Hiking Mt St Helens via the Worm Flow Winter Route

 If you've known me very long at all you know I love to hike and camp and be outdoors. About a year ago I joined a group on Facebook called American Women Who Hike. I met the admin, Bethany, in May 2017 when a group hiked Dog Mountain. I very rarely get to join in the hikes because I'm out here in the middle of the state of Oregon. But when she mentioned summiting Mt St Helens and getting permits for Flag Day, June 14th, 2018, I thought "Why not!?" I thought getting 2 permits was the challenge.....I was wrong! Because of the snow on the upper mountain the summer route was not open yet. We met our hiking group at Marble Mtn Sno Park where the winter route trailhead is. We car camped and hit the trail last in our group at 4:15AM.(The plan was for everyone to go at their own pace)

The first two miles were in trees. I took these on our way out since we left at dark. 

The Worm Flows

 The boulder fields.

 It was uphill most of the way. The ground was still damp so we had decent traction. 

Then we hiked a glacier! LOL

 Then we hit the snow and it was steep and scary!

At this point I was just putting one foot in front of another. 

Head down, digging in, 10 steps at a time. 

As we neared the summit the temps fell so I put on my down jacket. 

For about 30 seconds I wondered how the hell I was going to get down! But never once thought about giving up and not summitting! That was never an option.

I got vertigo and couldn't look down or out at this point.  I was talking to myself in my head, so thankful for all the days I put in strength training at the gym. I needed every ounce of strength and mental fortitude to get me to the top. (Having my hubby and 2 other young guys, Cory and Joe, climbing with us, helped so much! They were all so encouraging to me. )

 I knew when we could see Mt Rainier, we were at the top!

Smiles, photos (cause if there ain't photos it didn't happen!) lunch and rest. 

 And because it was flag day and my group is called American Women Who Hike we got a great photo with the 4 of us and our Flag.

 Crags around the crater. 

Mt Rainier on the left, Mt Adams on the right. 

I was surprised when I was told the time and figured it took us 7 hours to reach the top! 

And the going down didn't look so crazy from the top. 

 And this is how we got down the snow fields. It was a little crazy! Especially sliding backwards head first on my back pack!  We survived and it saved our legs and knees a bit of wear and tear.

We signed back in the climbers log at 4:30PM taking 12 hours and 15 minutes for the whole hike. All in all we had a total elevation gain of about 5700'. I've read the trail is anywhere from 9.1- 12 miles. At this point it doesn't matter.

Now it is time to recover and be thankful for an amazing body that can do way more than we think it can, and revel in God's beautiful world He created for us.

Now, go out and enjoy our amazing world!