Normally I have my internship Mondays and Wednesdays, but this week was unique as I went to Seattle on Sunday for the special Valentine’s Day market event. Due to this, I had Wednesday off. I took advantage of this and went snowshoeing at Mount Saint Helen’s. About two and a half hours from Olympia, the south side (Ape Caves, Worm Lava Flow, Marble Mountain Snowpark) of Mount Saint Helens is great for snowshoeing, ski touring, and snowmobiling (if you happen to have access to one of those) in the winter. It’s also a lot less crowded in the winter than in the summer. I like the south side of Mount Saint Helens because you don’t need a guide to be able to hike (the northern side is where you can hike into the crater, which is really cool but can only be done with a paid guide) and because dogs are allowed off-leash.

If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can summit! It’s about 6 miles from the Marble Mountain Snowpark’s trail head to the summit, but it is 6000 feet elevation gain. Last winter I did it and it took about 9 hours roundtrip (but that was using touring skis, so I skied rather than hiked down), so definitely doable in a day if you really like to push your limits. If not, it’s about 3 miles to the base camp and not nearly as strenuous (maybe 1500-2000 feet elevation change). The base camp would be really nice camping, winter or summer (but probably pretty crowded in the summer).

Snowball to the face

Wednesday it snowed about a foot and a half overnight/while we were there. Being a Wednesday in February, we were the only one’s there so we made fresh tracks which was slow going but pretty magical. My dog loves snow and was having a great time zipping up and down the trail and in and out of the trees, chasing snowballs and eating the new snow. In the end, he probably went twice the distance us snowshoers went!

While I do have my own snowshoes, you don’t actually need your own to be able to enjoy Mount Saint Helens (or any of the Cascade mountains/volcanoes or Olympic mountains for that matter) in the winter. The Outdoor Program (TOP) offers super cheap equipment rentals for students looking to get out and about (snowshoes go for $7/day or $10/weekend; check out more equipment pricing here). TOP is not just for equipment rentals, however. They also plan trips students can sign up for. For example, this past MLK day (15 Jan 2018) TOP went to Mount Rainier for sledding and snowshoeing. Students only had to pay $10 to go on this trip. To see upcoming trips, check out TOP’s homepage. These trips are a really good way for students to get out and about, see all of the beauty of the Pacific NorthWest for really cheap, and meet new friends.

The sun finally peeked through when we hit the base camp