Wednesday 8/23/00
Day 6: St Helens
I
got up early around 6:00am and drove back up to Ape Caves continueing towards
the Lava Canyon. I stopped first at Lahar where there is a place to get out
and take a good pictures of the south side of St. Helens. About two miles later
I stopped at Lava Canyon to take a hike. This is a 3 1/2 mile trail from the
top of the canyon. It passes waterfalls, a suspension bridge, and the runoff
of silt and timber that flowed down into the Muddy River.
I would recommend at least going to the suspensoin bridge as the trail is not
that bad going there it goes on both sides of the creek. It was a nice day when
I was here and was able to get some good pictures of the falls and creek from
both sides. The suspension bridge is well made even if it does sway as you walk
across the water. If you can take two vehicles I would suggest dropping one
vehicle off at gravel road 8322 at the bottom of the valley. That way you don't
have to walk 3 1/2 mile back up. I will come with Cindy and take two vehicles
next time. There are larger waterfalls in the middle of the trail that are worth
the walk.
I left here and turned back to go to the Red Rock
Pass and Blue Lake. Stopped first at Climbers Bivouac which is where the hikers
climbing the mountain will stay the night before. There were about ten vehicles
here and about that many tents set up. Drove back doen this road and continued
on to Red Rock Pass. This area had good views of the south side of the mountain. 
The
southeast side of the mountain was not impacted much by the 1980 eruption. You
will still see lava rock left from the previoue eruption over a century ago
and it makes for a good trail with St Helens in the background. I continued driving
on the road and stopped at Blue Lake where I hiked in a 1/2 mile through a large forested
woods to the lake. There were trees in the lake that were dead from either a previoue fire
or eruption. I continued up the gravel road until I came to a dead end at
Sheep Canyon. This would be a good place to go hiking. If you hike past the
tree line you can see the Toutle river and the mud flow that occurred in 1980.
I didn't take the hike because I still wanted to visit the north side. I left
here and drove back down road 81 the would take me back to Cougar. I passed the
Kalama Horse Camp where there were many people getting their horses ready to
ride the trails. you
I decided to get back on pavement after
about an hour of backroads and less than half a tank of gas. I drove
back towards I-5 passing thru the town of Toutle and would next stopp
at the St Helens visitor center. This is where I was at 8:00 this morning
and it was now 2:00. This is probably the best of the three centers
as it shows the history of St Helens and has old artifacts from the
early 1900's and from the Indians who lived here before that. Weyerhaeuser
had a good movie on their history and the clean up they did after the
eruption. There was also a chronological report beginning when the first
earthquake occurred two months before the eruption. I was here for over
a hour and still didn't see the movie they were showing. There is also
a lookout tower that you can walk up and see the valley that lies in
front of the mountain and what devastation had occurred. St Helens is a good weekend trip that was well
worth it.The ocean is only a couple hours away from here and would be a good
mixture of water and mountain for a three day weekend trip. As I started driving
back I did stop at some of the towns that were close by. Castle Rock looks like
it currently has a depressed economy as many shops are closed downtown and not
much happening. Kelso and Longview was much better to visit as they are on the
path to the ocean and highway 4. There are many hotels and restaurants here
as it is very close to Portland, Oregon. I drove thru both towns and would stop
a fast food restaurant to get some Mexican food and then continue on. I drove
north on I-5 to Chalis and this was a good place to stop, and stay overnight.
I got to be around 10:00 I drove 250 miles today and 1550 total 
I got down to the town of Cougar and then drove on highway 503 for about an hour until reaching I-5 at Woodland. I then drove about twenty miles north to Castle Rock where I would turn east on highway 504. About five miles after I-5 I passed thefirst visitor's center. I had not eaten yet today so I continued east for couple more miles until coming to the small town of Toutle. Here I stopped at the Toutle Diner on the right side of the road. They served a good breafast as I had a full plate of hash and bread for five dollars. I talked to the waitress there who said that she didn't think it was that busy this year considering it was the 20th anniversary of the eruption. I left here and continued driving as it would be another hour before arriving at Johnston Ridge. Being that it was early in the morning meant little traffic and good views of the Toutle River with the remains of the mud slide that had occurred twenty years earlier. There are also good views of St Helens as you get close you can see where the whole north side of the mountain collapsed during the eruption. 
I drove for the next hour passing Cold Water Lake and the visitor's center. The road comes to an end at the Johnston Ridge Observatory. Here is the best view you will get of the mountains without taking any trails. There are many trails you can take, including a 16 mile hike that would get you to Spirit Lake from Johnson Ridge. It was a good day to take pictures as I took some first before going into the visitor center. It cost $3 to visit one center or $6 for all three of them. This visitor center had a large screen for a 15-minute show on the geology of the area and how the eruption changed the area. It was a good film and worth waiting for. Outside they were having talks about the same topic. I was told that on the day of the 20th anniversary a TV reporter went to the bottom of the cone of the mountoun to do a report and was fogged in. Not only could nobody see him but they had to take a helicopter to get him out. They left all of his equipment and had to come back the next day to pick it up. On a clear day, the view is scenic and brings back vivid/errie memories for me and Cindy as we were in Eastern Washington when St Helens erupted. We had to drive in the ash for hours. Click here to see a picture of the car the next day or here for what heppened that day. 
I left Johnson Ridge and drove back to Coldwater Lake. There was only one other car here as I went out to walk around the lake and take some pictures. There is a boat launch, a quarter mile trail and is also a a good place to have a picnic on a warm day as there are also picnic tables here. I left here and went next to the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center which had a great view of both the lake and St Helens in the background. They also had good views of what happened to the valley from the mudslide. I bought a couple books here and then left. Just after leaving here there was a right turn that went on to a gravel road that I decided to explore. I took this for about five miles as I went thru valleys and other areas where trees had been cut before the eruption and new trees having been planted. There was one person out here camping by themself. Other than that I didn't see anybody. A good place to take a walk in peace and quiet.
Introduction