October, 2020
After that gorgeous sunrise over the lake, and after that stunning early morning view of Mt. St. Helens from the dock at the resort, I was ready to head up the road to see if we could get a look into that volcano’s crater. My friends and I (and Finn) jumped in their vehicle and headed up the road towards the mountain.
We were driving in sunshine, with a patch or two of blue sky! We stopped along the way to see a few things, including the impressive Hoffstadt Bridge (below). From one end of the bridge to the other, this bridge spans 2,340 feet. The height of the bridge is 370 feet above the ground directly below it, at the center low point of land/creek below it, making it the tallest bridge in the State of Washington. This road and the bridge were built in 1991-92 to replace the original road that was destroyed by the volcano when it erupted in 1980. This next piece of information stunned me … this bridge is about 15 miles away from the center of the volcano, measuring in a straight line, but it’s off to the west of the blast, not in line with the blast that blew directly north, and yet the original bridge and road here were destroyed by the blast. In fact, signs here said this bridge, this area, was on the edge of the blast zone even though it was off to the west of the main blast … and that, if you had been standing here, 15 miles to the west of the blast, when the mountain/volcano erupted, you would likely have been killed by the blast.
The bridge might not look that tall from this end of it, where I was standing on solid ground, but out in the middle of the bridge, looking out the car window and looking straight down … yikes.
On we went up the road. Stopping at just one more place along the way. We stopped only one more place because … well, darn it, the clouds were closing in. We sped up a bit, but it wasn’t enough. The closer we got to Johnston Observatory, the lower the clouds got. Eventually we realized there was simply no possibility of seeing into the throat of the volcano today.
The photo below is the closest we got to the volcano. There were still several miles of road yet before we would have reached the Observatory, but there didn’t seem to be much point in continuing. Mt. St. Helens is on the right half of the photo below … it’s behind all of those lovely white, fluffy clouds. Sigh. Ah well, this is a common occurrence.
The good news is that these two friends of mine have driven up here in the past, and they have seen the mountain/volcano with no clouds around it or inside it. So, yes, we were disappointed, but at least they had seen the mountain on a previous visit. They were heading home tomorrow, but I was staying at Silver Lake for another two full days. I would still have a chance to see this mountain with a view into the volcano.
We drove back down to Silver Lake, discussing what else we might like to see and do here. We had several ideas. Neither of us had checked out Seaquest State Park, just down the road from Silver Lake Resort. Seaquest reportedly had great hiking trails and lots of camping. Let’s go take a look, ok?
The map above is of Seaquest State Park. No kidding, did it have hiking trails! We drove through every loop of the campsites, then we parked and explored a small portion of the trails.
Then we drove across the road from the state park, over to the Silver Lake Mount St. Helens Visitor Center. The building was closed for COVID but we walked the mile of boardwalks that were built out over the wetlands.
This huge marsh wetland is the western (outlet) end of Silver Lake. The marsh is not as deep as Silver Lake. And the bottom of the marsh is so flat that the water simply doesn’t drain off very quickly.
A LONG time ago, Silver Lake used to be a creek … there was no Silver Lake. But about 2,500 years ago, Mt. St. Helens blew its top (yes, it has a history of this sort of behavior), it blew its top and unleashed a massive landslide off the mountain which changed the course of entire rivers, filled and destroyed entire lakes, and it created lakes as well, one of which we now call Silver Lake. The marsh wetland here today is actually part of that massive landslide from so many years ago … this wetland grew and evolved on top of dirt and ash and debris that settled on the “outlet” western end of Silver Lake. There is a small creek that flows out of the western end of this marshland … that creek flows downhill, into the Cowlitz River, and eventually into the Columbia River.
But, for the most part, the water in this wetland moves extremely slowly over thousands of acres, and supports all manner of wildlife. I was told that more water evaporates from the wetland than ever flows away from it in that small creek.
A deceased dragonfly, on one of the boardwalk railings.
This was a great day. Yes, we missed seeing the volcano. But my friends had seen it before. And I was going to do my best to see it yet on this trip. Today was not disappointing for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the trails in Seaquest State Park (Finn loved them too). And the rich, moist, marshland that we explored was a delight … birds were everywhere, little tiny fishes too, and probably a great number of amphibians, and yes LOTS of speedy lively dragonflies. Best of all though? I spent the day with really good friends, human and dog. 🙂
My folks visited this area many years ago, not so long after the volcano exploded. I remember my mother, especially, was overwhelmed by the miles of trees blown over. I’ve never been out to that part of the country. I hope to get there someday!
Oh, yes, millions of acres of trees broken off at the ground, ash grey from the ash/debris from the volcano, and all of the trees lying horizontally on the ground, all lying in the same direction. It was truly stunning to see. That’s great that your mother was here!
I didn’t watch the eruption, but I was here then. And I was on the road as far up Toutle River as I could go as soon as it opened after the 1980 eruption. Seems to me even Interstate 5 was closed for awhile because of fear of more eruptions and more debris coming down all the rivers. Your photos are great. I sure hope you get to see inside that crater. I haven’t been back there since. I want photos! 🙂
Me too, Rob, though it took me a couple of weeks after the road opened to get time to drive up there. I have two more days here on this camping trip … I’ll head up to the mountain both days and I promise I’ll post photos from both days. 🙂
Your experience was the opposite of ours. We left home on a semi-grey day in spring a few years back, hoping that the weather would be better farther south. But as we went, the mountains were more shrouded in clouds. We kept going anyway figuring what the heck, at least there are wildflowers and possibly some wildlife to see. (Though I swear the wildlife senses us coming and goes into hiding! ) As we drove out the road toward the mountain it was covered much like in your photo and we debated whether to continue. But we continued on until we were almost to the observatory. We came around a corner and there was the mountain. It had shed its cloud layer just for us! We pulled off the road at a pull out and snapped a lot of pictures of the mountain and of the wildflowers. Then, because the observatory was opening for the season the following day and we didn’t really feel like sleeping in the car, we headed home. A wonderful and surprising day.
Well, they say you just never know whether the crater will be visible or not until you get up to Johnston Observatory. Maybe we should have kept going. But what a perfect trip you had! With spring wildflowers too. What a wonderful day you had indeed.
Mother Nature – so powerful, whether it is clouds, or volcanoes, or wildfires, we are not in charge. But you were wise in your decision to try seeing all that Mt St Helen’s has to offer on a clear day – my husband has “towed” me along twice up there and it is worth the wait!
Oh gosh, you know that! We definitely are not in charge. This world is spectacular and not extremely predictable. I have two more days here and will drag myself back up the hill both days. 🙂
Gorgeous wetlands. That dragonfly was wonderful. You have two more days here? I bet the weather will smile on you. 🙂
Janey
I loved the wings on that dragonfly. I hope everyone has a phone or tablet or computer system that allows you to enlarge the photos. We’ll just have to wait and see what the next two days’ weather does … thanks Janey. 🙂