Mount St. Helens - June 30, 2025

Last summer, we attempted to climb Mount St. Helens with friends Tim, Laura, Jesse, and Sarah. But it happened to be the only stormy day of the month, and we turned around in the boulder field, vowing to try again next year. (You have to buy permits well in advance, so you can't just go back and do it the next weekend)

The very wet crew deciding to call this our summit for the day:

This year was predicted to be a hot one, so we told the Goodfellows that we would go as early as they were willing to get up.

Calculating civil twilight and the time it would take us to get through the woods and to the start of the difficult scrambling up the boulder ridge, we decided to hit the trail at 3:30 am - that meant a 2:15 am wakeup for me!

Full of dinner and packed and ready for our climb, we all went to bed super early and hoped to get some sleep before our middle-of-the-night alarms. 

We timed it perfectly, with the sun just starting to show as we neared the tree line. Mount Adams:

Do we look like we woke up at 2:15 am?!?! HA!

We stashed our headlamps, fueled up with snacks, and snapped some pictures before heading up the ridge.

The temp was perfect as we made our way in the shadow of Monitor Ridge.

About where we turned around last time:

After many hours of hiking, scrambling up boulders, and slogging through scree, we made it to the crater rim!

Heading up to the true summit:

We've climbed this mountain before with Tim and Laura, but this was the first summit for Jesse and Sarah! Congrats on becoming mountaineers, friends!

Because of the boulders, the descent isn't much faster than the ascent, though we did find a few lingering snow patches on which to glissade. 

A nice wind kept the temps from becoming intolerable. But we could feel it getting hotter and hotter, and we were so glad to have made it up and down to the trees before the heat hit!

Mount Adams:

Only three groups left the trailhead before we did (closer to midnight), so we basically had the mountain to ourselves on the way up! And the summit, which is usually full of climbers, wasn't very crowded - a treat!

What a great day with friends - doing something so hard and so rewarding! 

Who wants to go next year??

Foggy Lake photos and summit video

Here are some photos from Brad's camera from our Gothic Peak / Del Campo Peak climbing trip :)

(Click to enlarge any photo)

The approach:

Foggy Lake from our campsite:

Home for a couple days:

The saddle between Gothic and Del Campo peaks:

Gothic Peak on the left:

Climbing Gothic Peak. Frozen Foggy Lake in the background:

Surrounded by mountains!

Del Campo Peak across the way:

Mount Rainier:

You can barely make out our yellowish tent on the rocks right in the middle of the photo - just above the lake between two snow patches:

In the moat:

Should have stayed up on the slab:

Not sure what that peak is:

Rainier:

Video from the summit!

Del Campo:

Summit log:

The descent - that's where we just were!

Now heading up Del Campo:

Similar view:

Gothic Peak across the way:

The snowfield below Del Campo summit block:

Ice ax and trekking pole - three points of contact :)

Mount Baker from the summit:

Little Foggy Lake 1,400 feet below:

The descent - a little lake at the Del Campo saddle:

This was an amazing, challenging, beautiful trip! I'm so glad we were able to squeeze it in to our summer :)

Climb reports: Gothic and Del Campo