Climbing Mt. Saint Helens

What an experience!

I don't think the Big Guy Lowe or I had any idea how challenging this "hike" was going to be, but at least I'd had experience hiking long distances with a pack.  The Big Guy Lowe, well, didn't.

That didn't deter us though.  A few months ago I received a note from a friend at church inviting us to hike with them.  She had wanted to hike the volcano for some time and when February came around and permits were available for purchase she bought the maximum that one person was allowed; 12.  Each permit costs $22.00 and only 100 are available a day.  We were pretty excited for the opportunity!

Time then passed and life took up our attention.  Before we knew it the climb was just a few days away.  I was so excited!  The Big Guy Lowe and I worked out what we were going to bring.  This spring/summer has been especially cool causing the snow melt to be about a month behind what it usually would be this time of year.  After checking out a few blogs that outlined recent summit attempts and going through the website Mt. Saint Helens has, we felt pretty comfortable with our packing choices.

We met our friends early in the morning of August 6th.  The boys were over at Grammy and Grandpa's house for a sleepover the night before, so our departure at 4:30AM wasn't disturbing to them.  We reached the climber's register where we officially logged in.  This way if we didn't log out the forest service would know we were lost.  :)

Then we drove about 20 minutes to the Climber's Bivouac.  This is where the trail begins and if we had chosen, we could have camped the night before.

 

I told The Big Guy Lowe that this was his "Wallace and Grommit" smile.  ;) 

We took a group shot

and then headed out!

The first leg of the hike was through the tree line.  There was still a great deal of snow and we were in the clouds.  It was beautiful!

We took a short break and readjusted our clothing. 

I love this man!  He was great going on this hike.  I knew that this sort of thing was more in my area, but The Big Guy Lowe was great supporting me in that! 

We kept climbing through the trees.  The next this leg of the hike, the path was very clear--a walk in the park.  That wasn't to continue too much longer though! 

 

At this point we are just coming out of the trees.  The dark area in the background is rock that we would begin the next leg of the climb.  It was stunning as we were just coming out of the clouds and could see the blue sky above.  Amazing! 

 

Note to anyone who ever would like to go hiking with me in the future:  I am a sweating machine!!  Here's a shot with Arianna, the organizer of our day!

After this short break, we were ready to begin the second leg of the climb.  The next section would last a few hours constantly climbing over boulders, boulders and more boulders!  (Mixed with some snow). 

Picture taking was a bit sporatic from here on out, but the views never stopped!

I love this shot of four of our group coming over an edge with Mt. Adams in the background peaking through the clouds!  Beautiful! 

The trail through this section was marked by poles supported by piles of rocks as shown here. 

Handsome man!  Love him! 

 

I just couldn't get over how beautiful these views were!  Even now, I am breathless looking at them!  This was truly the perfect day to climb! 

A view of what we were looking at above consisted of rocks and more rocks.  This section had some dirt and ash mixed in too. 

A view off to the west as we were climbing.  If you look carefully, you can see my shadow in the rocks.  :) 

Remember what I said about sweat?  Case in point!  First attempt at a self-portrait. 

Our second attempt at the self-portrait.  More successful if you ask me.  :)

We decided to take a decent break and have something to eat.  Everyone was ready!

 

Then we were off again!  I love this shot of LaDawna!  While we were in the sun all day, there was cloud cover over the rest of the world that we could see! 

After a few hours climbing boulders, the third leg began.  We entered the ash.  This is the area that I thought was the most difficult as it just kept going and going.  Everyone kept saying "two steps forward and one step back".  It was true!  If you look into the top left corner of the snow area you can see where we were headed.  That was the summit! 

It was straight up from this point on. 

Finally the top was in view.  I was ready to push through to the end, but unfortuantely, The Big Guy Lowe was done.  He had worked so hard to get to where he was and looking at that last leg in the snow was outside of his comfort zone.  As we talked about his decision, he said "If I don't feel comfortable doing it then I need to listen to that".  I was a bit disappointed.  We had come so far together!  I could tell by his voice that he had made up his mind and he was comfortable with that decision.  If he was okay with his decision, then I would be okay with it too!  While he was was ready to stop, he was also completely supportive of me continuing on to the summit, so after a kiss I was off!  Thanks Arianna for taking these pictures of me!! 

 

Finally, the view from the summit!  It was worth all the work of that day!  Loved it! 

YAHOO!! 

This is the summit view looking to the east.  Mt. Adams is in the distance.

Summit view of the crater looking north through the blown out portion.  Mt. Rainier can been seen in the distance.  Spirit lake can be seen just to the left of the mountain side.

