Mount St. Helens

Prior to May 18, 1980 Mount St. Helens was 9,677 ft.  Today it stands at 8,364 ft.  It's hard to imagine the eruption but the damage can still clearly be seen over 30 years later.  We took a drive to see the mountain and to spend some time hiking nearby trails offering several varied views.

Spirit Lake - still filled with logs from 30 years ago

a herd of bull elk - 22 of them!

logging equipment blown off the neighboring mountain (and buried) almost 7 miles away

We have our permits to attempt to summit Mount St. Helens on September 19th.  We hear the view down into the crater is amazing and we hope to see it soon!

We sadly left the state of Washington and are now in Seaside, Oregon back with our pickleball buddies (Alan & Trudy and Sue & Jack and others to join us next week) and on the court again.  We'll be here for 2 weeks then onto Welches, Oregon (very close to Mt. Hood) which will take us closer to Mount St. Helens for our climb.

Til next time...Happy Trails!