Mount St. Helens – Monitor Ridge Route

We had arrived at the Climbers Bivouac campsite the night before at around 9:30pm and pitched a tent to sleep. We woke up at 4:45 a.m. and were hiking by 5:30 a.m. We had light daypacks, one trekking pole each and a few snacks.

The trail from the trailhead was very well defined and easy to follow as signs pointed us in the correct direction for the Monitor Ridge Route. We passed a few parties on the way and then took a short break at around 4,800′ where you leave the treeline. Here we could see the posts marking the way on the ridge and a few other parties ahead of us.

We made our way up to the ridgeline on scrambley terrain, eventually gaining the ridgeline and following posts while travelling almost on the ridge crest. We had finally made it above the clouds and it was cool to feel like we were on an island in the sky. After a few steeper scrambling sections it turned into a gradual sandy slog with trails in all directions. We took the one that looked best and kept making our way uphill. We hit the rim and turned west, walking the well defined pathway to the summit after a few ups and downs.

At the top we enjoyed the views, ate a snack and took a break as it was 8:45 a.m. Once it started getting windy and we got cold we reversed the route all the way back to the car. The top sandy part was fun on the way down as it was great plunge stepping in soft sand.

Eventually we landed in the clouds again and made it back to the car around 11 a.m. Very fun hike to a cool summit!