7/9/11 Saturday: We left Portland (the other Portland) last night in the new RV. Glad that incident is behind us. Today’s plan involves visiting Mount St. Helens. You don’t actually visit Mount St. Helens because it is still and active volcano and is still 8000 feet high (was 9300’ before the 1980 eruption). We decided to skip the southern rim, since we lost a day’s time and the explosion was to the north. The southern view would have pretty much just been looking at the side of a mountain.
Driving in from the north is a whole different experience. We started up the 50 mile winding road that would take us to a ridge which is 5 miles away and overlooks Spirit Lake and the crater. We stopped at the first visitor center and did the movie and information walk. The eruption was an important memory from my childhood, and Elizabeth had never heard of the mountain or the eruption until the tour…how quickly time passes. With renewed enthusiasm we again took to the RV for the 45 remaining miles.
At the halfway point we stopped for lunch and to give Elizabeth a chance to become less car sick. There was a gift shop with the first great view of the mountain and the Toutle River valley that was inundated by the muddy flood that did the most damage following the eruption. With a prospect of a lot more driving and just because I really wanted to, we decided to take a helicopter ride up into the crater. The ride lasted 25 minutes and took us up into the crater. The views were amazing and completely worthwhile, especially as we flew past the earthbound observation point and considered what might have been.
Inside the crater of Mt St Helens. In the center the volcano is still erumpting (see the steam spout) and building more rock dome. They say as long as it is erupting there is less danger- they will worry if it stops. Around the dome in the center is glacial ice as well as the snow. While it is too hot near the spout to have snow there is plenty everywhere else. When we opened the windows to take pictures it was very cold!
Our Helicopter (well for 30 minutes it was)
While the volcanic eruption was certainly destructive it is not all just the fire and lava. This is the Toutle valley where one of the largest mud slides occured and it is still covered in ash and mud and silt. The "junk" coming down the mountain from destroyed forest, earth, and melting snow does as much if not more damage as the volcano. The mud etc slides changed the Columbia river from about 40 feet deep to 12 in a single day.
We saw the active volcano growing in the crater. We could see the glaciers that form on the year round snowy peak, with huge crevasses and incredible waterfalls. We could also see the extent of the destruction. You could tell the difference between the old growth forests and the 30 year old forests. Right near the volcano is still too hostile for plant life and is basically an ash/pumice desert. I think the coolest part was the iron being leeched out of the ash, which made several of the erosion streams red. I hope the pictures can do the trip justice.
After this, we started our long drive to the Olympic peninsula….
7/10/11 Sunday: Olympic Peninsula; Olympic National Park. Hiking today in the HOH rainforest, the only temperate rainforest in the US. The rainforest is created by the combination of the protective mountain ring, and ocean facing valley, persistent on shore breezes, and the 145 inches of rainfall here. We hiked through the rainforest to find a waterfall.
Everything in the rainforest is covered in Moss making the trees look like something from a steven speilberg movie. It was not raining while we were there surprizingly. We learned about nurse trees and how the forest grows as well. When a tree gets too big and is blown over in the winter it falls to the ground and begins to be covered in moss (go figure) and licens. later seads from other trees take root on the tree. Trees begin to grow and set roots to the ground over the fallen tree. As a result the new trees grow in lines over the old fallen trees, eventually the fallen tree will rot leaving the trees with space under their roots making them look like they could run off on their roots.
Falls in the Hoh rainforest, we were able to climb to the top of these falls and look down as well but we had to cross a fallen log over the falls to do so. We were followed by two men who did not initially dare to cross. One eventually did though after he watched us. The climb was steep and muddy but worthwhile.
7/11/11 Monday: Hiking again today- spent the night at the Sol Duc hot springs. Had a great soak in the Hot Springs last night and then spend the night in the RV park/ really just a parking lot- funny how much they vary from place to place- some are beautiful and some are just glorified parking lots. Today we hiked into Sol Duc falls- they were beautiful, amazing and powerful. Had to compete a little with a group from a photography club but all and all it was a great trip. We are now settled just outside of Port Angeles after a stop at one of the winery here.
So these pictures are backwards but anyway- we first came to the falls on the bottom- since the Sol Duc falls are the crowning glory of the hike we were on we thought this did not look like they could be it. The two photos above are the river above and then the falls. It is impossible to capture the power of these falls, as with any large falls. The river compressed, churned dropped, and bubbled then split into 4 and dropping a couple hundred feet into a canyon space of 5 feet across and 50 or so feet deep. Standing near the falls was like standing in a rainstorm (you got soaked) next to a tin roof (it was loud !). I love a good waterfall.
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