Tag Archives: Dr. Robert McElroy

Mount St Helens Hike, May 2014

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Mount St Helens
Date: May 28, 2014
Difficulty: 9 out of 10
Distance: 10.8 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 5,700 feet
Time: 8 to 10 hours
Location: Near Cougar, Washington
Users Group: Hikers Only
Permits: Permit Fee Required (100 per day)
Trail Conditions: Damp to Snow Pack
Hiking With: Dr. Robert McElroy & Dr. Adrian Hillyer

Dr. Robert McElroy was kindly nice enough to ask me to join him and Dr. Adrian Hillyer to climb Mount St. Helen in the middle of the week. Since I have never attempted to summit this mountain, I said to myself….”oh hell yes!”. Our climbing permit was for Wednesday so we drove down to Cougar, Washington on Tuesday afternoon and pitched our tents at Marble Mountain Snow Park just South of the base of Mount St. Helens. I jumped into my sleeping bag at 8:45 p.m. with my earplugs in and was fast asleep with a little help from one Advil PM.

We woke at 3:00 a.m. and the first thing I did was boil water for tea and for my Mountain House freeze dried beef stroganoff. After packing up the tents and everything else back in the car we took off on the Worm Flows Route in a light rain. The first couple of miles were fairly easy with mild elevation gain. As soon as we hit the snow the elevation became steeper and the heart rate and breathing increased. At times you were digging in with your toes heading straight up.

After 5 hours of grueling fun we made it to the crater rim with no visibility. As we were gearing up for the descent we had a couple of minutes of a sunbreak and were able to see the new dome…totally cool. We tried to glissade as mush as possible but the snow was getting softer later in the day, it still helped quite a bit and we made it back to the car in 3 hours.

Little Saint Helen’s Snowshoe, January 2014

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Little Saint Helen’s
Date: January 5, 2014
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 7 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 1,200 feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 47, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Packed Snow
Hiking With: Mike Curry, Dr. Robert McElroy, Rick Massie & Macho my dog wonder.

A good friend of mine, Robert McElroy asked me to hike Little Saint Helen’s off of exit 47 on 1-90 near Snoqualmie Pass in Washington with a few of his friends. I have never done this hike….actually I have never heard of it either. Maybe because it doesn’t have a lot of elevation and during the summer there are horses and mountain bikes on the trail. I would never hike this trail during the busy summer, but with snow on it, it keeps all the bikers and horses off.

I asked Mike Curry and Rick Massie to come along too; this was my 5th hike in 2 weeks with Rick Massie. We didn’t quite make it to the trailhead due to snow, so we had to hike an extra mile to where we wanted to start. Due to the numerous logging roads and the snow we were never sure if we were actually on Little Saint Helen trail, it really didn’t matter what road or trail we were on, it was a gorgeous sunny day for a snow hike.

Granite Mountain Hike, June 2012

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Granite Mountain
Date: June 3, 2012
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 4,000 feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 47, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to heavy snow at the top.
Hiking With: Dr. Robert McElroy & Macho the Dog Wonder.

Dr. Robert McElroy invited me to hike with him and a few of his friends on Granite Mountain, exit 47 on I-90. The purpose of this hike was to stair-step the winter trail up to the forest ranger’s lookout tower and glissade down on the descent.

When we got out of our cars at the trailhead, there were a couple of forest rangers hanging around. Well, that meant Mr. Macho Man (my dog) had to be on the leash….which is totally miserable for me and him. So, I told Rob I would take off before the forest rangers did so I could take the leash off down the trail. I didn’t know the trail conditions or more importantly I didn’t know that one of the avalanche shoots had a major snow/mud avalanche around March and destroyed part of the trail about a third of a mile in. I tried to negotiate my way through the debris, but somehow I missed the trail and found myself on the other side of the mudslide completely unable to find the trail. I was able to use my cell phone and call the Doc, who was now ahead of me and gave me a little advice on where the trail was. After a hard push I caught up with the group in twenty minutes.

We wanted to take the winter route up, but due to a lack of snow….we stayed on the summer trail until we got out of the tree-line and took the snow straight up to the look-out tower. Snow conditions were perfect, no snowshoes needed http://youtube.com/watch?v=1Egl0SMdD0c&feature=g-upl. We stayed at the top long enough to change our wet shirts, munch down a sandwich and drink some hot tea.

It was a much faster pace down; descending in snow goes much quicker than a normal dry trail and much easier on old knees. When I got back down to the parking lot, a young couple asked me if they could get a ride back to Seattle because they lost their car keys on the trail. This meant that I had to forgo my stop at the North Bend Bar & Grill!

Poo Poo Point, January 2011

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Poo Poo Point
Date: January 14, 2011
Difficulty: 3 out of 10
Distance: 3.2 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 1,650 feet
Time: 1.5 to 2 hours
Location: Issaquah, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: No Permits Required
Trail Conditions: Wet, with light rain at times.
Hiking with: Dr. Robert McElroy

I actually wanted to snowshoe today, but the forecast was calling for rain for much of the area including the mountains.  We could have driven to the Mt. Rainier area where the elevation is much higher and got out of our car in snow, but I was just coming off of a cold and didn’t feel like a long drive.  Besides the increased avalanche danger, starting off in rain during a long snowshoe scramble is just dreadful.  My good friend, Dr. Robert McElroy and I decided on a simple, vigorous hike….and something close to home.  We both drove to the Poo Poo Point trailhead and it was still dark yet.  I hopped in Rob’s car to check out his new Android phone until we could see a little light.  

I started off with a jacket due to the light rain, but within 5 minutes of the hike I was already stowing it.  We made it to the top in about 30 minutes and took a small break for food and photo opp.  Near the top, there are some steep short-cuts Rob was taking and my heart rate hit 173….felt like 190 though!

Granite Mountain Hike, May 2009

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Granite Mountain
Date: May 9, 2009
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,900′
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: I-90 Exit 47, Washington
Users Group: Hikers Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass Required
Hiking with: Lance Leasure, Alex Drew & Dr. Robert McElroy

This was a tough hike