Sunday we drove to Windy Ridge Observation Point in Mt. St. Helen. It is only accessible from the north entrance at Randle. Windy Ridge is where the guy who was monitoring the volcano sent the final message that it was about to blow. The road was very rough and winding. It took us about 2 hours to get there. The destruction and devastation that remains, 38 years later, is just unbelievable. There are still trees down all over the mountains, the river that the mudslide and debris flow came down is like nothing we’ve ever seen. The pictures do not do justice to being there. I did not realize that MSH has erupted several times since 1980 and is still active. We could see smoke plumes coming up out of the crater.
Yesterday, we drove back in to Mt. St. Helen, but we had to go around to the south entrance. It took over 2 hours just to get started at the Visitor’s Center. Another incredible day of seeing the power of nature at work. We met two middle aged gentlemen from Portland who were biking their way down from the top. One had had a flat tire just as they came by the Visitor Center, so they had stopped there for repairs. Had a really nice conversation with them and they gave us some local tips on places to see when we get to Olalla and to Port Angeles.
Leaving MSH, we stopped at a gift shop. This is the area where there are a lot of people who believe in and have seen Sasquatch. This store had numerous casts of footprints and it was the area where the video that has been in documentaries was filmed. The owner of the store has seen Sas twice and he goes out, searching for them. She said he has had rocks thrown at him at night and has a thermal image gun that has shown heat from the rocks. Tony & I came to the conclusion that there may just be Sasquatches in the Cascades. These forest are so thick that my Daddy would have had a hard time getting through them in his younger days. You can’t walk between two trees and then there is the rainforest undergrowth of ferns. There was also an A frame house next to the store that was in the blast zone and it has been preserved to show all the ash & debris inside. The roof is now level with the ground.
Getting a late start today, but headed back into Rainier, to the Longmire and Paradise areas. Then we are off tomorrow to Olalla to housesit for 19 days.
GA Gypsies - Fulltiming 