9/16 - 9/21 Mount St. Helens - Southern Washington's Volcanos |
Volcano Photo Gallery |
9/17 - Here we are smack in the middle of Washington's southern volcanos & I have no pictures to share. At least not yet. Today was cloudy all day & yesterday it rained much of the way here from Astoria, so no volcano views. Our route took us east on US30 to the Lewis & Clark Bridge over to Longview & Kelso, north a few miles on I5, then east again on US12. Our plan was to camp somewhere in Gifford Pichot National Forest, but with the rain & darkness coming, we pulled off at Ike Kinswa State Park for the night. On the shores of Mayfield Lake among mature big leaf maples, cedars & firs, it's quite nice & we enjoyed our brief stay.
Today's primary objective was to locate a suitable, yet free, campsite
somewhere in the national forest, convenient to Mount Adams, Mount St
Helens & Mount Rainier. For us suitable means quiet, hopefully scenic,
with good solar exposure & a "hole in the trees" so we
can find our satellite & get online. It didn't take too long to
find one that scored maybe a 6 out of 10, but I decided to see if we
could do better. I learned a little about forest service roads today.
Next time I'll drop Gypsy & scout in eBoy. As it was we had to make
rather difficult U-turns on 3 different roads & mangled a stabilizer
jack in the process. You really need to be a little cautious about towing
a 30' trailer up some of these roads.
We camped at the first site we had found & even here we had some tricky maneuvering to get in & oriented. Part of the reason I was hesitant about this location was it's proximity to a main road. It didn't help that when we were checking it out, a Porsche rally zoomed past. Maybe 30 or 40 of them whizzing by in groups of 6 or 8. Then 20 minutes or so later they were back, headed the opposite direction. It sounded like a Grand Prix event! Otherwise it's a nice spot & just a short walk to the Cispus River where we noticed spawning salmon as we were walking around this afternoon. I haven't plotted it out, but I think we're close to equidistant to the 3 volcanos, at least as the crow flies. Hopefully we'll get some of that forecasted clear weather so we can enjoy them.
9/18 - After early overcast, we were treated to lovely early fall day.
With some chores to attend to in the morning, we didn't get underway
until early afternoon. I figured we should try to take advantage of
the western light by checking out Mount Adams. At the Cispus Forest
Center they almost insisted that we had to go to Taklakh Lake for the
views there. 
From our camp it is only about 20 miles to the lake by Forest Service
road. With deep canyons & massive high rocks, the drive is beautiful.
But there are 8 miles of gravel washboard driving too, some steep, so
I was hoping the lake would live up to its billing. A couple of tantalizing
peeks hinted at what was to come. Then as we dropped into the Taklakh
campground, there it was: Stunning in its massive splendor. Mt Adams
is not a perfect volcanic cone; massive Adams Glacier pours from it's
northwest summit. But it is very impressive. Tomorrow: St Helens! 
9/19 - This morning we headed off to Windy Ridge,
the nearest one can get to Mount St Helens by auto. The forest service
road winds through mostly old growth forest; it needs a little work
but it's a nice drive. Early fall colors are beginning to add highlights
to the landscape. Soon after the turn to the National Monument the scene
changes: First to forests of standing dead timber, usually filled in
with shrubbery & young second growth. Then with the mountain dominating
the scene, the devastation of the eruption blast zone is revealed: massive
blowdowns, stark with limited recovery in most places, even after 25
years.
Various viewpoints provide vistas along the way. We stopped briefly
a couple of times, but to get the full effect you have to get to Windy
Ridge, which, by the way, is indeed windy, despite what was a generally
calm day elsewhere. At the ridge you can climb a few hundred feet up
to the lookout; stairs make it easy. There you look almost right "down
the barrel" of the blast. Spirit Lake is at your feet & the
full extent of the debris slope is revealed. What had been the top of
the mountain is now spread over a vast moonscape. The lake still contains
great quantities of floating timber, covering a significant portion
of its surface. Far below us an elk herd of about 15 animals, including
a large bull, had taken up residence on a rather barren hillock. A bald
eagle soared beyond. From the lookout & at various other viewpoints,
4 Cascade volcanos were visible. Besides St Helens, Mount Adams was
just east, Mount Rainier farther north & Mount Hood in the distance
to the south. Timmy enjoyed the walk up & back; at the lookout he
happily greeted other tourists as they arrived.
The area we are staying in must have had a deep ash blanket after the
eruption, but there is little evidence of it now. Some pools in various
streams seem to have a bluish mud bottom & some of the water seems
slightly turbid & a little more blue than normal. The Cowlitz is
a very milky blue, but that may be from glacial melt. Otherwise I haven't
seen anything that hints of the massive event that took place nearby
25 years ago.
9/20 - Today's mission was to get a good look at Mount Rainier. We failed, though not for lack of trying. Following a suggestion we headed east to Packwood, then to the Packwood Lake trailhead. In the direction of Rainier was a large cloud bank. The clouds seemed to be rotating like a giant pinwheel with the axis overhead. It wasn't looking good for seeing the mountain. We hiked a mile or so up the trail in hopes of a better vantage point & also to pass some time in hopes of clearing. It was a very enjoyable hike, almost all in deep old growth forest. But no luck with viewing Rainier. So I took a "trust me" picture: that's Mount Rainier ok, right in the middle of those clouds.
With the shortening days & the sun dropping lower in the sky, our
marginal solar exposure here just isn't cutting it. Oh, we get enough
for basic needs, but not enough to spend more than an hour or 2 online.
I'm not working this week, but I've got some affairs that need to be
taken care of. We're going to look for a sunnier spot tomorrow. I've
scouted all around here & there are none to be had. I had thought
about going south, but after 4 days on the Forest Service roads hereabouts,
I've decided against that idea. So we're going to head back & check
out the area to the west of St Helens. 
9/21 - The last day of summer. It's somehow fitting that I've decided to cut the trip a day short & head home tomorrow. We'll end our summer voyage on the first day of fall. Tonight we're at Seaquest State Park, due west of St Helens & right near the visitor center. Squeezing out of our boondock camp in the National Forest was a lot easier than squeezing in. I had 3 days to plot my exact approach, making sure to turn very wide so that we were straight on as Gypsy went through the gap between the 2 trees. Got it on the first attempt. It was a lovely crisp morning & we enjoyed the drive down the Cowlitz valley. I stopped to get a picture of a flower farm in Mossyrock. Seaquest is a very nice park, but for our purposes, the tall old growth trees throughout meant that we would have to get hooked up to ensure enough power for the work I needed to attend to. Not a bad way to end this adventure.
