Day Trippin'

Not quite on a whim, but close to it, I went off to Mt. St Helens for a day-hike on Sunday. A buddy, whom I shall call "Fremont", and I went off into the wild to just get in the great out-of-doors and get some fresh air. We never made it to the edge of the crater, but had fun trekking around the base.

Here's the run-down: The Mt. is about 60mi. from my digs in Hillsboro. We headed out around 9am to make the most of the day. Note that this is really freakin' early for me on a weekend. Im used to getting up around 10:30 or later on the weekend. As a general rule, I try to never sleep less than 9-10 hours on my days off. And my body nearly made me hold good even on Sunday, as my alarm clock didnt go off at 8am like I had planned. I slowly turned, settling into my sheets, rubbing my face against the pillow and was inches away from dreamland once more when my eye caught glimpse of the sun filtering through the blinds. Eh? Morning already? I checked the clock. 8:50am! And I couldnt call Fremont since his cell phone had died earlier in the week. Only thing I could do was to go into mad rampage mode and get my shit together in a real freakin' hurry.

Five minutes to shit, shower and shave later and I was out the door and on the road to arrive a mere 15 min. late. Not too bad. We hit the Thriftway for some caffiene and a quick breakfast sandwich and then off to the middle of nowhere. The drive up to Mt. St Helens took about an hour and a half. Along the way, trees blanketed the hillside and stood sentinel along the roadside. During a few streches of road, leaves held canopy creating a green tunnel with shafts of sunlight beaming through at points. We drove awhile, reaching an unmarked viewpoint which had a trail leading down to a river running rapid through the valley below, and hiked down to light a campfire.

A couple hours later, we managed our way back to the road and headed for Ape Cave. A deep, unlit, non-special cave 10mi. back towards town. I've been through some pretty spectacular caves before, and this... this was not one of them. Yes, it was a cave. Yes, it was dark and wet. Yes, it was fairly deep, but thats where the interesting details stop. No cool rock formations; no crystals underground; no bats flying overhead. Just a oddly shaped hole in the ground.

From there, it was time for the winding road home and perhaps a brief stop along the way to take in the fresh air once more before diving back into the city smog.

And now, back at my desk, I understand that this past weekend may have been the last best chance I'll have to hang with Fremont. He's engaged to be married next year! Who knows what adventures await them, and I wish them all the best. Damn, he's asked me to be the best man at his wedding, so I'll need to come up with something better to toast when the time comes... But all that is for a time yet to come and there is much to do before then.

All said and done, it was a good trip and a good, last, summer weekend.