May 1, Mt. St. Helen's and Lava Tubes

 May 1  Mount Saint Helen’s and Lava Tubes

Happy May Day!

44 degrees at 7:30 this morning.  Had a quiet night and started out early for Mt. St. Helen’s.  We have heard that the road through the park isn’t completely opened, but there are sights to see and the State-run Visitors Center is open.

Getting there, we travel some back roads – hand painted sign reading "Eggs, Kindling & Camping" gives you an idea. Lots of logging and occasional cabins and houses, most all of which are flying the Seahawks “12” flag  (the fans being the 12^th player on the team – an idea they stole {actually bought after a wrangle} from Texas A&M). 

We drive alongside Riffe Lake and stop at Mossy Rock Dam.  There are quite a few dams and resultant reservoirs and lakes in the area.  Mossy Rock is the tallest one in Washington State at 605’.

We pass some pastureland, a bulb farm, Christmas tree farms and berry farms.  A U-Pick sign for blueberries says come back in August.  There are workers in some of the fields doing planting and trimming.  The occasional houses have lilacs and other Spring flowers.

We reach the Visitor’s Center at Silver Lake and watch a film about the eruption of Mt. St. Helen’s, which happened during March, April, May and June of 1980.  We vaguely remember the event – I especially recall the story of a scientific observer who was killed 7 miles from the mountain.

The power and ferocity of the event are captured in the film, photos and some very moving personal

narratives.  There were numerous eruptions (97 at least) over a four month period and 57 people died or went missing.  The mountain lost over 1,000’ and the blast scorched or blew down over 230 square miles of forest (enough to build 100,000 homes!)  Rivers changed courses, lakes were formed – the topography of the area was altered forever.  On the other hand, the area became a laboratory and people from all over the world came to study the effects on and the recovery of the land.

The visitor center is 30 miles from the mountain, and we drive as far as we can, to Coldwater Lake, which is near where the road is closed.

  There are several overlooks along the way but the only things open, naturally, are a restaurant and gift shop.  We stop for the views and signage at Elk Rock, Castle Rock, Coldwater Lake.  As we get within the blast area, it is obvious that all the trees are fairly young.  Mostly Noble Fir and other evergreens. Many were planted but some, like alder and aspen, are coming back on their own. All were surprised how quickly life began to return as plants and animals appeared.

 The area around the mountain still shows signs of rock and debris, though plants and trees have grown back over places where the mud was 150’ deep and ash covered the entire area.

 

Coldwater Lake

Next we go further south to some lava tube caves,  Ape Caves (no apes, it is named after a local climbing group), but there is no easy way to get there – quite a drive.  Still part of the Mt. St. Helen's National Monument area,  the caves are over 12,000’ long and were discovered in 1951 by Larry Johnson.  There are stairs down into the caves at one point, but once down there it is all rock and stone, dripping water and dark as night. 

The caves are shaped like tunnels and are probably at least 10’ in diameter. We have brought two flashlights.  There are scoring marks along the side and occasional spots where we have to clamber over piles of rocks.  Cold and quiet. We hike for about a mile and then back to daylight.

We decide to stop at a spot along Road 83 that Greg had noticed on the way in.  A short, rough road to a clearing  and even rougher road beyond, definitely not well traveled. 

I walk while Greg exercises and spot hundreds of tadpoles –

we hear the frogs later that night.   Lots of yellow Scottish Broom, which seems to be prolific here and in Oregon, from the beaches to the mountains!