Mount St. Helens

Brandon and I drove to Mount St. Helens Saturday. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and drive. It took us almost 2 hours to get there. On the way, we stopped at a family restaurant for lunch. It was really good! I have some pictures in the slide show at the bottom of this post.

We see Mt. St. Helens from a distance all the time... from Portland, from B's parents house, etc. But, it was so amazing to get close to it and learn about the history of the volcano.

This picture is from the internet. This is a picture of Mt. St. Helens before the eruption in 1980.


This is what it looked like 4 months after the explosion. The blast & mudslides killed the trees and vegetation. It wiped out bridges and roads for miles. The devastation was unbelievable.


It's easy to see the terrain that was damaged by the blast and the terrain that wasn't. As we drove toward the volcano, everything was green. Then, everything became barren, with only dead tree stumps and rotten, downed trees. I took this picture as we were driving toward Johnston Ridge.



Mount St. Helens is so beautiful. It still has snow on it. I took this picture from the Johnston Ridge Observatory.


Here is interesting info about Johnston Ridge. It is named after the scientist who died there.

The Johnston Ridge Observatory sits on a bluff just 5-1/2 miles from the crater at an elevation of 4,314'/1,327m and offers grand views of Mount St. Helens and much of the 1980 blast zone. This visitor center is the closest you can get to the mountain by car when driving in from the west and is located 53 miles east of the town of Castle Rock at the end of State Route 504.

Here you can enjoy spectacular views of the lava dome, crater, pumice plain and the landslide deposit.

A wide-screen theater presentation and interpretive displays depict the sequence of geologic events that changed the landscape. The video is a "must see". Be sure to stay for the curtain finale!

We watched a short film about Mount St. Helens in a medium-sized theater. At the end of the film, the screen went up and they raised the curtain to expose a wall of windows facing Mt. St. Helens. It was breathtaking! Very nice touch...


There are pretty purple and red flowers blooming right now. It was such a beautiful day. I think the temperature was 80 degrees with a strong, cool breeze blowing.




The Sunshine Rays! :)


On the way home, we stopped at another local restaurant for dessert. The restaurant was one of the only ones on the road to Mt. St. Helens. They had a sign in front advertising riverside dining and homemade cobblers. Yum! We got a cherry/peach cobbler. It sounds weird, but it was delicious. Also, I drank the best sweat tea I've ever had in my life. And Brandon got a stawberry lemonade. He said that was the best staw/lem he'd ever had! :) We scored! Ha,ha...


It was a great day. Click on the link below to see all of our pics! :)

Mount St. Helens