. She even let me use her backpack to carry it up. This was such a great idea. I wasn't sure at first if I should do it because it would be so much extra weight carrying the snowboard. And people had told me that it is a lot of work to carry it up. So already being nervous about the climb, I wasn't sure I wanted to add the extra weight, but I was also really nervous of having to glisade down. Would SOOO much rather board down than glisade. So my first blessing for this climb was having the idea I would board, and having Nancy's backpack so I could have more gear with me was great. I also felt completely comfortable climbing with this group of people. Very fun and easy to get along with, plus they had previous experience and I trusted them. My next blessing was having the most perfect weather you could ever ask for to do this climb. There was hardly a cloud in sight. The down side was the sun reflecting off the snow made the sun exposure just that much more. I put sunscreen on my face 3x, but not anywhere else. Ended up getting so hot I climbed in my shorts and tank top for a little while and ended up getting burned pretty bad. So now I have this very funky looking tan line on my leg, pretty interesting! haha. When I go to the gym I want to clarify the reason for this funky line to the people giving me weird looks. Nancy also had some great glacier glasses she let me use. Never thought I would need things like glacier glasses, mountaineering boots, ice ax, or crampons. Man was I nervous!

The night before we had this great meal that Nancy's husband made. The best chicken soup I have ever had! Tons of stuff in it, that they grew themselves. Great salad and chips and salsa. I was stuffed. Didn't get much sleep, of course. Too nervous and had to get up at 4am. I stayed with another girl at work that didn't do the climb. So they stayed up late, also making it difficult to get much sleep, but that's ok. The group didn't want to leave until the earliest 6, but I convinced them to leave at 4:30. Some people start this climb at 3am, thats crazy. Not really because of having to avoid storms like you think about in CO, but because you don't want to be climbing on too soft of snow, makes it more difficult. So woke up at 4, was ready to go at 4:30, but ended up waiting on everybody else and didn't leave the trailhead until a little after 6. It was freezing at the trailhead, but didn't take too long to warm up of course. Once I was able to take off my outer few layers, didn't need them again until the summit. We start hiking, and all I can think about is how heavy my pack is and worrying about how steep and snowy it was going to get and hoping I didn't get vertigo. We started off slow I thought because we all were staying together. One other girl hiking with us, Donna, was a little faster. She and I ended up taking off from the rest of the crew. She was very well prepared and had done it before as well. We stopped and waited on them a few times, which I wish we didn't because it made us take that much longer. But it probably didn't hurt because a few times we stopped I had started becoming a little dizzy. One time we stopped just before timberline and so I pee'd just to pee, not necessarily because I had to. Good think I did! From there on out it was just wide open white mountain top. Don't know what girls do if they have to pee up there because there was absolutely nowhere to go and be hidden! I know, random, weird thought to have, but I did think about this. Luckily, even with all the water I drank, I did not have to pee again until I got back to the trailhead.

Once we got out of treeline, we got to this amazing open area where many people were gathered taking a break. Oh, I failed to mention earlier that there is this tradition on mother's day tons of people hike wearing dresses over their gear. It is the last day to climb with no cap on the amount of climbers, so it was a pretty busy day. I think after mother's day it is limited to 100 permits a day or something like that. I am sure some people got some nasty sunburns with some of the dresses they were wearing! It didn't take long past treeline that the steepness began. It also didn't take long for my feet to start feeling the awkwardness of the mountaineering boots. It was difficult to have my foot tilted up having to climb up the steep slope. After a little ways, and feeling the hot spots beginning, Donna and I stop to duck tape our feet. Little trick for anyone wanting to know how to help prevent blisters. You take some duck tape and just tape your heel. I put a few layers on. I also put some on the pads of the front of my feet because I was feeling hot spots there as well. Wasn't too optimistic at first how well this would work, but instantly I felt a difference, it was great! At this point we had amazing views of the valley. Could see Mt Hood and Mt. Adams, it was beautiful! Unfortunately I cannot post any pictures of the actual climb yet because I brought my small camera and do not have the cord to plug my camera into my computer. Sad day. But I did get some amazing pictures!

