Mt St Helens revisited

I woke up to rain this morning, the first day of my national park road trip.  But, I wouldn't let a little rain dampen my spirits.  As I drove through Seattle, it continued to rain on and off.  By the time I reached Mt St Helens National Volcanic Monument, the rain had eased up.  I traveled up Spirit Lake Highway to the terminus point...Johnston Ridge Observatory visitor's center.  After purchasing an annual park pass...it will get me into all the national parks for a whole year...I went outside for my first close-up look at the volcano.

When Mt St Helens erupted, I was attending college at Washington State University in Pullman, WA...about 250 miles to the east.  You can read about my experiences back then in my blog Remembering Mt St Helens. Years later, I had only briefly stopped by the Seaquest Visitor Center, about 5 miles from the interstate. Well out of the blast zone, it only provided a very long distance view of the volcano. Since then, I had been looking forward to a more closeup look. Exiting the visitor's center, I walked out to the viewpoint...and was instantly disappointed. Not only was there overcast skies, low hanging clouds obscured the mountain from view. The wispy clouds were constantly moving, but the crater remained hidden. I went ahead and took photos anyway...at the least the valley below was clear. I was able the see the devastated areas damaged when the mountain exploded.

After taking my photos, I was ready for lunch, so I ate in the parking lot. When I drove back down the highway away from Johnston Observatory, I glanced back at the mountain...and saw it was now completed visible! While I was eating the clouds blew away, exposing the volcano. I stopped at the next nearby viewpoint, and snapped many nicer photos than the ones I had taken earlier.

About an hour later, the clouds moved back in and the mountain was once again hidden from view. I guess I really lucked out! When I returned back to the interstate, the rain started up again, but stopped before I reached my pitstop for the night. Tomorrow's park adventure...Crater Lake, OR! I hadn't been back there since I was a teenager, and I don't remember all that much. Maybe feeding a few chipmunks...not that I would do that now.