Mt. St. Helens Winter Style

Ty and I have loved every excursion to Mt. St. Helen that we have had over the last few years. But we have never tried it in the winter. And we have never had such an unbelievably beautiful day. I mean look at this! This just does not happen. Especially not in the middle of February. We had no business getting so lucky. But we enjoyed every minute of it. Ty needed desperately to get out of the city and have a little adventure, and I being one to never turn down a mini trip obliged in finding us a little cabin. And since Mother Nature knew how important this little get away was to Tyler's sanity, she threw in the perfect weather.
This is what two very happy campers look like.

Out good friends the Groesbecks and the Apkers joined us for the afternoon. We played in the snow and checked out all of the different view points along the road leading to St. Helen. Unfortunately the road was closed off due to snow, so we didn't get to go as far as we wanted. At least not by car. But more on that later.

Rosie and I are gifted dancers. Clearly.

But so is Tyler. Our children will be very talented. Rosie, Me and Katie soaking up the sunshine. Being outside in the cold sunshine is incredibly refreshing. I felt like a new woman after a few hours outside.

Also, note the little plume of smoke behind me. St. Helen still smokes, and it is awesome how well you can see it on a cold day. One of the most beautiful places on earth. I am sure of it.
After we drove around we said goodbye to our friends and they went home to hang at the cabin and be warm. We however have been wanting to try out a new potential hobby. Snowshoeing. We rented some snowshoes and bought an old used pair off CraigsList and hit the trail, so to speak. We had no idea what we were up against as neither of us had ever tried before. But we fell instantly in love. And how could we not on a day like this? We started out with an easy one miler. We were acting like little kids. We were so excited and having s much fun and so happy to be outside hiking again. It has been a long indoor winter. We are so happy to have found a way to keep hiking all winter long. I just don't know why it has taken so long for us to try out snowshoeing.

On day two we decided to give a more valiant effort with a just under 10 miler. Perhaps a little ambitious for our first attempt. We did manage to get totally lost for awhile. It is hard to stick to the proper trail, when there is none. And when the trail markers are barley visible in the snow. But we had a great time blazing our own trail until we finally found where we were supposed to be. Which was traversing up a very very steep mountain. My friends, snowshoeing is hard work. I am sure we burned eleventy million calories trekking up that baby. But the view was spectacular, and the feeling of total isolation was wonderful. We didn't see another human being the entire time we were out. It was silent and cold and so lovely. We did end up bailing out early because some serious clouds started to roll in, and we did not really want to get lost on the ridge of a volcano. Maybe next time.

I feel so lucky to have married someone with an adventurous spirit and a true love of nature. I have always loved being outside and trying new things, but it was not until I married Tyler that I really fell in love with all that the out doors has to offer. There is something very personal and spiritual for me about being out in nature. We have hiked, camped, rafted, traveled, now snowshoed and I have loved every single moment of it. We have really enabled each other to be adventurous and to try new things. I am so glad I have Tyler to share all of these fun experiences with.
And simply for your viewing pleasure:

I saw this on the road as we were driving home and Tyler of course made us go back so we could take a picture. That is a full set up ribs. Picked dry. And bloody. I throw up just a little every time I look at that. But its kind of cool at the same time. But ew.