Mt. St. Helens

I can’t say as I was truly interested in Mt. St. Helens before today, it was one of those “gotta see it” things that was close to where we were and fit with plan we had. 

I didn’t know much about it, just that it erupted in the 80’s and that the eruption was a big deal.  In fact prior to a few weeks ago I didn’t even know it was in Washington – I knew it was over here somewhere, but not sure exactly where. 

The history and the geology and the stories behind the event & the mountain made today very interesting!

We started at our campground and headed out down The Spirit Lake Memorial Highway – a road built by the State of Washington just so people can get out to the National Volcanic Memorial!  It replaced a road that lead to a summer camp on the shores of Silver Lake was destroyed by the eruption. 

There are 5 visitor centers along the road!  One was a Washington State Park, we didn’t go to that one and one was closed. 

At the 1st visitor center (I can’t spell or find online the name of it) there was lots of information about the YMCA camp that was on the shores of Spirit Lake that was completely destroyed.  There was also a nice overlook, although the view was obstructed by low clouds. 

The next visitor center was all about forestry and it was put together and staffed by the Weyerhaeuser Paper Company.  Weyerhaeuser owns much of the land surrounding Mt. St. Helens and the eruption impacted them in a big big way!  The visitor center was a combination of telling the story of Mt. St. Helens though the eyes the company and educating the public on the logging practices they use and how logging is actually good for the environment.

I wonder how much of their “this is a good thing” is real and how much is propaganda! Do they really do all the good stuff they say they are doing? And, is the “management” of forests and trees a good thing?  Are the humans trying to control nature too much?  I have read enough Carl Hiaasen to know not to trust big business, especially in the area of environmental responsibility! One of the things I saw that made me raise my eyebrows was that they feed the bears! When the bears wake up in the spring they are hungry and they frequently eat the bark off the trees which damages them and sometimes kills the tree.  Well, naturally they don’t want that, so they put out bear food until the berries ripen and the bears switch to eating berries. 

After taking in the exhibits there we traveled back to the 1st visitor center because they had a restaurant for lunch! While we were there the clouds lifted and the mountain showed herself!

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving down the road, stopping at overlooks and taking pictures! 

At the end of the road is the final overlook and visitor center, this one is run by the National Forest Service, although it looks and operates like a National Park! This visitor center was more focused on the earth science and geology behind the eruption and was really interesting!

Dad and I walked a few short trails and got some up close views of the Mt and the surrounding destruction.  It’s been 30 years and the area around the volcano is still very barren!  The areas owned by the paper company were replanted and “restored”, however the the area under the ownership of the National Forest Service has been left to it’s own natural devices. 

Dad and I were able to catch a glimpse of Spirit Lake, where the famed summer camp used to be. 

After we finished at the last visitor center we headed back down the road to our campground! We stopped at Mile 19 – a little family owned restaurant for some outstanding burgers and wonderful homemade cobbler!

Today I also learned that all my mountains that I have come to love are actually volcanoes! Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Adams, all active volcanoes!  After seeing the power – being able to compare Mt. St. Helens to the others and see the difference having it’s top blown off makes helped me see the immense power – makes me think twice about wanting to live where I can see them all! I’m sure that location is firmly in the blast zone!

Tomorrow we are heading to Mt. Rainier National Park – definitely a highlight of the trip that I have been looking forward to, however, I’m anticipating not having any internet or cell coverage the whole time we are there! YIKES!  We will be there for 5 days.  Sunday – Fri.  I’m seriously starting to twitch. Going cold turkey! It’s probably a good thing to unplug and put the iPhone away, but it’s like part of me, and it’s my connection with my friends and I’m having a hard time imagining going 5 whole days without knowing what’s going on. The good news though is that once we get to Fri I will have coverage or campground wifi the rest of the trip!

2010-07-17