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Published: July 26th 2008
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And there it was
And then it wasn't There was hardly anybody in my camp last night, surprising really as it is in such a nice area and not far from Seattle.
However I headed back through Roslyn and got a last couple of snaps as the sun was at a better angle for some of them.
Out into the rabble on interstate 80 as I had enough ground that I wanted to cover today that the back roads would have taken too long.
This took me to Seattle over yet more great mountain scenery where I got onto I5 and headed south.
This quickly got me to the turnoff for today’s target area.
Mt St Helens, or at least what is left of it since its last big eruption in 1980.
I remember seeing it clearly on TV as a kid, it just doesn’t seem that long ago.
Crap I’m getting old.
Anyway yet more excellent scenery is to be seen on the road out from I5 and even better still there is no fee for getting into the area.
The road there is essentially a one way road.
At the time I was there it terminated at the Johnson Ridge observatory, which has an $8 entry fee
Toppled like toothpicks
Must have been drinking mass produced American beer. but this gives you access to a lookout area (only marginally better than the observatory itself) and access to the displays in the building.
Which includes a good 15 minute film in the theatre they have there.
It pays to take some time to make some stops along the road as there are many good points to stop and some trails to do also, of which I sadly did none due to a lack of time.
The extent of the blast from the volcano is sign posted on the road which gives a good reference point.
Much of the forest has been replanted as it was a commercial forest at the time of the eruption and still is.
But as you get closer and into the areas under the control of the park service (or whoever it is here) the forest thins out to almost nothing as they have just let nature do its own thing.
Which I think is a good way of doing it as it lets you see just how and how long it takes things to recover.
However many of the fallen trees were removed and milled soon after the eruption.
And many of the still
And again
Just incase you missed it the first time. standing but dead trees were also felled as they were considered a fire hazard.
It seems close the volcano when it erupted everything was wiped out, as you get further away you had all the fallen trees and then after that was where many of the trees were still standing but were killed by the heat and had most of their branches fried off.
On some sheltered slopes close the mountain where all other trees were knocked over there are still standing trees which avoided the main blast.
On the way out I stopped at a forestry education centre set up by the company which owns the forests in the area, it was interesting and worth a visit.
They had lookouts where you could view elk in the valley below, which is all very nice but I would have preferred a BBQ where you could observe small pieces of elk up close and then eat them.
With beer.
Yes the world is a less than perfect place.
After having a good nosey around at the observatory and taking the usual set of photos.
I listened to the ranger talk which was very interesting and learning surprising facts like as the sound waves from the eruption were refracted upwards and bounced down off the atmosphere and for the most part anywhere within about 100km of the mountain it couldn’t be heard.
However people in Canada heard it clearly.
One person who survived it and was only 14km from the mountain (on the opposite side to which the blast went) said he watched the eruption right in front of him without hearing it.
The first thing he heard was the snapping of the trees as the blast wave knocked them all over.
Seems that the mountain has had many eruptions over the last few thousand years and the 1980 one was the smallest.
With all this thrilling new knowledge under my belt I made my way back towards the interstate intending on heading south a bit before camping in the forest.
But as it was late afternoon and I was getting tired I was seduced by an RV park before I got to the interstate which looked very nice tucked into a pine forest, and it has showers!!
So now tent up and a couple beers (at least that is what it says on the can, but being a mass produced american brand it would hard to otherwise identify what it is without the help of the lable) in hand from the gas station over the road (the only other thing in sight) I am settling in for the evening.
May even crank up a camp fire…..
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