Mount St. Helens

It was May 18th, 1980 and after nearly two months of seismic activity and volcanic eruptions, much attention and caution was focused on Mount St. Helens. However, no one anticipated what would happen at 8:32 am. A lateral eruption blew the north side of the mountain apart and created an explosion with hurricane force winds that took out everything and everyone within 15 miles. The mountain slide into Spirit Lake creating the water to slosh up 800 feet to the adjacent hillside and pull all of the trees down with it as it receded. The landslide pulled snow and glaciers from the mountain into the Toutle River, destroying everything in its path, including bridges and houses. The sediment eventually made it all the way to the Columbia River, closing it to shipping traffic. A cloud of ash, that eventually encircled the globe, turned this peaceful morning into a hellish night.

The Mount St. Helens eruption remains the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history. Fifty-seven people were killed; 200 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. The event not only completely changed the elevation and shape of the mountain, but it transformed the landscape of the entire area. In 1982, 110,000 acres around Mount St. Helens were designated a National Volcanic Monument for research, recreation, and educational purposes. It is the most studied volcano in the world, as an incredible recovery and transformation has occurred over the past forty-four years, although many signs of the blast still remain very clear.

Visiting Mount St. Helens is so much more than awe-inspiring beauty of another spectacular natural landscape. The history of how this landscape was created and transformed within many of our lifetimes makes it like nowhere else we have been. Although the park is not considerable large, it is quite spread out in three separate areas so if you’re wanting to see it all you’ll need three days to do so. Visiting Mount St. Helens is as easy as 1-2-3.

DAY 1: Mount St. Helens West

The West entrance (technically northwest) along SR-504 is the main part of the park and where most of the sites and educational opportunities are so you’re likely to spend more time here than other parts. Or if you only have a short time to visit, this would likely be your priority. We stayed in the Toutle River RV Resort in the town of Castle Rock, which was a convenient access point to this part of the park.

Make your first stop the Visitors Center to get your bearings, talk to the rangers, obtain maps and plan out your agenda. The rangers in all of the Centers are knowledgeable and more than willing to share. In fact, many of them lived through the eruption, so getting a first hand perspective is amazing. The visitors center also has a small museum that is well worth the additional costs to get all the history of the eruption. Additionally, there is a short interpretive boardwalk trail behind the visitors center that goes through a wetland of Silver Lake. We actually stopped at the Visitors Center the afternoon we arrived, since it’s only a few miles from the interstate, so we were well prepared for the next day, .

My suggestion is to avoid the temptation to stop at each point on the way into the park, rather drive directly to the end of the road first. There are two reasons for this. First, if you are there in the warmer months you will want to get your hike in early to avoid the heat. Secondly, I found everything seems more relevant when your experiencing Mount St. Helens from the blast zone outward. This is especially the case when visiting the East entrance as I will speak of next.

This brings us to hiking. Since the last section of the road is closed to the Johnston Ridge Observatory due to a landslide, all the hiking trails will be accessed from a lot just past the Coldwater Lake Recreation Area. We hiked the Hummocks Trail, which is an easy 2.4 mile loop. The trail goes in and out of the forests and provides some great views of the mountain. We also took a detour and ventured down some of the Boundary Trail, but limited this because it was getting hot.

The first stop on the way back should be Coldwater Lake, one of the lakes created by the 1980 eruption. It’s a serene lake with geese swimming by and an occasional kayaker. A short boardwalk trail provides beautiful views that you will not want to leave. While you’re there you might notice a structure perched on the hillside, well, that’s our next stop.

A short drive up the hill takes you to the Science Learning Center. It’s another great place to learn more about the park throughout various displays and a short film. But it’s also the spot for possibly the best views of Mount St. Helens in the park. The back porch of the center is perched high above Coldwater Lake with Mount St. Helens in the distance. Words cannot describe this view.

Our next stops were two roadside viewpoints, Castle Lake Viewpoint and Elk Rock Viewpoint. Both are just quick stops to admire the view and take couple of great photos. It’s well worth stopping at both but we preferred Castle Lake.

Continuing westward, the next stop is the Forest Learning Center. A visitor center and two learning centers in a relatively small park gives you an idea of how much there is to share about this place. In addition to the very informative resources inside, the outside of the center provides great views of the Toutle River with Mount St. Helens in the background. There’s also a platform where you can view elk grazing in the valley below.

An iconic spot just down the road from the Learning Center is a viewpoint for the Hoffstadt Creek Bridge. This 1/2-mile-long bridge spans 370 feet above the canyon floor of the Hoffstadt Creek. It’s quite a spectacular site and this is also the approximate boundary of the blast zone.

I should have mentioned earlier that there isn’t a lot of conveniences along the way on this 90-mile round-trip journey, so fill up the tank and take along some snacks for the day. However, we did find a small coffee shack on the way back that is always a welcome sign for us.

