We packed up our snow shoes and the little guy's sled, and headed for The Mountain, to see if there was any snow we could take a walk on... there wasn't, but we had a good time, anyway!

Welcome Center State Park
Our first stop was at the Welcome Center, which is now a state park... the USFS handed it over a few years ago to save money. I remember when it opened... it was a pretty big deal, but now not nearly as many people go there.

The view over Silver Lake
Like Spirit Lake, its much more famous cousin, Silver Lake was formed when an earlier eruption's mudflow created a dam, turning a river valley into a lake

The Mountain
Mt St Helens, once known as the Fuji of the West for its distinctive shape, now has a flat-top. It used to come to a distinct point, and have an almost perfect cone shape to it.

Walking Trail
The walking trail was too good to pass up, especially after the 3 hour drive we'd been on.

Walking along the lake
The trail was littered with Goose doo, but otherwise, it was a nice walk.

Telling the Tale
Along the trail, placards explained what was going on, giving us tidbits of information we'd otherwise had missed.

Weird
who knew?? 'The water-dwelling bladderword floats lilently, awaiting its prey. An unsuspecting Wirlygig Beetle swims by, brushing the plant's sensitive hairs. This triggers a trap door, and the beetle is quickly sucked into the balloon-like bladder to be slowly digested.' Sounds fun, eh?

Inside the Welcome Center
Inside the welcome center, there's several displays set up, explaining the history and events leading to the views we see now.

The History of the Mountain
Pictures, documents, and sound bites tell the tale of Native and early European settlers to the area... leading up to the time of the eruption.

Timeline of the eruption
The majority of the center is dedicated to the events surrounding the eruption.

Interesting display
The largest display is a cross-section of the innards of St Helens... very interesting stuff!!

Heading into the innards
The little guy was pretty impressed, but mostly by the stairs! =]

Recent activity
One of the newer displays discusses the recent dome-building eruption that ended a couple of years ago.

Great view!
The road leading into the Volcanic Monument provides some amazing views of the Mountain. It'd been almost a year and a half since I'd been up this way, so I really enjoyed the scenery more than I usually do.

New lot
The new lot at Eagle Rock Lookout is pretty nice.

Posing with The Mountain
The little guy agreed to pose for a picture...

'Cheese!'
When I said 'smile for mommy', he instead said 'Cheeeeeeese!', which worked out pretty well, I thought.

This was easier
It was a bit easier to get him to agree to pose for this picture. =] He likes to climb on things!

Downed Trees
30 years (well, in May) after the blast... the downed trees still show the force and direction of the blast that forever changed the landscape in the region... its very impressive

Valley floor
The valley floor still shows the incredible power of the blast and the landslide that followed... life is returning, but the land its growing on really looks as beat up as it was.

Coldwater Lake
The closest we could get was Coldwater Lake... they've closed the road to Johnston Ridge for the winter still.

Walking ahead
The little guy really liked walking on the trails, especially the parts that went on the 'Big Bridge'... the boardwalks over the water.

Coldwater Lake
The lake was formed by the mud dam, some 4-800 feet deep, which was the result of the North Face of the Mountain sliding away. In the days and weeks following the eruption, the Coldwater River filled up the naturally formed reservoir, which now is a very clear, and very cold, lake.

Checking out the water
The little guy enjoyed watching the water from an interesting vantage point.

The love of my life
No, not the Mountain! =] One of our first dates was to here, actually...

As close as we could get
The lake is as close as we could get to The Mountain... not sure if there was any snow to close the road, or if it was because there weren't many people interested in The Mountain right now... we were pretty much by ourselves the whole day.

:ast look
I zoomed in for a last look... as many times as I've seen it, I still am VERY impressed by it all!

 

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