Day 3 - Mount St. Helens, Part I

After the day at Rainier, I stayed in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest at the Iron Creek Campground. This area reminded me of the Hoh Rainforest w/ the massive 600 year old Doug Firs and moss hanging everywhere. A river rain to the side of the campground, which even had a 1.5mi path around it. I slept well.

 Campground stayed in night before MSH - Cispus River there

Mapping out next day while eating dinner - orange colored food was the theme

Mount St. Helens (MSH) was awesome. It helped take my mind off of some worries. I went to the Windy Ridge Viewpoint and along the way pulled off a bunch to take shots and read signage. There's no visitor center on this side of the mountain (east) but it was still pretty darn cool. I was able to see the side of the mountain that got blown off and where the landslide ravaged the north side. Spirit Lake was fully visible and is still clogged with logs. It was amazing to see the mountain, so unlike Rainier, and to still see the remnants of the landslide/eruption. I climbed a long windy staircase to gain some great views of the lake and mountain. I made it early and was one of 10 people there! This was totally worth it. Later that day, I headed to the south end of MSH and experienced something worth it's own post. Enjoy photos!

Thar she is! MSH that is - we're on an acronym basis

See all those trees...the landscape is still recovering - 30 years later

Spirit Lake - or 1/2 of it, couldn't get all in one shot - those are logs that still clog it up.

Getting better at the self-portrait. You can see my car w/ the bike on the back way down in the parking lot.