It was another gorgeous day in Castle Rock WA. It was in the low 40s when we got up which made it difficult to roll out of bed. We took our time over coffee and breakfast before we headed out at 9:45 to drive the south and east side of Mt St Helens. It was a 10 hour day for us, but it was a great drive. We stopped to get gas at the little mart beside the campground and got some chicken to take with us.
Our first stop was at Beaver Bay Park on Yale Lake for a Kodak moment and a potty break. Our next stop was at a place called Trail of Two Forests which was quite interesting. It was an ancient lava flow on the south side of Mt St Helens which had flowed over trees and left only molds of the trees. This resulted in large holes where the trunks were or tunnels made by fallen trees. It was a lovely boardwalk around these ancient molds. It was a pretty area so we had our picnic here. I chatted with a couple of German girls from Germany who were vacationing with their two families.
Then it was on to Ape Cave, a lava tube. We had brought our flashlights, and I got 30’ into the cave and bailed. There were no lights in the cave, and I got really claustrophobic, so I went back out and back to the car. Bill went about 15 minutes more and then came back. I don’t do well in caves at all!
We drove by Swift Reservoir, another beautiful huge lake that we were high above on the road. The road continued to twist and turn, up and down through conifer forests with occasional glimpses of Mt St Helens and beautiful vistas. This whole area is so enormous, and the vistas miles wide. It is truly awesome. Today we saw the area that was truly destroyed by the eruption. There were wildflowers everywhere since they were one of the first things that came back to the area.
An interesting stop was of a rusted out car that belonged to a family who were camping in the area when the eruption occurred. The family was killed, and the car was carried sixty feet to this point where it is surrounded by a fence and a plaque.
We continued on ascending on this winding road, stopping at various lookouts to stand in awe at the scenery. The Spirit Lake overlook was particularly beautiful. This lake was directly in the path of the blast, and the water in the lake was sloshed 800’ up the banks. It is now much larger than it was before the eruption. Bill was most intrigued with the story of Harry Truman, an 83 yr old man who ran a lodge on Spirit Lake. He refused to be evacuated and gained some notoriety before he died in the eruption. Spirit Lake is the photo for the day. Down in the corner of the lake are lots of the logs still floating around in the lake 30 years later. We are told they tend to move around with the wind.
We finally reached the end of this road at Windy Ridge, just in time to hear a ranger give a talk on the eruption. It was really quite interesting, and the summer ranger did a great job.
Then it was an 88 mile trip back to the RV park. We stopped a couple of times along the way including a short, but lovely stop at Iron Creek Falls. It was 7:30 by the time we got back. We did a little relaxing, had some meatloaf for dinner, and are now watching TV.
Tomorrow will be a down day, staying close to the RV and relaxing.
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