The Hunt - Circumnavigation of Mt. St. Helens

Sometimes in order to find yourself, you need to lose yourself first.

My decision to run around Mt. St. Helens had a lot to do with re-building my self-confidence and taking time for some self reflection. I'm sorry for not following up on my original invites to friends, but I felt like running this one alone. Having already ran around it once last October, I felt competent enough to safely manage my food, water, and energy. And yes Mum, Teresa and several friends knew where I was and when to expect to hear from me.

My route would start at the Marble Mountain sno park and run clockwise, following the Volcanic 50 course exactly.

RUNNING HEAVY - SOUTHEAST TO WEST

Knowing how exposed and how hot the day was going to be, my water supply consisted of two 22 oz handheld bottles and a full 2 Liter bladder (and a water filter for re-filling). My pack was probably the heaviest I've ever run with, and my legs/shoulders kept reminding me of it. Within the first three miles, I almost face planted twice and already took a wrong turn. Hmm, I better start drinking my water to lighten my load...

Varied Terrain

As soon as the views were omnipresent, my pack felt lighter and my legs were running easier. The wind of its beauty was catching my sails, and sometimes blowing silt in my face. The views were absolutely phenomenal, whether you were looking at the exploded mountain, or the infinite forest of the Cascade Range. The terrain on the mountain was incredibly varied, and it constantly goes from running on the moon to running in a forest to running in a desert and back to running on the moon. Incredible. The power of the mountain was obvious even from the South side, and that wasn't even the blast zone.

Neil Armstrong landed here once.

My emotions were giddy as I navigated the terrain, excited to run around at my own leisure. Rock hopping, rock dodging, tree jumping, slope scrambling...it's a real playground. Certain sections of the trail are the pure definition of technical, especially the lava rock fields that turn into a sketchy game of hopscotch. Most of the rocks are fixed, but sometimes I found one that had me rocking like a hurricane. During the Volcanic 50 race, I can see these lava rock sections being very interesting for many of the runners.

Ascending and descending through the forested Southwest corner of the mountain, I finally reached the Toutle River. This was a good opportunity to play around with my water filter and take lunch (about 13 miles into the run). The river is skinny and shallow, but the river channel is HUGE! The photos below give an example of what it takes to scramble in and out of the channel to reach the trail on the other side. It's gnarly and extremely tough to get a solid footing in the sandy-silt.

Toutle River

The climb out of the Toutle River channel

THE HUNT - WEST TO NORTHEAST

Fallen Trees on the Northwest side of the Mountain

The climb out of the Toutle River basin is one of the longer climbs of the route, and it gets frustratingly sandy near the top. Regardless, the views are fantastic. After reaching the top, it's only a few miles to the epic blast zone. The terrain levels off, and it becomes rather fun with rolling ups and downs through a rather moon-like terrain. The crater of the mountain slowly creeped into view, steaming with the evaporation of snow. Dead trees that were blasted by the eruption were still petrified and pointing away from the mountain. Rocks were everywhere, and vegetation was scarce.

The Crater

Tracks: Brooks Cascadias

Tracks: Rogue Racer

All of a sudden, I noticed something on the trail. There were several types of footprints, but these were all too familiar. My trail running experience helped me conclude that I was following a pair of Brooks Cascadias and Rogue Racers. From what I could tell, the Rogue Racer was the leader, and they were hiking the hills. Immediately, I went into hunting mode. My pace increased, and my eyes were pealed on the lunar horizon of the blast zone looking for them...I could almost smell them. Every hiker on the trail told me they were only a couple miles ahead. "You'll never catch them! They're booking it like the bible!" one hiker said to me. Don't ever underestimate the Jbob, I said with my eyes. As I reached the Oasis of drinkable groundwater, I finally spotted the runners in the distance. Only a matter of time now. The natural spring was bursting across the trail and provided a great opportunity to fill my bottles before beginning the chase. No water filter was used, and I'll keep you posted on the consequences of that decision later this weekend (many sources claim the water is drinkable straight up). The natural spring is half a mile East of the Loowit Falls trailhead, bursting out of a rock just above the trail. See photo below.

Green Oasis in the desert. The Natural Spring on the North Side of the mountain,
about half a mile East of the trailhead to Loowit Falls. It's obvious,
and you can see the water bursting out of a rock.

A FEW GOOD MEN -  NORTHEAST TO SOUTHEAST (FINISH)



Hot Damn! Brooks Cascadias (Josh Owens) and the Rogue Racers (Josh Marks)

Huckleberries!

After hiking up Windy Pass, I caught up to the runners as we were reaching the bottom of the descent. Lo' and behold, it was Josh Owens and Josh Marks! These guys ran the Mt. Hood 50 miler and Marks paced Owens at the Waldo 100K, both races that I volunteered at...so we recognized each other pretty quickly. Both Joshes are in training for the Pine to Palm 100 miler in September, and this was their first ever circumnavigation around Mt. St. Helens (and the next day they would summit). They let me tag along, and they made great company considering I'd been chasing them down for the last 5 miles. The hunt was over.

One of my favorite shots. Photo by Josh Owen.

Rocks-Rocks-Rocks-Rocks-Rocks-
Rocks

The trail was flipping awesome, weaving in and out of silty channels, popping into random forests and fields of huckleberries. Of course, there was one last section of lava rocks that slowed us down a bit. Such is life. The rock hopping was a bit less enthusiastic after 9 hours of running/hiking, but we eventually cleared the final technical dance with the mountain. This is where we departed. Josh and Josh started at the climber's bivouac, so they had three more miles to go on the Loowit trail. It was an honor to run with these men, I had a blast getting to know them. After we parted ways, the final 2 miles of downhill were gradual enough to bomb down...thus completing one of the funnest runs I've ever done...about 33 miles in 9 hours and 30 minutes.

VOLCANIC 50 RUNNERS

Course knowledge will go a long way in the Volcanic 50 race on September 15th. For those running it, I highly recommend wearing gaiters and some sort of hat or sun visor. The course is mostly exposed, and can get pretty hot. And get intimately familiar with the course map, it'll help. Be prepared for every kind of terrain, including a few river crossings (ones where you can't avoid getting your feet wet). My conservative pace got me around the mountain in 9 hours and 30 minutes, mainly because of technical trail, photos, water filtering, and general frolicking. It's a slow course, so be prepared for a long day. Cheers!

FINAL WORDS

The mountains are calling...bring your dancing shoes.

Vanity shot.
Mt. Adams from the east side of Mt. St. Helens.

Much Love,

Jbob