Mount St. Helen's...Yikes!

 We remember when Mount St. Helens erupted as most people our age do.  It was back in 1980 which was before 24 hour news but it got a lot of coverage and we wanted to see this volcano for ourselves.  

On the way up there is a great little restaurant with an amazing view of a valley below and a nice river.  We watched an elk in the distance and a lot of hummingbirds up close from our table on the deck.  If you are ever in the area we recommend Patty's Place.   

 

We really noticed a difference in Mount St. Helens as compared with Mt. Rainier, which is not that far away.  St. Helens is still in the regrowing process and although many areas are new forest, much looks more like desert.  It is also a much "shorter" mountain than Rainier, although it wasn't before the exposion.  In fact, it looked a LOT like Rainier according to the photos and video at the Visitor's Center.  Now it is a mountain with a GIANT hole in the middle.  It didn't merely erupt... it blew up.  The entire top is just gone! 

The video I mentioned was quite incredible.  It included actual news footage of the mountain blowing up. ( I encourage you to google it ). The heat and ash melted the glacier and caused wide spread destruction within minutes...some caught on tape.  Fifty seven people lost their lives in the unexpected explosion.  Giant trees that were hundreds of years old came down like they were nothing in the rushing black water. The area that was destroyed was approximately 230 square miles which is the size of Chicago!  Bob and I watched it twice it was so hard to believe. We spoke to a few people that remember the explosion and the amount of ash it left on everything a very long distance away. In some areas reminders of the destruction can still be seen today.

Although the experience of spending the day on a volcano was a little unsettling there were still a lot of beautiful sights to enjoy.  

Spirit lake was totally changed after the expolsion.  It was once 300 feet deep and very quickly became only 100 feet deep but doubled in size! 

Visiting this volcano was a great learning experience for us and we are so happy we got a chance to see it.   

A First and Last Bear- Mt. Rainier

This was our second trip to Mt. Rainier but it was even more beautiful this visit than we remembered.  The dark side of this mountain in the Cascade Range is that it is considered one of the most dangerous volcanos in the world.  If it were to erupt again and melt even a bit of that glacial ice covering the tops of it's 14,000 plus feet it could destroy a very large area around it.  I was pleased we didn't learn that until we reached the highest point visitors center as ignorance made the trip up much more enjoyable. 

If you have been to Seattle you know that Mount Rainier is an imposing yet beautiful site, especially on a clear day. This is one HUGE mountain!!!  

The whole park is filled with wildlife and is so green!  The mountain actually creates it's own weather, causing a lot of rain, and that's why it is so lush.  The long drive to the top provided many photo stops and hikes to see some of the fabulous water falls that cover the park.  Here are just a few.

There are gorgeous sites at every turn and so many beautiful wildflowers.

The glaciers are really an amazing site.  It's hard to imagine how much ice there must be to not all melt away on such a warm sunny day.  

On the way down we had the good luck to see a black bear in a valley below.  We enjoyed watching him graze (they eat most anything) with a couple of other families.  One family was from France, and although they spoke very little English, they did manage to give us their email address so we could send them a picture of their very first bear.  Apparently there are no bears in France.  I told them this made perfect sense to me as I had not seen even one when I was in Paris. They didn't smile but did nod.  Along  those lines, the man asked me if bears were all over America.  I wasn't sure how to answer that one.  I smiled and nodded and he seemed happy with that.  After forwarding the bear pics we received a very nice thank you email from him that evening. I thought you would enjoy it. 

"Thank you very much, I am extremely happy.  This is our first bear.  I love USA"

These pictures were taken from a long ( and safe ) distance.  The top one shows the view from where we were actually standing.  The bear is in the picture and is a small black spot in the grass in this photo although we could actually see him quite well.

The other couple we were chatting with while bear watching lived an hour away and seemed especially excited to see this bear although they had seen many before.  She called her husband "The Bear Whisperer" because he seems to be able to spot them whenever they drive up the mountain.  

At one point the woman and I were standing a bit away from the men.  It was then she shared that her husband was terminally ill.  They had found out this news five days before.  She told me to be happy and enjoy our trip and time together.  She said she was so glad that they hadn't waited to do all the things they wanted to do in life.  She said this might be her husbands last bear. They weren't much older than we are.  

This was the most profound life lesson of our journey. 

Olympic National Park

Olympic National Park is most famous for Mount Olympus, which is the tallest mountain in the park and has some big glaciers.  We didn't see that.  When we stopped at the Visitors Center we learned that this is one of only three National Parks that you can NOT drive through.  It is primarily a hiking park...and while that is really cool, we didn't have the two months it takes to hike it.  We entered from the south and the famous mountain is seen from the north side a few hours drive away.  Instead we enjoyed a gorgeous hike in a very special place.  

The drive in was spectacular!  We drove by Cushman Lake which seems to be a very popular place for local teens to hang out on huge rocks and soak up the sun. Bob didn't photograh them because that would have obviously been creepy...but they appeared to be having a great time!  

The mountains surrounding the lake are covered with waterfalls and we did make a lot of other camera stops. 

The National Park actually begins at the end of a very long gravel road. From there you can begin any number of hikes that take you through the 1440 square mile park.  We chose a very scenic one as you can see by Bob's photos below.  

It was an enjoyable day at the park but pretty noisy!  There are bear warnings everywhere so I make as much noise as possible to avoid a close encounter.  We do have bear spray just in case I lose my voice.  Below are a few more photos of the drive out of the park.  Enjoy!