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Mount Saint Helens….A Must See When In Washington State

When we were in Seattle a few years back we tried to get up Route 99 to visit Mount Saint Helens and the 1980 blast site.  It was early July and the road was still closed due to snow!  This time in early October we were treated to temperatures in the low 30s but only rain on the fist day and no snow.  We took 2 separate hikes around the area.  The first led us up 386 wooden steps to a viewing platform where we could see the inside of the crater and then along a narrow path that featured great views of Spirit Lake. The second was the Truman Trail that led us down close to Spirit Lake and then up to boundary of the crater, or at least as close as we could legally get.

We highly recommend checking out this youtube of the eruption and its discussion of the magnitude of it by clicking the link below:

We knew we were in for a treat when the clouds parted and we saw the rim of the volcano’s cone and the road cutting across the landscape that would take us closer to the blast site.
We did not take this picture of the mountain but the information kiosk shows a before and after eruption picture of the volcano. We still cannot believe that this blast occurred while we were teenagers!
This kiosk shows the pre-eruption height of Mount Saint Helens. That must have been one heck of a large blast!
This picture of Spirit Lake shows the log mat still remaining after 38 years! We figure no one is going to clean it up in the near future. We could not believe that the blast instantly raised the surface of the lake by 200 feet due to all the debris being blown into it.
We love this panoramic shot of Spirit Lake we took during our hike.
Our trail tread was comprised of volcanic pumice. Not too easy to walk on but it sure did make for an easy to follow path.
After hiking in toward the crater for a few miles we found our trail du jour.
Our view shortly after rounding a bend in the trail. Gorgeous!
This was as close as we were allowed to get to the actual crater. Very eerie feeling.       
This view during lunch made us wonder about whether we should follow the trail into the clouds?

Here are some other pictures we snapped whilst walking along on a beautiful afternoon:

  

There is an elk herd in the distance but our camera didn’t have the zoom power to prove it.

We passed by a plate boundary observation station and read the placard displayed there. We could not believe the accuracy to which these devices measure the Earth’s movement…..up to 1/1,000,000 of an inch!

 

3 Replies to “Mount Saint Helens….A Must See When In Washington State”

  2. So the volcano is still active then? Did they tell you why you cant approach the crater? Seems like it might just be common sense

  3. Hey grandpa the mathmaster how about taking Chris,Marnielle,Myles and harper on a trip to nature bridge?
    -someone,or your grandman

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