Mt St Helens via Monitor Ridge

We are able to get permits to climb Mt St Helens, the summer route is about 10 miles round trip with 4,500 ft of gain.
We camped overnight at Campers Bivouc and started up the Ptarmigan Trail at 5:15AM with our headlamps on.

 Dawn broke before we were half way up the Ptarmigan Trail, it was nice to see wildflowers in bloom along this forested trail.

 Just before sunrise, we saw Mt Adams to the east.

Across from where the Ptarmigan Trail meets the Loowit Trail is the Monitor Ridge route up to the rim of Mt St Helens

 From here we could see Mt Hood to the south,

 and Mt Adams to the east as the sun was rising over the horizon.

The next section is over the boulders field along Monitor Ridge, there are poles placed in the rocks to direct the way.

There were wildflowers growing inbetween the boulders.



 We were glad to be going up on this exposed slope in the cool of the morning.

 Looking back down along Monitor Ridge part way up the boulder field. We could see both Mt Hood and Mt Jefferson to the south.

 The crater rim is in sight! The boulder field section in front of us requires some scrambling.

 We took a short break at the top of the boulder field. Across the snow field on the far ridge, we watched 3 mountain goats looking for food.

 The last section is up over the ash, our destination in sight.

 I was a little nervous that the rising clouds might beat me up to the top and obscure the view, but this morning I was able to rise up quicker than the clouds.










Pano at the Crater Rim, Spirit Lake, Mt Rainier and Mt Adams in the distance:

Amazing to look down into the crater and see the new "dome', the glaciers around the dome, and evidence of recent rock fall reveal white snow under the dirty glacier surface.
While we were up on the rim, we heard a large rock fall into the crater.

 Happy that we were able to make the summit in less time than we did this hike 5 years ago. I think the cooler temperatures helped!

 Enjoying the views as they clouds rose.

 Before we left, the clouds completely covered Spirit Lake, most of the dome, and our views of Mt. Adams and Mt Hood. So glad we started early.

 This raven watched us begin our descent back down the boulder field, here we were in the clouds

An interesting insect landed on my brother's pants.

some of the wildflowers we saw along the trail today: