It sounds great, doesn't it? Except for one little thing... I drove about 50 miles down 503 at 6 AM to 25, and then headed north on 25 per my "scheduled route". However, about 15 miles up, the road was closed. Huh????
There were no signs indicating the road would be closed and there was nothing on the website. As a result, I wasted 1/2 a tank of gas and about 2 1/2 hours. :-( This did NOT put MJ in a very good mood!!!
There wasn't much to do on this side given that the main road was closed.
I went on Trail of Two Forests. A glowing lava flow spilled down the mountain into gullies and ravines. Air cooled the molten surface, forming an insulated roof of rock above searing streams of lava. These tunnels (similar to the ones from the Lava Beds National Monument) allowed the hot lava to flow all the way down to the forests, and created long, tunnel-like caves, like Ape Cave. When the eruption subsided and the lava drained from the cave tunnel, the roofs in some parts collapsed.
After the eruption, clouds of smoke and fires followed the lava flow into the forest. Smoldering trees toppled into the molten lava river and jammed together, clogging the flow. A lava pool grew behind the dam until small tongues of ropy lava spilled over the charcoal log dam.
Trees burst into flames when lava flowed down around their trunks. The molten rock cooled when it hit the trees entombing the trunks in stone. Fire burned through the trunks, causing the charcoal trees to topple. The charcoal trunks weathered away, leaving behind tree molds.
Just past this trail is Ape Cave. There was a short hike to the cave, but since I had spent so much time in the lava caves last week, I had very little interest in spending a lot of time exploring this one - particularly since there was no sign of another person (other than the occasional logger) on this side of the mountain. Lava Canyon, which sounded neat, and the scenic overlooks in that area, were also closed as the road was only open for a few miles. By now, I had figured out that I'd have to go back another 50 miles to where I started in order to view Mount St Helens...
Ape Cave is 12,810 feet long, and has an entrance and exit. This is twice as long as the longest cave in Lava Beds, but much easier to maneuver through. There was a 1 mile trail from the other end of the lava tube to the beginning. I did not go through the entire thing.
Here, you can see fog inside the cave.
After the Ape Cave, I headed back down the 503 and ran into about 8-9 large elk crossing the road. Good thing I was paying attention, because I was going at a pretty quick pace! I was mad about having to come back to where I started. I was ticked about the wasted gas money. And most of all, I was PO'd because I HATE wasting time!! However, steaming about it would get me nowhere, so I talked with the National Park Service (who didn't seem to care at all and said that it was "common knowledge" that 25 was closed most of the year due to the snow) and then made up a new route on the way...
This time, I went back to I-5 and headed straight up to Castle Rock, and then east to Mount St Helens via Hwy 504. It was a long 45 miles to get to the Johnson Observatory, but there were a few nice overlooks along the way.
As you will see, the clouds hung very low in the sky, so part of Mount St Helens was covered in clouds, and I drove partway through fog to reach the Observatory.
Mount St Helens erupted on May 18, 1980 triggering a huge landslide. A pyroclastic flow made up of rock fragments, highly charged gas, and super heated steam destroyed 150,000 acres of forest land.
After a turbulent blast shattered the forest and an avalanche of rock filled the end of this stream valley, a lake began to form. Rain fell, snow melted, and water poured into the basin. Geologists forecasted the basin would be full by 1981. If water should start to cut a channel across the loose rock and ash blocking the valley, millions of tons of water, rushing to escape, could rip out the entire plug. A raging wall of water would flood towns downstream. Using bulldozers and explosives, workers moved tons of earth to create a channel in the solid rock below. By moving a tiny bit of all the material deposited by the debris avalanche, water could gradually flow out. This is Coldwater Lake.
On March 20, 1980, Mount St Helens awoke. Magma was rising to the surface, fracturing rock, and producing earthquakes. The volcano's summit diverted the magma sideways, pushing the north face dramatically outward. This thick magma contained dissolved water and gases under extreme pressure. On May 18th, the unstable north face of the volcano collapsed. With the pressure removed, groundwater flashed to steam and magma gases expanded almost instantly, triggering an explosive lateral blast.
March 20 (before the bulge):
March 20 (after the bulge):
March 27 (a steam and ash eruption blasts a crater in the summit the size of several football fields):
May 17 (rising magma wedged the mountain apart causing huge cracks and fractures; the bulge hangs outward 500 ft):
At the observatory I took a short hike along an interpretive trail and learned more about the 1980 eruption.
On May 18 @ 8:32 AM, the north side of the mountain slid away, releasing a tremendous sideways explosion. The searing blast plowed through the landslide, picking up large rocks and other debris. Within 90 seconds, the debris filled blast struck this forested hillside, pulverizing ancient trees. The nearly 500 mph blast shattered and toppled trees, sweeping some into the valley in front of me. The blast stripped the bark and branches, carrying them miles away. The mangled stumps around me on the trail are all that remain of these 150 ft tall trees.
The summit and heart of the volcano are missing. They ended up down in this valley below the volcano when the volcano fell apart in the gigantic landslide, which scoured the ridge and left behind deposits of rock and huge intact chunks of the mountain in Spirit Lake and the South Coldwater and North Fork Toutle River Valleys.
15 minutes after the eruption began, the boiling ash column rocketed 15 miles upward. Winds carried the cloud to the east, away from this spot. Ash rained down across 4 states. Around noon, fresh gas-rich magma erupted from a reservoir 4 miles beneath the volcano. Searing flows of pumice, ash, and gas boiled out of the crater and onto the landslide deposit. These are the pyroclastic flows, and they swept downward - one on top of the other - like waves, creating Pumice Plain. By early evening, the volcano's pent up gases had been released. The eruption slowed, then subsided by the next morning. Ash deposits covered 22,000 sq miles. Six sq miles of steaming pumice (120 ft deep in some places) lay to the north.
The first picture is 1979. The 2nd is 1985. And the 3rd is 2000. Quite a change!!!
Here are some more pictures of Mount St Helens and the valley today:
I went inside the Johnson Observatory, and they have all sorts of information (not to mention nice interactive exhibits and displays) for both kids and adults. To sum up the major events of that day, here are some pictures and descriptions from the observatory.
Step 1: The north flank of the volcano collapsed, forming a landslide that slid into Spirit Lake and the 2 river valleys below.
Step 2: Rapid expansion of volcanic gas and superheated water exploded rocks and ash through the landslide, forming a huge sideways blast that moved faster than 200 mph (in other words, the truck in the movie "Dante's Peak" would probably not have been able to outrun it and make it into that cave).
Step 3: Ash and volcanic gas erupted from the crater for 9 hrs, forming a column more than 12 miles high.
Step 4: Fiery mixtures of volcanic gas and frothy molten rock, known as pumice, erupted from the vent and plummeted down the north side of the volcano.
Step 5: Melted snow and glacial ice, mixed with loose volcanic rock, generated rivers of fast-moving mud, rock, and water.
Step 6: After the 5/18 eruption, thick, pasty lava oozed up onto the crater floor and built a lava dome.
Spiders enable scientists to watch a volcano remotely with lower cost and less risk than sending people there. Spiders (like the one below) have a 3-legged frame and metal box filled with instruments, batteries, and antennas. Spiders have GPS, seismic, gas sensors, microphones, tiltmeters, cameras, and a radio. Helicopters sling them into place on the crater.
This is what it would look like without the fog:
Volcanologist David Johnson stood where I was by the observatory (which wasn't yet an observatory) and when she blew her top, his final words were "Vancouver, Vancouver! This is it!" before he was overtaken by the eruption.
You can still see old dead tree trunks mixed in with a few new smaller trees rebuilding the forest.
In many places, the forest is coming back:
Look deep inside the crater's center. What do you see?
After Mount St Helens, I was excited to see the differences between volcanoes in Mount Rainier. Mount Rainier was not too far of a drive, but I still had to back track about 40 miles to get back to I-5, and then I went up to Hwy 12 and up Hwy 7 to Mount Rainier's main road.
On the way, I stopped to see the Mossyrock Dam off of scenic route 12. It is the tallest dam in Washington, and one of the first double curvature arch dams in the western hemisphere. Okay, I saw the sign talking about the dam, but not the actual dam. :-( Here are pictures of the river I saw and the dam picture from the sign. Best I could do. :-)
From there, it was only a short distance until I entered Mt Rainier Nat'l Park. I'm not sure why Mount St Helens is a Nat'l Monument through the forest service, but Mt Rainier is a National Park. Oh well...
