Days 20-22: Mt. St. Helens Wilderness
Crater Lake was our next wilderness destination. We planned to stop in Portland for a night, maybe see a movie, and then attend church in Eugene the next day. But on the drive southward, in the distance we suddenly saw Mt. St. Helens. It wasn't hard to decide to change course! (We still went to church).
It is a stunning sight. Volcanoes are the kind of things that in my childhood imaginations existed only on distant tropical islands and in fantasy worlds --- certainly not in any alpine landscape. Even as an adult it still somewhat shocked me to see what devastation the explosion caused among otherwise lush, bosky mountains and hills. (There's a good balderdash word for you. :)
We visited the Johnston visitors' center and watched their fifteen minute movie about the explosion (not recommended) and learned that a few hundred people actually were killed by it. This I hadn't realized before. Then we got a backpacking permit, and headed out into the wild.
We camped on a hillside high above Coldwater Lake, after hiking in 3-4 miles. The steep mountainsides around us were once covered in tall pines, but now were clinging to thousands upon thousands of grey rotting logs --- all blown over in the blast.
Coyotes near the camp. Howling like mad until C. howled back. That was the last we heard of them. :)
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| Mt. St. Helens |
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| We came across a few old logging vehicles on the trail that were destroyed in the blast. |
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| Life finds a way. |
We have some other great pics from this hike, showing the devastation. We'll hopefully be able to put them up soon. Keep you posted. :)
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