Finally got some great weather! Yes! Been loving having the house open and letting the sunshine in, where it can…..lol
We are aiming to go hiking on Mt St Helens later this week since, other then lunch, we didn’t do much for our anniversary. Other then the 2-3 hr drive, I’m totally looking forward to it. We need to figure how early we want to leave….not sure on that one.
There is a 12 mile hike that we are looking at, yes, I know after the last one, I said no more one day hike more then 5-8miles….but this may get us to close to edge of the crater. Now when we started talking about this early May, they news just had it on that they opened the roads to the visitor center closest to St Helens. And when they showed it, there was snow about 20ft high on the side of the road. So I really didn’t think any hike was possible…because we really don’t have snow gear for that.
But they do have web cams on the mountain, the snow is pretty high up, and we shouldn’t be going over the 4000 level that much, according to the map, so we pretty sure that we can do the hike. And what hubby has found, it has been in the 60s where we want to go and 40s at night.
I’m hoping that we can do it in 6-7 hours, better then the 8hrs we’ve done in the past. I’m hoping mainly due to the fact that looking at the map, we will be doing a lot of up and down but doesn’t seem like a lot of the extreme elevation changes we’ve done in the past. But we’ll see….I just want a good hike with great scenery.
We are aiming for a good weather day, the sun is out until about 8:30pm but I do want to prepare just in case. There is always some story in the news about lost hiker stuck out over night when it gets cold and they aren’t prepared. I want to make sure we aren’t one of those stories, that is how you can get hurt or worst. So pack a little extra food and clothing while trying not to weigh down the packs too bad.
When we look back at it, our first 12 mile hike around Multnomah Falls, we were really lucky that nothing like that happened. We took a difficult, steep trail, not one that inexperience hikers really should take, used our regular back packs for some food, water and we did dress in layers….no lamps or first aid kit, no compass…..
Part of our trail was not marked very well and for a bit there, we thought we were lost. There is nothing like being in the middle of an old part of a forest that people rarely see with no clear trail, so far out of the main paths, hearing the eerie silence, no way to use your phone to creep you out. Luckily, hubby is like, do not panic…..which is the worst thing you can in a situation like that. We kept on going and finally found a clear path, but you do not forget that feeling.  Then it was a race against day light, at least it was down hill.
We got to the road as we lost daylight, the hike plan had us going back into the woods for the last 2 miles… Heck no, if we did that there is no doubt in my mind that we would’ve broken one of our limbs or gotten lost in the dark. So we walked the last 2 miles on the road. Another beginner mistake we made, is we didn’t leave a note in our windshield when to we expected to be back and the trails.
The good thing about that hike, that hubby keeps pointing out, is that we pushed our limits and know what we can do. Which is true, but at the time we hadn’t started at the gym, totally overweight (well much more then I am now…lol) and we could barely move for days afterwards…..icks…lol
Since then, we have gotten proper water bottles, hiking back packs, head lamps, compass, first aid kit, knives, trekking poles, all weather blanket and other things that would help if a situation arises. And we finally got decent rain jackets last month…..wind breakers do no cut it. So tomorrow we are going to get everything together so we are ready to take off depending on the weather.
I’m going to be signing up for a class to learn what all the gadgets on our nikon D70s does in July. Right now I’ve been going over the field guide book that we have. Just trying to get some info in my head…..while testing it on the cats….lol We need a new lens, so I’ve been browsing B&H Photography.
Looking at a Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AFS-S DX Nikkor Autofocus Lens (WB)/LensCoat Kit Probably going to do some more browsing and then hit up my photographer friends for their opinions. I just need a good lens that lets me learn. If I get good enough, then I can move on to the next set of lenses.
Tomorrow goals is to finish getting ready, catch up any all and work and finally do our books. Right now, it is time for me to head to bed. =)