The first thing I did was go to Carter Falls trailhead and hike it. The trail is a 2.2 mile round trip hike to the falls, and starts on a bunch of rock with a shallow river snaking through it. (This is Paradise River, and the rock valley is Paradise Valley. The river is made from snow melt from the glaciers.) The path then crosses a log that acts as a bridge, and goes into the forest, where it steadily climbs to the falls. There is no sign for the falls and no overlook or bridge. The view is muddled by trees, making it difficult to get a good view. The trail keeps going, so you have to be paying attention and see the falls off to the right, take a picture, and then turn around. I wasn't overly impressed with these falls, but the first part of the trail was pretty neat!
After this I drove to Christine Falls. There was a bridge overlook, and then another spot to view the falls, which was just a short hike down.
Like the Nisqually Glacier, Mt Rainier has 26 glaciers that are in a constant state of flux, either melting back or advancing up to 3 ft/day.
The road through Mt Raineir Nat'l Park was nice and windy, with good elevation changes. The falls were nicely arranged near the road. Narada Falls was next. You can see over the top of it, and then for a better view, I had to climb down through about 3 feet of slippery snow to reach the bottom.
Here is some info on this waterfall and the area around it...
Mt Rainier erupted andesite lava flows, which filled and hardened in ancient valleys cut into the older, tougher Tatoosh grandodiorite.
The Paradise River is eroding into the soft contact zone between these 2 rock formations as the water plunges over the antesite rock ledge at Narada Falls.
Climbing down under the bridge, there was man following closely behind me, and his son (not a bad looking young man) met up with him at the bottom and took a picture of me by the falls. :-)
At this distance, the Nisqually Glacier looks motionless, but there is a lot of evidence that the ice is constantly moving. Crevasses form where the glacier flows over uneven ground. Moraines (dark rubble along the sides of the glacier that disguise it's full extent) and the surface debris are both fragments of the mountain.
My car wanted to pose with the glacier. :-)
The bird also wanted to pose...
Finally, when I reached Mt Rainier, the fog started to lift a little, revealing more and more of the volcano... Some people had snow shoes on and used ski poles to walk through the deep snow up what looked like ski trails to get a closer look at the mountain. I was happy right where I was. :-)
There were many interesting peaks along the road...
Since the early 1900s, people have been coming to this area to see Mount Rainier. The park road that I was on was designed to harmonize with the landscape and take advantage of the spectacular views. The surrounding scenery has the power to inspire and motivate people to explore, recreate, connect with our heritage. It also makes you want to just close your eyes and take a deep breath of fresh, crisp, cold air and smile.
My car was inspired...to continue posing. I think she liked the scenery as much as I did!!!
Most of the cars turned around at this point to go back where they came from. The rest of the road to 123 just opened up, and there was a rumor that the road wasn't in great shape. However...I decided to try it, and continued along.
The next stop was Reflection Lake. There was another person there, who told me her husband and daughter were walking along the lake in the snow. I don't know how deep the ice was over the water, but didn't want to risk falling into freezing water, so I just climbed up on top of the snow bank and took a couple of pictures. This first one is what the lake would look like in late summer / early fall when there is no snow/ice. The others are what it looked like when I was there. You can see a little bit of the water peeking through the snow and ice. :-)
And here are more scenic shots along the road. The road, BTW, was NOT in bad shape at all. A few twigs, rocks, and occasional gravel, but that was it.
This area I'm driving through was once buried beneath hundreds of feet of moving ice. You can see bedrock polished by sediment-laden water on the underside of the glacier. When the glacier flowed across the rock, debris that was frozen in the ice created a pattern of scratch marks.
Not everything was formed by ice though. I went on a short 1/2 mile hike through the top of Box Canyon. It was snowed in and only plowed up to the bridge, but you can see the canyon from that point fairly well.
Box Canyon began as a crack in the granite bedrock. The powerful current of the river continues to batter the rock walls, increasing the size of the canyon. The river's milky color identifies it as glacial melt water full of rock fragment scrapes from the mountain. The water is 115 feet below the rim.
Here is one final view of Mount Rainier from the other side before exiting the park.
Even though it was barely raining (if at all), there was a nice rainbow coloring the sky when I left the park and filled up with fuel.
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