Summit view to the north showing the lava dome that has been growing the past few years as lava comes towards the surface.  No activity today though.  Whew! 

After the wonderful feeling of reaching the top, the realization that we needed to climb back down through everything we had spent the past 4-5 hours climbing up began to hit.  This is the view looking back down from the summit. 

At this point I pretty much put my camera away.  The climb back down required full concentration as we were pretty well spent from the climb up.  Arianna took this picture on her way down.  By this time the clouds had burned off showing the beautiful landscape to the east with Mt. Adams on the horizon.  Beautiful! 

We finally made it back to the climbers bivouac...and we did it on one piece!  What an accomplishment!  I loved it!  My body definitely felt that it had been pushed pretty hard, but my soul felt a joy that can be fleeting in life.  I had experienced the miracle of what my body was capable of doing, I had witnessed the beauty of this amazing landscape and I had done it all with the person who shares an unconditional love for me and from me.  When we got married over 12 years ago I had no idea love could be this encompassing.  My heart is full of gratitude to a loving Heavenly Father that has made it possible for us to live so fully.

Thank you babe for helping me reach my goal.  You now have and will contiue to receive all the love I can give.

Learning the ropes with Daddy

I've got to say, The Big Guy Lowe is my best friend. He is the person that I would choose to spend time with--any time with. He's the person that best understands me and knows how to help and love me. There's never a question in my mind that he is doing his best for our family. He is truly the most amazing person that I know, and I get to be married to him; we get to be partners for time and all eternity. That's a pretty awe inspiring thing to be able to say. While I can ponder on these things, and even get pretty emotional as I feel such intense gratitude and love for him, I wonder what the Little Guy Lowes think. They are never left out. Just a few examples of their time with Daddy from recent weeks~

While at the playground, our oldest asked Daddy if he would "time him" while running. That started a running/racing boot-camp that the boys ask for every time we are at the playground now.
"On your marks..."
"Get set..." (you've got to love the squat, er, racer stance)

Then a big team cheer when we were all finished!

Then there was the day the boys were asking about baseball. The Big Guy Lowe bought a beginning bat and for the next few hours we all played outside as he gave instruction. A tee-ball instruction for our middle boy--the 2 year old,

and hitting from a pitch for our oldest--the 6 year old.
Nope, couldn't leave the 1 year old out of spring training!

There are more pictures of Lego building, cleaning, golfing, dancing, reading, relaxing and snuggling that show how The Big Guy Lowe loves his family, more than I can include in just one post.

Is it obvious that I love how The Big Guy Lowe loves our family? He tells us and he shows us. He works hard to provide for our family. He serves at church and provides a wonderful example for his sons. He is a part of keeping our home in running order. He is the best Daddy that these boys could ever want.

In case you Little boy Lowes ever wonder, I love your Daddy completely.

Grammy's (not so) Secret Garden

I love the springtime. I know that there is still a great deal of rain ahead before the summer gets here with those wonderfully sunny, hot days, but it's these springtime days that start that excited anticipation. We had a great time yesterday over in our Grammy's back yard gardens. There is always work to do there, and I love how hard our boys know how to work with their Grammy. I'm also grateful that Grammy is so good at providing opportunities for them to work with her. They love time in the gardens with Grammy, and I love that they love it.
While our oldest has worked hard in years past, this is our middle son's first real time helping out. Grammy always has the right sized tools for whoever is helping, and that made it even more fun as he worked like a pro!

Our youngest did his part holding down the gardening tools. That wheel barrow looked like it was ready to take off until he decided to sit in it!
Our oldest knows how to work on the more difficult jobs. Here he was given instructions and then given the opportunity to finish the project on his own. He's working hard repairing a stone wall.

Now he's working hard carrying out part of a tree that didn't make it through the winter.While there is always work to do, there are always things to investigate. Our oldest is a master bug catcher. He found a great beetle and wanted to put it in a plastic bag with some dirt.
After a conversation regarding how we all breathe, he decided to find a better home for the beetle in another part of the garden--a decision that resulted in everyone's sigh of relief!

Just to show that he could, our oldest climbed to the top of one of Grammy's fruit trees. Our middle son isn't quite there yet, but he wants to be!!

After about two hours of work, with everyone feeling good about what had been accomplished, Grammy brought out fun drinks for the boys and even some money as payment! The day had a poignantly sublime affect on me. My boys can work hard and have fun. My boys can get along with eachother and they love being outside. My boys love and are loved by my mom--someone that I love dearly and am eternally grateful for.

Thank you mom for all you have done for me and all you continue to do. You have given me a wonderful example of how to be a mom and I think you are wonderful.