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Saved: February 24th 2016
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Mt. St. Helens
View from the eruption side of the mountain. Original height was 9,667 Today it is 8,366' I have got to start out the blog today by mentioning the large number of bicyclists we have been seeing from Oregon into Washington. They seem to be everywhere, carrying their supplies and tents, and riding up and down roads that I have to shift gears for in the car. This part of the country, people seem to really be into this activity and we are seeing folks of all ages pumping the iron frames all over the mountains. Amazing, to say the least. (We also notice that there are far less overweight people here. Ok, enough of making myself feel guilty for not exercising enough.) Our first full day in Washington was spent going to see Mt. Saint Helen’s. As we traveled we started seeing what appeared to be remnants of a forest fire. But as we went further we saw that it was covering a larger area. Mt. St. Helens had been dormant for 123 years until it started to show signs of distress in March 1980. In May the volcano erupted into a fierce force of nature with a blast of heat reaching over 400 degrees, wind speeds exceeding 350 mph, and pushing lake water 800 feet up
Crater may be seen
The crater is somewhat hidden as the blast went horizontal rather than vertical. the banks. We saw a car that was 8 1/2 miles from the blast that was tossed across a road and tumbled over and over. It took LESS than a minute to go the 8 1/2 miles and reach the car. It’s owner was in a cabin nearby and lost his life as the blast literally disintegrated his cabin and everything inside. There had been warnings because of earthquakes showing the eruption was close but when it came it carried such force that everything in its path was either blown over, fried to a crisp by the heat, or covered by the flow of pumice rock. A nearby lake (Spirit Lake) had been quite large but when the flow came it caused the lake to rise 200’ and the wind was so strong it pushed the water over 800’ up the shoreline. As the wave rushed back it brought everything with it, trees, rock, and mud. Spirit Lake is now rather small and in one of the pictures you’ll see 2 rock islands. 270’ below the far rock island is where the Mt. St. Helens Lodge used to be. The destruction pushed out in a straight blast but cut through
Total devastation
Even after 30 years. mountains in its path destroying everything for miles- and I mean miles! We were shocked that after 30 years the mountains are still bare. Forest service has replanted some areas, and growth is coming along nicely. In some areas they have allowed trees to be removed for timber use but you will see miles and miles of nothing where they have left things for nature to heal itself -- all for the public to witness. When we were close to Mount Saint Helens we climbed a walkway to an observation deck which overlooked the mountain but gave us a chance to get a 360 degree view of things in the blasts way. The walk was 442 steps up (and I mean up) and then a 1/8 mile walk to the observation deck. Needless to say it was one heck of a climb as our pictures show. We could see Mt. Hood (miles away), Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, and, of course Mt. St Helens. Then it was back down to the car to find a place to eat lunch. After lunch we went to the end of Spirit Lake where trees were still packed at the end of the lake in
The miner's car
Mentioned in the blog a large mass. It was a huge area (again pictures will show it) and we decided to take a 2 mile hike down Harmony Trail to the water to witness the pile up of trees. It was a steep walk and although the temps were in the 40’s we started to work up some heat. Each step down made us think more about the climb back up -- with dread! Once at the bottom it was what we might think the moon might look like except for trees and stumps everywhere. We were pleasantly surprised by finding some pretty flowers growing -- natures way of saying I will survive and show my beauty. We found a stream and small waterfall also making its way to the lake and forcing itself into the rubble. We wondered why the logs didn’t sink but then realized that they must be stacked from the bottom of the lake all the way to the top. It is a humbling experience to see what nature can do. After seeing the pileup we decided to huff and puff our way back to the top. Huff and Puff we did, and took many breaks along the way, but
Spirit Lake
Small today -rose 200' when blast sent debris and wind. we arrived back at the top sweating and a little out of steam. Actually Bill noticed his leg muscles a lot and his lovely wife said, “No, I feel fine.” What a wimp! We stopped and hiked to one more waterfall at Iron Creek and then it was off to the RV.
The next morning we found that our weather had changed and we had colder temps (40’s) and drizzle. Would you believe that this was the first rain we have seen since the middle of April when we left Fla? We drove to Mt Rainier which is 14,441 feet high. While we got good views of it yesterday, today was not very good. We saw a number of waterfalls, amazing rivers of rock and trees (glacier routes), and a couple of museums. We also ate lunch at the lodge in Paradise which is the end of the road for Mt. Rainier.
Are you ready for this? They get an average of 680 inches of snow each year. We don’t know how they manage to keep the road open to the lodge but apparently they are able to do so. Did I tell you 680” of snow a year?
Spirit Lake
Wind so powerful is pushed the water up the banks 800+ feet. Receding it quickly took all in its path. Wow, That’s 56.7 feet! I can’t even imagine that. But then I could not imagine what a glacier could do either. That is until we saw what looked like rivers of rock, trees, and boulders. They looked like dry river beds but in fact were made by glaciers. In fact Mt Rainier has 12 glaciers moving around today. They may shrink with warmer climates and then grow if they have severe winters. It is a mountain that climbers love to challenge and few succeed. Each year there are about 9,000 who try to climb Rainier but the number that make it to the summit is always less than half of that figure. At the top on a mild day the winds blow 30 mph and can change in minutes from freezing rain to snow, to sunshine. Winds usually blow much higher and most people turn back because of the fear of slides, crevasses, and the bitterly cold weather. We also saw several falls, one caught our attention as it was called, “Christine Falls” and we knew we had to let our daughter know. We also saw Nisqually River bed and falls, and the Nirada Falls and upstream whitewater. We ended
On top of the climb
442 steps and 1/8 mile walk and we got a panoramic view. our run by stopping at Box Canyon which also had a sudden gorge in the middle that we could not reach ---good thing as it was straight down and very dangerous at the edge. We could hear rushing water deep inside the gorge but had no way to see it. Wet and tired, we decided to ride on and if we didn’t see anything exciting return to the RV and hook up the toad for tomorrows run. A good two days -- both very educational.
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