Mount St. Helens, October 2017

Mount St. Helens Plan A was to hike from Windy Ridge to Loowit Falls on Friday, and hike to Spirit Lake Saturday. Then when the weather forecast said 90% chance of rain Friday but sunny Saturday, we thought we should do the Ape Cave Friday. Then Friday morning the forecast was only 25% chance of rain in the morning, with 45% about noon dropping to 15%, so we thought we'd to back to Plan A (now Plan C). When we got to Windy Ridge it was sunny and beautiful, but there was an ugly blizzard coming at us fast, so we went back to Plan B (now D). The Ape Cave was fun, and we had a great camp site deep in the woods.  Saturday morning we had a bit of automotive difficulties, after letting the guys sleep in, so a leisurely breakfast and long travel time on icy roads ate up much of our hiking time. We did make it to the top of Windy Ridge, and part way down to Spirit Lake. It was another excellent adventure. One of the highlights was the traditional Breaking of the Apple Ceremony being performed by guest apple-breaker and future Scoutmaster Eliot B (see video below). Another highlight was the rescue of two endangered St. Helens Sharks as they were swimming upstream in the snow in the middle of the road. Details to follow soon.