Today we planned to tour Mount St. Helens. We were up at 8am and on our way by 9:30am. One of the 3 Visitor Centers is just across the street from the Seaquest Park. We stopped there first. We saw a short film, bought my medallion, and got cancellations for the boys. As you exited the theater there were displays all around, even one that was a walk-through area representing the inside of a volcano.
From there we went to Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center. A quick look around and we were on our way to Forest Learning Center. This was by far the best done center we have been in. It was decorated so that you would feel like you were in the forest. The film was in a small room which looked like the volcano blast zone.
We continued the 57 mile drive up to Johnston Ridge Observatory, the closest facility to Mount St. Helens. On the way up we passed an “Elevation 400 ft” sign. That’s pretty high. And SNOW! There was melting snow piled up in the parking lot and some sidewalks were impassible. Wow! Can you believe my boys were throwing snowballs at each other on the last day of June?
We saw another film which concluded with the screen rising up revealing a stunning view of the crater center of Mount St. Helens. Spectacular. We heard a ranger talk here also. He spoke about the 2004 eruption. He was really informative. We finished our visit by hiking up Eruption Trail which led up and over a small hill. From the trail we got excellent views of the blast zone and the burn zone. Trees on surrounding hills were laid down like match sticks all facing away from the volcano. In the burn zone trees remained standing but were completely burned.
Back to the RV to make coffee and start our descent. We are staying again at Seaquest.
Tomorrow we are off to drive the coast of Oregon.
2 comments:
I love your posts. Has Parker grown that much that he is as tall as Ray now? It's close to the 4th and what will we do about our fireworks show with no Rowley's to share it with? Talk to you soon.
Kerry, we still have a tiny bottle of light grayish - white dust from the Mount St. Helens eruption. I can't remember but think my inlaws brought it back to us not long after the eruption. I thought we'd flung it when we were decluttering C's room this spring, but he thinks it's still there. Just one of those items one tends to keep around the house, turning up at odd times through the years... :)
We're really enjoying your photos!
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