There were many people hiking with skis, some with tele's and skins making their trip up much faster. Saw a few split boards, and a few other people with snowboards. But most everybody just had their packs. Most had ice axes, but there were some hiking with very small bags. One guy passed us and didn't even have a backpack or water and just one little sweater. CRAZY!! So here I am hiking up this steep mountain. My crampons are on, my feet are aching. I can only go about 10-20 steps and have to rest a sec, then continue this pattern. When Donna was in front, her pace was slower so we would just keep going without really resting. I tended to walk faster, and take little rests. We would get to flatter sections where people were breaking and Donna would just keep going right on past some of them. At times I just thought I really needed to stop and sit or something, but I tried to just stay right on with her. We were a good pair. She would get a little slower at times, but stay with me. I would really want a break sometimes, but she would keep going, keeping me going. She warned me that there was a false summit, so I tried to never really get my hopes up that we were almost there, didn't want to get let down, then have no energy left. I knew this climb was going to be steep, but man it was STEEP!! Not just really steep for a short while, but really steep for a long time. We had to take the winter climbing route, which starts at about 2700' and the peak is about 8300'. The round trip is approximately 12 miles. So you are climbing 5600' in 6 miles, the last 3000+ seeming very steep and like it was never going to end! We finally make it to 1000' left and the only thing keeping me going at that point was literally knowing I was going to get to snowboard down. I was so ecstatic, but also nervous to ride down. Finally 300' left, YES that is the true summit I see! I had to double check with a few people to make sure it was the summit so I didn't get let down. I find out it is truly the summit and I get a surge of energy. It was the most amazing feeling taking that last steep step and making it to the summit! There were a lot of people on top, one person had a cowbell ringing for someone else that just summitted. I imagined the cowbell ringing in celebration of my summit! Oh, my feet were hurting so bad, it was amazing to be at the top! My feet were definitely hurting more than I was tired. I probably could have gone farther but by the time I made it to the top I knew I probably couldn't have gone much more because I could not have stood much longer. It took us 6.5 hours to summit. We hung out at the top, relaxing, re-energizing, and taking pictures for about 1.5 hours. We had to layer up at the top but nothing too terrible. I never got really cold. It was such a gorgeous day! One reason we were up there for so long is because I wanted to kind of follow another snowboarder down because I didnt want to take a wrong line and end up in some ravine that would take me forever to hike out of. Found a guy to follow, we dropped into this amazing bowl. The snow was so perfect and soft, able to take all fresh lines. It was the perfect slush that didn't make you stick and wasn't icy. It was wide open snow, sky, and awesomeness! Was awkward at first riding in the mountaineering boots, but not too bad once I got used to it. It was the most amazing experience ever! As I was riding down I literally could not believe I had just climbed that steep and that far to give me the longest, most amazing ride down! It was such an amazing feeling. We get to the bottom of the most perfect bowl and he stops. I am ecstatic and pumped. He was as well. Then he says he was going back up to do it again. As amazing as that ride was my feet were not going to let me hike back up that. Would have been cool, but oh well, I don't think I would have made it very far. So off I go totally by myself riding down this huge mountain with the only people in sight are the hikers on the trail way off to my right. I was generally able to keep them in my sight so I knew where the trail was, this was good. I got to one point that I had to hike up a hill just a bit to make it back up to the trail. This is where the flatter section began so I wasn't sure how much farther I would be able to ride. People were walking by on their snowshoes. I strap back in and cruise on by everyone. I was enjoying myself so much that I think I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up on the other side of a river ravine that I had to hike across to get back on the trail. I get back on the trail, I'm strapping in and this other boarder comes by and asks me if I just hiked across the ravine. haha, he knew what I did. He said this is only his second time and he did the exact same thing his first time! Made me feel a little better. At this point I am about to enter back into treeline, not sure if it would get too flat, but I keep riding and end up having the perfect speed to cruise for a while. Finally I get to where I have to unstrap, but there are still good sections of good snow with decent slope so I get on my butt on the snowboard and continue to cruise down! Ended up only having to actually hike down maybe 3/4 of a mile. It was great! The best way to come down the mountain. It is so steep I would not have wanted to hike down, and had no idea how to glisade, so carrying the extra weight of my board was no question totally worth it! It was the most surreal experience! And I was riding down alone most the way, it was great. Took me about 1.25 hours to come down, way fast especially with having to hike out a few times. Got back to the trailhead just a bit before 3. They say the winter route takes most climbers between 7 and 10 hours. I did it in 9, with the 1.5 hr break on top. So probably a little slow climbing up since I was able to go down so fast, but I was in no rush! My next mountain: Mt Hood!

That was definately a book, but a story worth going into detail about. And that was only Sunday. I went up on Fri afternoon, camped in Cougar, WA Fri night and on Saturday I hiked through this awesome cave. Had no light but ended up meeting this nice couple that had an extra flashlight they let me use. Tried to do a couple other hikes but they were still snowed out. So I ended up driving to the southeast side of the national park, not thinking I would find much in terms of a good biking trail, just figured I would get a nice drive in. Ended up discovering this amazing trail that follows the river up. It was gorgeous! And two amazing waterfalls as well. I rode up about 6 miles and realized I had a ways to go before I would get to another waterfall so I had to turn around. It was so fun! Then I stayed at a motel in cougar with the group. Had no cell service up here, so of course, the parentals were freaking out. Felt bad not really being able to talk to my mom on mother's day while I was doing this crazy climb. But called them as soon as I had service to let them know I was alive! haha. I left as soon as I got off the mountain because I had to return my gear to REI in Portland. Good thing because I don't think the rest of the group made it down until late. I would have been waiting a very long time!


