Mount St Helens

I went to Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument yesterday.  And I must have taken about 200 photos – it was a gloriously photogenic day with (relatively) clear blue skies and about as colorful landscape as you can get for a volcanic environment , with lots of wildflowers blooming.  For those who don’t know, it’s an active volcano between Seattle and Portland that last had a big explosion in 1980 but is now more of a tourist attraction.  It’s about a 3 hour drive to get to the main visitor center, so I got up nice and early to get there and do a scenic hike there before the crowds really start to swell.  Including lots of photo stops on the way up, a 5 mile hike and some time at the visitor center – I think I spent about 5 hours there.  I’ve been up there a few times before – but never when the wildflowers were out as much as they were yesterday, and I haven’t been for any significant hikes there before – so this was worth it.  And the hike was spectacular – very scenic, very beautiful, quite dicey at times going along narrow trails with steep drop-offs, and quite tough going – I was wearing shoes without much grip and was slipping and sliding a lot, and it started to get very hot so the last half mile uphill in the heat was a real struggle.  But as you can see below, the views were worth it.

Only downside – a bit of sunburn, but I think a lot of that might have been from when I was sitting in traffic in the car on the way home.  The traffic was an absolute nightmare getting back into Seattle, no surprises there.  But I’m not going to let that spoil my day.  And it’s made me determined to go to the less accessible but even closer view of the crater on the west side of the volcano, maybe later this year.  I might even do the helicopter ride over the volcano one day – this is one of the few places where I think this would be worth it.