Mount Rainier National Park/Mount Saint Helens

Highlights:

–   Beautiful fall weather

–   A fun and famous volcano hike

–   Proximity to Seattle, Washington

It quickly became clear that winter was coming quickly to the Cascades by the end of October, and the best way to avoid it was to head towards the coast. We drove aggressively westward, spending one night in a state park somewhere in Washington before arriving in the Seattle area. This would be a great opportunity to explore Seattle if you have a few days and love cities. To be quite honest, we spent one night in a hostel (Green Turtle) which was quite expensive and dingy (but centrally located!) that we wished we had just spent in a park. But if you want to have a break in a city, Seattle is a convenient city to visit while in the Pacific Northwest.

To be honest, we didn’t spend too much time in Mount Rainier National Park because we spontaneously decided to hike to the top of Mount Saint Helens and wanted to sleep closer to the trailhead. It is an absolutely beautiful park with quick day hikes to multi-day treks (i.e. the Wonderland Trail) as well as plenty of snow-shoeing and cross country ski trails if you arrive after the snow. At the end of October, the weather was cool but comfortable and, for us at least, perfectly sunny. But maybe that was just luck!

After obtaining our Junior Ranger badges and looking for banana slugs at Mt. Rainier, we headed towards Mt. Saint Helens to the Climber’s Bivouac parking lot. The forest road to the parking lot was extremely pot-holey, so make sure you drive slowly. It was not a problem for our small car, but we had to dodge lots of deep holes. Note: Mt. St. Helen’s requires a hiking permit to summit, which can be purchased online at recreation.gov for $15 per person plus $6 processing fee (per transaction). The price is set to increase in 2024, so make sure to check the price ahead of time. Additionally, for Gifford Pinchot National Forest you either need an inter-parks pass or to pay $5 fee per vehicle. You can pay using a cash envelope at the trailhead or purchase at some businesses (we bought ours at a motel on the way in), which you can look up online. So, this may be one of the most expensive hikes on your journey…

Besides the cost, this hike was really fun! On Ptarmigan trail, it is about 13.6 km out and back with 1,418 m in elevation gain. It took us about 6.5 hours total with pictures and lunch at the top. We set up camp right by the trailhead; there was even a pit toilet and a fire ring where we cooked our dinner before turning in early. The only bad part about sleeping near the trail parking lot were the many people who arrived late at night or early in the morning to get a head start on the hike. We ended up starting around 5:00 in the morning so we could emerge from the treeline for sunrise. The beginning of the trail is extremely flat and quick as you walk through the forest. Once above the tree line, the trail steepens and includes some boulder fields to navigate. At the top, there is a bit of an ash field, but it’s not as loose as some ash fields we’ve encountered elsewhere, before you arrive on the glaciers at the top and continue along the rim of the crater to the official peak. We were the first people at the top, and we enjoyed the beautiful views completely undisturbed. From the top on a clear day there is a great view of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood. On the way down, there were many people and groups making their way up, and I was glad we had left so early to avoid the bright sun. It was a bit difficult to keep track of the trail through the boulder field, so I would definitely recommend having a GPS map like from AllTrails with you.

Overall, if you want to hike any of the volcanoes in the area, I would definitely recommend this one as it was just challenging enough to be fun but not too challenging to require special gear or much planning ahead of time.