October, 2020
I was up early this first morning. My friends/neighbors in their trailer next to me were up, but they weren’t out and about yet. So I quietly closed my trailer door behind me and then walked down to the lake, with camera in hand. Oh, what a beautiful sunrise to the east.
I’m looking east here, standing in the small parking area just above the lake. Then I turned to the south, to look across the lake. This morning’s golden sunlight had just reached the lodge.
I walked over to that two-story building (the Lodge and the campground office) and walked out towards the docks and the boats. As I walked past the office door and then walked past the edge of the building, I turned to the right and snapped the photo below of the balconies that the suites in that building enjoy. I hadn’t noticed earlier that the building is truly built out over the water, built on pilings.
Look closely above at one of the balconies. You can stay here and catch fresh fish for your breakfast! Or your lunch or dinner. Rent one of the suites in the Lodge, get yourself a fishing license and some tackle, and you’re all set.
Then I walked out onto the dock. It was so quiet, and so calm. There were several small boats tied to the dock, and several logs tied there too that maybe had been used as part of the breakwater, or were being saved for future use. Power boats are allowed on this lake, so the log breakwater around this dock helps reduce damage from boat wakes, especially in the busy summer season.
Years ago, someone told me that herons have really weird tongues. I didn’t know whether to believe that or not, but I filed the information away. This morning at Silver Lake, I found my own personal proof of the truth of that statement. What a weird tongue this person has.
And then I turned to the left again, to the east. The sun was now above the horizon and ablaze. There was a hint that this might be a lovely day, although there still were an awful lot of clouds. But even the clouds were gorgeous.
In the two photos above, if you didn’t know whether the sky was up or the sky was down, if you didn’t know which one was a reflection of the other, it would be hard to tell. The water was so smooth.
And then I turned to the east again … how gorgeous is this, with the length of the lake heading off in the distance to the east, the soft high clouds, and the sun has now moved up higher in the sky … whoa!! but wait!!! Do you see it? Look at the center of the photo above, right in the center of the photo, just above the trees … there are two small hills off there in the distance. (click to enlarge the photo) The hill on the left, behind the trees, is a round-topped hill that has been there forever. BUT … the hill on the right, is not round-topped. Here, let me zoom in on it for you …
It’s Mount St. Helens! With it’s top 1/3 gone! What we’re looking at is the western side of the mountain. When it blew back in 1980, it exploded northwards, so there’s no view from this angle into the crater. But here it is. Here is what remains of a mountain that was 30-35% taller before it blew it’s top.
I didn’t realize there would be this perfect view of the mountain right from this dock at the resort.
As you can see, there were lots of clouds above the mountain, higher than the mountain, but there were no clouds right around it, no clouds obscuring it. I was so excited. I jogged back to our campsites and banged on my friends’ trailer door (in truth, they were out and about by then). I said, “we have to go NOW, get your shoes on! Come on Finn, let’s go.”
Well, my friends weren’t quite ready to head out, but close to it. I had to cool my jets for awhile and wait. But in short order, we were in their vehicle (Finn’s vehicle) and heading up the road towards the volcano. Hang tight, stay tuned everyone, more to come in the next blog post!