Ape Canyon

Oh, it's been a busy summer. 

("Oh, sure, Ashley...you always say that. Can we get to the pictures, please?")

But it has been busy! Just getting away to do something picture-worthy feels like a challenge. There's work, and now school, plus all the extra summer events, like weddings and such. But yes, we can get to the pictures.

("Okay, good. Enough of your excuses.")

In early August we hiked the Ape Canyon trail. Christina was the only one who had done this trail before and she really liked it, so she's been trying to get the rest of the family to do it with her for years. We ended up going on one of the only cloudy, misty days of the summer it seemed. But that's okay. Ape Canyon follows a ridge line up to the foot of Mt. St. Helens. Along the way, you pass from lush forest to the other-worldly blast zone. We never saw the whole mountain, but enough to know she was there. :-) 

About two-thirds of the hike looks more or less like this--lush forest. 

 But then you get to this.

Check out the roots in the bottom left of this picture! It looks like the 1980 eruption took the tree and left nothing but this.

 This is a view from the edge of the blast zone through a crack in the ridge toward the lush forest beyond.

The blast zone is pretty barren, but there are signs of life! Someday this tiny tree might be part of another lush forest!

This, I think, is part of the area called the Plains of Abraham (I don't know why...). It does look almost like a landscape out of the Middle East.

This little pool was fed by water--glacier and snow melt, I would think--coming through the blast zone.

More signs of life! 

This little fern is fighting to grow out of the volcanic rock!

It was a good hike, but it was long--we think we might have hiked as much as 10 miles. That was a bit long, considering how out of shape I am--my legs were definitely complaining! Still, it was good to get out there. I'm glad Christina kept asking us to do it!

Hiking Lava Canyon

Hi there! We've had such a busy July and I haven't blogged about any of it yet! I'll try to make up for that in the next couple days here. I had a problem with uploading pictures, but I think I've found a solution. If you're a Facebook friend you'll recognize the pictures in this post. But, here I'll give more complete commentary. :-) 

So the first big event of July was a much anticipated hike to Lava Canyon, on the south side of Mt. St. Helens. We had wanted to hike this trail for several years and never gotten around to it; this was the year to complete that goal. It has some pretty interesting features that had attracted us, as you'll see below. However, until this year, the fact that some parts of the trail take you right on the edge of a steep drop-off above a fast river had escaped my notice. *gulp* Praying for safety, we went ahead with our plans to hike it with a group of friends.

I didn't take any pictures for the first half of the hike, so this picture finds us at our lunch spot and turn-around point. This is the Muddy River, which the hike follows. I know, it doesn't look very muddy, does it?

The story of Lava Canyon--as I understand it--is that the canyon was filled with mud and debris by a previous eruption of Mt. St. Helens. All of that was washed out by a lahar from the 1980 eruption. So, in a way, it's a relatively new canyon, I guess.

Having fun with some slow shutter speed.

Our lunch spot, and the bridge that marked our turn-around point.

Group shot :)

 Heading back up-river, we came to the Ship, a huge rock formation that stands in the middle of the canyon. We took a steep little side trail up to the top of the Ship and were rewarded with this view!

Looking up the valley to multiple waterfalls.

 To get onto the edge of the canyon, you have to climb a 30-40ft ladder. 

Then comes the scary part (at least, scary for me). The trail gets very narrow and takes you right past the edge of the canyon. 

Beautiful view of a waterfall, just off the edge of the trail.

Definitely out of my comfort zone.

Looking over the edge.

The final excitement on the hike was the suspension bridge. We had already crossed it earlier on the hike. We didn't actually need to cross to get back to the car, but some of us went back across just for fun. 

For me, the suspension bridge was fun, because I knew I was fairly safe, despite the view straight down to the bottom. I didn't feel so safe on the trail.

The shadow of the bridge cuts across the canyon.

The view down river.

And up the river.

Lava Canyon was definitely an exciting hike! It wasn't terribly long, but it does have some interesting features. I'm thankful for God's protection as well! It was a great time spent with friends.

From the Mountains to the Beach

It's high time for another blog post! Before I get started, though, a little side note... Some of you have mentioned not knowing when I had a new post up. Now, I know this is really my fault, because when I don't post very often, frequent visits to the blog aren't worth it. However, did you know that there's a handy little service that will send my blog posts to you by email? Just enter your email address into the "Follow by Email" box on the right, and you'll be signed up for updates whenever I post. That way, you'll never miss them. And of course, you can unsubscribe if you get tired of the updates (it's okay, I'll never know!).

