Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Well, Here Goes


I'm going to attempt to put this hike into words.
Mt. St. Helens. Remember 30 years ago about 1800 ft of this mountain blew off and spread itself all over the place.

Yeah well, at the invitation of some friends we decided to hike this very mountain!! We had to sign up in February because they only allow 100 people a day to climb. We were determined to get ourselves in shape (for what exactly we weren't sure, nobody could have prepared us for this) Well, time passed a little too quickly and the shape we were in when we headed out on the trail probably wasn't the shape we should have been in!!! Really, from start to finish it's a 10 mile hike...........Pretty easy eh?

The first 2 miles you follow a happy little mountain trail.

The next abt 2 you climb piles of boulders

and when you get to the top of the pile........ there's another pile

and another pile to great you :)

Cindy, Arlin, Russ

The view behind us as we climb the boulders

Then you trudge through a mixture of sand, schale and ash ..... step forward slide back for the rest of the hike.

When we got to the top I was completely exhausted!!

I'm sure it had to do with a mixture of the altitude, the climbing over boulders and the overwhelming-ness of the last part of the climb!!!
Once we got up there and started looking around I just couldn't believe what I had done. The veiw was spectacular, Exhilerating, Breathtaking!

The best part about it though is "the spouse"......... Nearing the end I kept saying "just leave me, plz just leave me, you go up there, I'll watch, I can see the top from here!!!"

But Arlo WOULD NOT. He just stayed behing me and quietly encouraged me to keep going, I could do it, I would be sad if I didn't......... That's how he always is for me, at my hardest times he encourages, I'm so very thankful!

When we got in the car to go home I said "I will NEVER do that again" today is Tuesday, 4 days after the hike and I'm thinking 'when Jesse gets home I may do it again' Funny how time skews your memory......
Thanks for inviting us dear friends, it was a great day!

5 comments:

Russ Larsen said...

Great recap of a great hike. We are so happy that you guys came along and had a good time. Climbing mountains is strange in that when you are doing it you swear you will never do it again. But then within a few days you can't wait to do it again! It is one of the toughest things you will ever do, but also one of the most exhilarating. Kind of like childbirth.
Just be careful, it can be addicting.

Lauralee said...

Whew, I am exhausted just reading about your adventure. Thrilled for your wonderful success!

Skeem's said...

How cool Mom and Dad! Got a little teared up there when you said Dad was incouraging you along! Thats what you both have done for me:) Love you so much

Kristin said...

Look at you climbing mountains! I love it, what gorgeous views, I've never climbed Mt.St.Helen's, it looks spectacular! That encouraging spouse is so sweet!

Mary said...

Wow Cindy what a great recap! I almost felt as if I was there :) What a great Hubby you have! Thanks for sharing your great accomplishment!