MO Lester Has People in the FootHills Leary (Climbing St Helens)

I have climbed St Helen's on various occasions and this year I came in a bit leery as I have been having a problem with a disc in my back that limits my motion and at times brings me to a screeching halt. So I kind of feared that I was going to have trouble scaling the mountain.

This year I climbed the Mountain with April and Stephanie, and I believe those two were what the doctor ordered as they are just fun people to be around and they always seem to have me teetering on the edge of laughter.

The well Oiled Machine.

We decided awhile ago not to camp and just drive up the morning of the hike. Our plan was to be on the Mountain by 9:00 and be off the mountain by five, but the best laid plans simply some times are mis-laid. So we got on the mountain an hour late. 3 years in a row and no fat Jack at the registration. It was curious to see the the locals gather around a poster for the latest Child Molester to allowed to live in Cougar (Mr Mo Lester). (One can clique (sic) on these pictures and they get bigger)



Hike time temperature was 50 degrees with a cloud cover. We had no view of the top of the Mountain. Of course my camera was out of batteries when we started, April and Steph had on high tech clothing that was way too complicated for me and the vaunted Peanut Butter and Jelly hoagie in their back pack. For some reason I was too lazy to pack them and opted for a decent Fat Jack treat from the store.

The hike to above the tree line was fantastic, we all seemed to be in a good mood, the temperature was perfect and WE WERE NOT AT THAT PLACE CALLED WORK. I was expecting my back to be weird, but it was on its best behavior today. Once we entered the rocky area the hike actually seemed to get easier. We covered lots of distance in a short amount of time and the skies slowly and teasedly cleared ever so slowly leading to a great view at the top.

Per usual the last 1000 feet were a bit of a pain in the but we made it in style. We had inane conversations with everybody at the top, snapped some photos and headed down the mountain once again. Pig Pen and April did not have the down hill verve and four days later their quads are still barking a little bit...It was nice to get back to the tree line and smell the pine trees again, and the shadows from the sun and the trees seemed to bend perfectly. This was a very nice hike.. I give it