August 22: Mount St. Helens – There And Back Again

Mount St. Helens Sign: National Volcanic Monument — Entrance to the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

Mile 4252 – Stevenson, Washington (in the Columbia River Valley).

We woke up to gray skies at the west entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. Even had some drizzle on the way up the mountain. Rainier remained in the clouds as we drove out of the park, but then again it cleared miraculously and we had a wonderful, crystal-clear afternoon by the time we got to Mount St. Helens.

I first visited Mount St. Helens in 1982, two years after the eruption. It was a moonscape then. Now it was much greener. Spirit Lake still has some floating logs left over from the eruption, but it looks much clearer now, and life is coming back more than diverse than before.

Drove through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest all day. Reached the Columbia River Valley by evening.

Dead Trees at Mount St. Helens — Standing Trees from the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens

Blowdown Trees at Mount St. Helens — Blowdown Trees from the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens

Stairs to the Mount St. Helens Windy Point Overlook