Mt. St. Helen from Windy Ridge

Twisting, turning Road 25 leads to the Windy Ridge view point from our campground. Towering trees dapple the roadway as we peer deep into the woods hoping for a sight of deer or elk and we're rewarded by two black-tailed deer scampering across the road in front of us. The quiet is deafening as we wind our way alone on a narrow two-lane road to Mt. St. Helen. Washington has provided us with a beautiful sunny day, so welcome after several weeks on the rainy Olympic Peninsula and we're enjoying having the windows of the truck rolled down to breathe the pine-scented air.

A turn onto Road 99 and now we're really starting to climb. Vegetation is lush, but as we near Mt. St. Helen we start to notice damaged tree tops. A turn or two more and suddenly we're in an area of denuded trees standing upright with stumps where branches once grew and low vegetation on the ground. Two or three more swings around the mountain side and we're looking at waves of trees blown like toothpicks laying on the hillsides, patterns emerging depending on how the hillside faced the volcano. And yet white and yellow daisies and brilliant red Indian Paintbrush dance merrily in the breeze along the edges of the roadway providing a sharp contrast to the desolation of the hills and give an indication of how Mother Nature is reclaiming the area.

Arriving at the Windy Ridge view point parking lot we stand and watch the steam rising from the crater of Mt. St. Helen and try to imagine what it was like seeing that huge mushroom cloud of ash and rock rising in the sky. The small town of Randle where our campground is located is twenty-six miles from Mt. St. Helen and was covered by 3 to 5 inches of ash and rocky bits that May in 1980 and the local schools were closed down for a year. It's hard to imagine that kind of devestation, yet the evidence is right in front of us.

To our right sat a long flight of steps leading to the actual viewing platform across the valley from the volcano. Windy Ridge is the closest viewing area to the crater and although the steps were daunting, I knew I had to climb them to take a picture of the crater area. More lupine and Indian paintbrush greeted me mid-way up and two hummingbirds were pirouting in the air once at the top of the climb. The viewpoint is about three miles from the crater and while you can't see down into the crater, you can see the opening better with a zoom-lens camera or binoculars. Going back down was certainly easier and we arrived back at the parking area in time for the nature talk. A perky novice ranger gave a 30 minute speech on the history of Mt. St. Helen, the eruption and its causes and its geological effects on the area. She obviously gave a great deal of thought to her presentation and with a great deal of body language gave a very interesting and informative speech. We learned that much of the regrowth of plant life in the area is due to the lupine family of plants which create nitrogen rich soil when they die and to the gopher whose burrowing habits caused good rich earth to be mixed with the ash left on the surface, allowing drifting seeds to take root and start to grow. There has been no human interference in this process of rebirth; everything has been allowed to regrow naturally. 90 percent of the animals native to the area have returned and they believe the remaining ten percent will return when old growth forest regrows, as that is the natural habitat of those ten percent.

Returning home, we stopped at several of the other view points to take pictures of Spirit Lake, a once popular resort area enjoyed for its fishing and swimming and camping. Now covered with thousands of dead trees it's hard to imagine this area being a playground for thousands of Washingtonians. However, as you look around at Mt. Adam and Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helen you can see what would have drawn people to the area.

There is a long loop following Rt. 504 that encircles Mt. St. Helen from the west end, but that would have been a lot of miles and a very long day so we'll save that for another time. Apparently there are many museums and viewpoints and areas of interest along that route, but we're happy we were able to see Mt. St. Helen "up close and personal".