My campsite, plain and simple for just little old me



Monkeying around. This was actual in this cool part of the cave we had to crawl to, complete pitch dark in here



The cave'e entrance


Washington landscape






This tree smelled so good, it was very strong



Last week I made it official that I am going back to OKC in June for a week to visit friends, old co-workers, and family as well as go to a friend's baby shower and do a triathlon! So I started training for it last week. I am excited. Not really sure how it will work and what exactly to wear. And I dont know what to do about a bike, since I am flying there, but I will figure it out. Kylee and I are doing it together, and maybe Clint if he doesn't have to work. So it will be fun!

I apologize for the length of this post, but I still have a whole other weekend to talk about filled with some more snowboarding action, mountain biking, camping, and hiking! Life is good! John and I figured out that we both had the same four days off in a row, so we decide to make a big camping trip out of it. Told him I planned on going boarding at Mt Hood, and we just decided to make a big trip out of it. So we packed in our bikes, my board and boots (he had to rent since he hasn't boarded in like 6 years), firewood, camping chairs, etc into his tiny little car. It was awesome!



On Friday we drove to Sandy, east of Portland and found this biking trail called Sandy Ridge. It was a four mile hard climb up to the top of the trail and a 3.5 mile amazing decent over burns, turns, rocks, streams, and trees. It was so fun. The climb up was enough for me to only do once, but John went up and did it again. Then we drove more east and found a great campsite. Weather was perfect! Taught John the fine art of cooking potatoes wrapped in foil in the fire. Yummy! haha.

This was the last weekend Mt Hood Meadows was open. I had heard the snow was still good, they recently got some fresh stuff. They were only open 9-2 because the snow got so soft and slushy in the afternoon. Saturday morning we went boarding and the snow was great. It wasn't powder, but it was soft and didn't get too slushy until about 1 where you definitely started sticking. It was hard like riding in powder, and tons of fun! Got some good jumps in as well. It was a last minute decision to bring my snowboard stuff and have gone three times now, very glad I brought it! I can even tackle whistler if I make a trip up there! After boarding we biked to the Ramona Falls trailhead then hiked to Ramona Falls. I guess this hike is a little longer than I was thinking it was, so John was a little worn out. It's 7.1 miles, I was thinking 3, whoops. But it was gorgeous, and worth it! Then another dry, beautiful night camping, so great!


Ramona Falls


Mt Hood, my next challenge! haha, we will see...heard it's tougher than Helens



Sunday we decided to drive up to Hood River to see what trails we could find up there. First we chilled around the campsite and down at the river for a while. We were very tired and hungry driving up to Hood River so we ate and relaxed for a little while. We thought a huge storm was going to roll in, ended up just teasing us with quick little rains. We biked part of this long complex network of trails in Post Canyon, the hit after work spot for locals. This trail has lots of man-made tricks you can hit riding up then what I like to call a mountain bike park at the top, like a snowboard park. I felt like when I first started learning to do tricks on my snowboard. It was the same feeling of having to find little things to hit first, then work up the courage to try bigger things. I did this one where the ramp starts narrow, widens going up then back down. Hit it first all by myself. Rode around and told John then hit it multiple times after. Then he made me do this one right after it that goes up then curves and slants around. It was awesome! Then we kept hitting this one section of lots of ramps and jumps and stuff. Fun stuff! Never thought I would do anything like that on a mountain bike!


My first mountain bike trick!



Leaving the trail we look up and see the most amazing sunset and rainbow. We pull over so I can take pics and end up next to a field with the most gorgeous and friendly horses. We ended up just chillin on the side of the road for like and hour and a half enjoying the sunset. I have never pulled over spontaneously like that and chilled for such a long time. It was great! We were going to camp one more night but after having such great weather we didn't want to deal with a last night of rain, so we drove back to the coast late Sunday night, very tired, stinky, and hungry! What a great weekend.









I feel like a normal person having a whole weekend off having fun then going back to a week of working and training. Not that it is totally normal since I work some day shifts this week and some night shifts this week. I have seriously been considering getting a cat, so today I went to the humane society and fell in love with a kitten and then a cat that is probably about a year old. It was suggested to me that since I work 12hr shifts and leave a lot for a few days at a time that a kitten probably would not be the best since they do not do as well being left alone for long periods of time. The cat I like immediately clung to me. Very friendly and affectionate. Already neutered so that is a plus. She is lighter black with shades of brown. Very pretty, just not the color I was looking for. She shed a lot on me, but right now is prime shedding season I guess for cats. I really like her. Filled out the adoption papers, just have to get the ok from my landlady. I might make a trip to another shelter on Friday just to see what's there if I can but I am pretty sure I am going to get this one. I am nervous to get a cat. Excited but also nervous just about cleaning up after her and her hair, the expense of the cat, and also being able to travel with her. But it will be great to have her to take care of and have the company!

Sorry this was a book, but thank you so much for sharing in the stories of my life! I miss all my friends and family and wish I could be sharing more experiences with you. Love you!