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A Saturday Morning to remember!
We decided to go up to Johnston's Ridge the fun way, and had a great time!
We hiked up from the Hummocks Trail, and continued on from the Junction with the
Boundary Trail on up to Johnston's Ridge.
Hike Summary:
Type: Out and Back
Distance: 10 miles
Elevation Change: 1680 feet
Trailhead: Hummocks Loop Trailhead
Hightlights (distance from Trailhead):
Junction with Boundary Trail (.5 mi)
Loowit Viewpoint (4.25 mi)
Johnston's Ridge Observatory (5 mi)
Getting there:
Take the Castle Rock Exit (exit 47) off I-5, and head east along WA-504.
Follow the signs to Cold Water Observatory. At about 12 miles, you will
come to a gated turn to the right heading towards Johnston's Ridge, and Cold
Water Lake. (It is closed during periods of dangerous eruptive activity,
and in the winter) Follow the exit to the right, down into the valley,
and pass the parking lot for Cold Water Lake. About 1/4 mile farther
along, you'll see the parking lot to the Hommocks Trail Head.
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The Hummocks Trail traverses a portion of the debris field left behind after the
largest landslide in recorded history roared down the Toutle River valley. It
is amazing to thing that you are walking on what was once the North Face of the
volcano, and that you are up to 800 feet above the valley floor as it was prior
to the eruption.
The region has recovered quite a bit. Rendered completely sterile after
the blast and heat from the 1980 eruption, life has slowly returned, and now, 25
years later, there are more than a few pockets of considerable growth. |
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"Hummock" is a term used to describe the piles of debris left from a large
landslide. When Mt St Helens erupted, the resultant landscape clued scientists
in to various terrain around the world, long a source of speculation.
It seems that what happened at St Helens has happened elsewhere... |
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Even in the fog and the early morning light, it was not hard to imagine the
carnage that took place while you're walking. Its amazing that so much
could be so completely changed in such a short amount of time! Basically
everywhere you looked, there was blatant evidence of destruction. Here and
there, logs extended from the ground, frozen in the position they were floating
when the landslide came to a rest. |
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At the 1/2 mile point, the Hummocks Loop Trail meets up with the Boundary Trail.
When we went, portions of the Boundary Trail were closed due to eruptive
activity. After Johnston's Ridge, the Boundary Trail continues on through
the Pumice Plain, across the 'opening' of the North-facing crater, and in the
direct path of a possible Lahar or other outflow from an eruption. We
weren't going that far, though, so it didn't affect our route.
Not long after passing the junction, the trail heads towards the canyon
walls, and upwards to the top of Johnston's Ridge. |
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The trail is well marked, and fairly well traveled.
A you head up the slopes of the valley walls, you progressively gain more and
more exposure to just how much forest land was destroyed in a few moments... its
quite spectacular.
We had a lot of fog on the way up... but the view was still pretty
incredible! |
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Even in the fog, the scenery was quite pleasant. Most of what you see could be
seen ONLY at Mt St Helens...
While we heard them fairly close by, they were hidden by the fog, and we
never did see any elk close up, although we did see scat and tracks that were
quite fresh...
At least one of them was HUGE... the track it left behind was nearly the size
of my foot... |
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Right as we got to the Loowit Overlook, the Sun started to burn through the fog,
and the day began to brighten up. "Loowit" means "Keeper of the Fire", and it
was the local Native American name for The Mountain. |
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The area around the Loowit Overlook, as well as the rest of Johnston's Ridge,
bore the brunt of the blast when Mt St Helens changed forever. |
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From the Loowit overlook, its a 3/4 mile trek to Johnston's Ridge Observatory.
There were several warning signs out there, warning of a difficult trail, but it
wasn't bad at all. |
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I, for one, was VERY glad when we were finally got to Johnston's Ridge
Observatory! It was a GREAT location to finish at. We ambled around the
observatory for a bit, snacking and drinking water...
It was a busy day on the mountain... the seismographs were pretty active... |
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One of the displays they had set up was the Spider display we saw during the CVO
Open house... they also had remnants of a spider that was damaged on March 8th |
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After watching the video, and the cursory pictures of The Mountain, which
unfortunately was shrouded in clouds, we began our trek back to the Hummocks. |
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With the fog lifted, our view was far more impressive. One thing we noticed is
that there isn't a lot of cover, and with the Sun shining, it was quite a bit
warmer... but we were heading downhill, so the going was a bit easier.
On a spur, we caught a good glimpse of Spirit Lake... and promptly made plans
to make our next hike at The Mountain over towards that way. |
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Nearly everywhere you look, the evidence of the destruction caused by the 1980
blast can be seen. |
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The trail winds down the side of the valley wall, providing excellent views of
the massive amount of destruction. At one point, it followed an old logging
road, used to haul out timber from forests that are now bleached stumps and
fallen snags.
The Toutle, once a haven for fly fisherman, snakes its way through the debris
field, slowly carving out a huge canyon for itself. |
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There were LOTS of wild flowers, and many butterflies...
With the fog gone, we were able to see our destination long before we were
close to it. It was surprising to see just how high we had climed.
We noticed an interesting rock formation that seemed out of place... a
staircase of sorts, an outcropping of an old basalt flow. It was quite
striking. |
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Back at the junction of the Hummocks and Boundary Trails, we took a look back at
The Mountain... its a much more impressive view with the fog lifted! From
there, it was a short trek through the hummocks back to the truck, and then he
headed out to a much deserved shower! |
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