DAY 2: Mount St. Helens East

OK, here’s where it gets tricky. The East area (technically northeast) is the next “logical” section to visit. I would compare this to the same strategy as visiting the Grand Canyon – south rim first then north rim. However, getting to the East section can be difficult from the I5 corridor because Highway 25 is closed at a point along the way. We actually went to this part of the park first when we were up in Packwood visiting Mount Rainier. So, if you plan on being anywhere near Packwood or Randle off of Highway 12, this would be the time to visit the East part of Mount St. Helens.

I view this as the “backside” of the park only because it’s much more remote, but it’s actually the other edge of the northern blast area. Since there are no roads that directly traverse from one side of the park to the other (due to this big volcano being in the way), I suspect most people miss this less visited area. However, we purposely made basecamp in Packwood on our Mount Rainier stop so we could more easily visit this area of Mount St. Helens, and glad we did.

It was a cheater day for us, skipping over to our next stop early, but an opportunistic day venture it was. It took us about an hour and a half to reach the furthest point, Windy Ridge Viewpoint. The drive starts out in a thickly forested area on Highway 25 and then begins to quickly climb as you turn on Highway 99. The road is narrow, and although paved, is in poor condition. As you climb, it just becomes more and more amazing with the views of Mount St. Helens coming into clear view along with Mount Hood and Mount Adams. At some points you can see all four volcanoes (including Mount Rainier) in view at the same time, a rare and incredible site.

It’s been over 44 years since Mount St. Helens eruption, but there are still many signs of the event, that are more evident in this part of the park. The forest service cleared and replanted part of the forest but left the rest to regrow naturally. As you move further away from the mountain can clearly see the transition of this incredible force of nature. The first most noticeable phenomena is Spirit Lake at the base of the mountain. When the mountain slid into the lake creating the water to slosh up 800 feet onto the adjacent hillside, it pulled down the trees with it when it receded. Many of those trees still remain in the lake today, oddly creating an extended wooded shoreline.

The Windy Ridge Viewpoint Provides an amazing up close look at the mountain and surrounding landscape, sculpted by the eruption. Although the view is pretty spectacular from the interpretive site, you can also climb (lots) of stairs on the first part of the Windy Ridge Trail to get to a higher viewpoint. My nagging chest cold and the heat of the day talked me into not doing that part.

As you move further away from the mountain you start to see random dead trees rising tall over the now recovering forest. Further away more and more trees lie on the hillsides, additional reminders of the disaster some 44 years ago. What is incredibly strange about these fallen trees is the direction in which they fell, many of them falling “uphill”. They lie on the ground like a compass with their roots pointing towards the volcano, indicating the direction of the blast.

Although the West area has more to offer, we both agreed that we actually preferred this side. But like the Grand Canyon, you haven’t fully experienced it until you go to both sides

DAY 3: Mount St. Helens South

Oh, but wait, there’s still one more very important area to explore, the South side of Mount St. Helens. We visited this area when staying in Castle Rock, which made it doable as a day trip. We found four very worthy things on this side of the mountain via SR-503.

Our first stop was at Ape Cave, a lava tube formed 1,900 years ago when lava poured from the volcano. The flow created a 2-mile-long cave which is the longest continuous lava tube in the western hemisphere. Reservations are required through recreation.gov to visit the cave but we found them easy to get. There are two sides of the cave that you can explore, one is pretty easy but the other requires some rock scrambling and climbing an 8-foot wall. We did one and part of the other. The cave is super cool – figuratively and literally as it stays at a constant 42 degrees – and does require a good flashlight or headlamp. It was a very unique experience and one that I would highly recommend to anyone willing to explore the darkness.

Just down from Ape Cave is the Trail of Two Forests. This short interpretive trail provides a visual trail of past eruptions that created smaller lava tubes and transformed the landscape in this area. Keep in mind, that the 1980 eruption didn’t create a lava flow like these ancient eruptions did, so all of this was created a long time ago.

Driving down the road a bit further in this very isolated area gets you to the Lahar Viewpoint, another epic view of Mount St. Helens. Since you are out there practically alone, when you see the mountain it’s like you’re making the discovery yourself for the first time. Quite amazing!

Intrigued by exploring further, we took the road to the end and followed signs to Lava Canyon to see what it was all about. What we stumbled upon was a very pleasant surprise. Although we weren’t planning on doing any more hiking, the word “waterfall” is all we had to see to convince us otherwise. This canyon, river and waterfall, most recently shaped by the 1980 eruption, is absolutely magnificent. The majestic blue waters of the river swirls through rock formed from the eruption and cascades over a waterfall that is as beautiful as any we have seen. I cannot for the life of me understand why this is not more widely known, but I’m glad it’s not…shh.

In Conclusion

We’ve visited many areas of the country which landscapes were created by ancient eruptions or glacial activity millions of years ago. It is fascinating how these lands were formed, but from our perspectives, they’ve always been this way. What’s so special about Mount St. Helens is that, albeit on a smaller scale, this is precisely what happened here but within many of our lifetimes. It’s a true reminder of how our world goes through natural cycles. New growth forest literally grows from the ashes. Bacteria from soot engulfed waters create life. Wildflowers grow from every crack and crevice attracting wildlife and reminding us just how resilient our world is.

Be sure to check out all of our pictures from Mount St. Helens.