Okay, now on to the fun stuff. August was full of lots of opportunities to get out and enjoy the beautiful place we live in. We have my cousin Amber to thank for a lot of those opportunities, because she came out and visited us. We wanted to take her to all our favorite places and in the process had a nice week-long "staycation."

Anyone who comes to the Northwest has to see Multnomah Falls, so that was our first stop. It was very crowded. I guess that's to be expected for a Sunday in August!

Crown Point, on our way home from Multnomah Falls.

We also went on a hike in the Gorge around the Cape Horn area. It was a lovely hike, even though the weather was a little cloudy.

Wild Columbine.

Fireweed?

The Gorge again. Such a lovely view!

Cigar Rock. Appropriately named, don't you think?

This thin, misty waterfall was a highlight of the hike. The trail passes behind it.

We also took Amber to Cape Disappointment State Park for a couple days of camping.

The moon rises as we get ready for our first night.

Amber, Christina, and Mom, with North Head Lighthouse in the bakground.

Pelicans

North Head Lighthouse in the morning

The North Jetty on the Columbia. We walked out on it a good distance. It was fascinating to see how the water was rough on the north side, but very calm on the south side. There were lots of birds and a few sea lions around it.

See-sawing on the beach.

  

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.

Another must-see for anyone visiting the Northwest is, of course, Mt. St. Helens, so this was our last excursion with Amber. We were really thankful that although it was a cloudy day at lower elevations, the clouds weren't too thick at Johnston Ridge.

Wildflowers! Still blooming in August.

We were so glad Amber could come out and stay with us, and it was very fun showing her around the area. The week after she left, we got to go to the Coast again, this time to visit the folks at our church's annual camp-out at Cape Lookout State Park. Again, we were blessed with gorgeous weather.

The beach at Cape Lookout, looking north.

Starfish!

Looking south toward the actual Cape Lookout.

It's been an exciting summer, and it's not quite over yet. Stay tuned for more. :)

Hiking Mt. St. Helens

Yesterday we had the amazing opportunity to hike up the south side of Mt. St. Helens for the first time.  It's a hike we've heard about from other people for years.  It has the reputation of being really hard, but then it has a view at the top like no other hike you can do.  Christina signed us up this year a bit late in the season, and September 3rd was the date we got.  You have to pay for a permit before you climb, so once we were signed up, we were committed.  It was kind of scary to realize we were actually going to do it this year.  We did several prep-hikes to try to get ourselves ready, but I was still a little uncertain of how I would do.  

We got up really early to head out to Cougar, pick up our permits, and drive to the trailhead, which I'm glad for, because it took us pretty much the whole day get to the top and down again.  The first couple miles is really easy.  Then you get to the timber line, and the terrain suddenly gets a lot more challenging. First you do lots of climbing/walking up through slopes covered in boulders.     

Getting ready to start climbing through boulders at the edge of the timber line.  The pole behind Mom and Christina was one of the first of many trail markers on the way up the side of the mountain.  They were really critical in the fields of boulders where there isn't really a trail.  From this point on, the view was already stunning.  On the horizon is Mt. Adams. 

In the back left of this picture you can see Mt. Hood. 

As we got higher the incline got steeper.  It was weird looking sideways across a 45 degree incline. 

Towards the top the boulders end and the trail becomes a steep slope of rocky gravel.  Then it turns to soft, sandy ash for the last climb to the top.  The higher we got, the slower we climbed.  Finally, I got to the edge, where the crater suddenly opens up in front.  It's an amazing experience to look down into the crater at the lava dome, with little puffs of steam coming out, and across to Johnston Ridge and Spirit Lake, and finally to Mt. Rainier in the distance.

Looking south.  The lake might be Yale Lake, but I'm not sure.  Again, Mt. Hood is on the left.

Smile!

Fellow hikers looking over the edge.

I didn't take many pictures on the way down.  Climbing down had its own challenges.  I was kind of nervous about slipping on the steep grade.  It was harder to find the trail going down.  We were definitely glad to be finished when we finally reached the trail head.  It was a long, very challenging day, but I'm so glad we could do it.  It was wonderful to see God's creation from this unique perspective.  It was also satisfying to know I could physically do this hike.  Granted, it took us much longer than other people.  It's amazing how fit some people are.  As we were just leaving timberline in the morning we met someone coming down the mountain.  He had started at something like 3 a.m. (after working night shift) and been up on the mountain for sunrise.  He didn't seem exhausted at all. I don't think I'll ever be that fit.  But I guess it surprises some people that somebody like me would do it at all.  As we were starting to go down the mountain, someone looked at me made and made a comment about whether a little girl like that could really climb to the top.  She made it up and down again, but she was really tired!