Note: Photos for this day have not been posted yet.
A year ago today I was flying home from my trip to Arizona. At that point I had visited a total of 25 states. Now I've visited 44 states.
My original plan for today was to visit the Columbia River Gorge. It was in my path to head across Oregon into southern Idaho. But, I looked at other tourist areas around the hotel. I noticed Mount St. Helens was a bit closer to the hotel than the Columbia River Gorge. Of course, it was not in the path I was traveling. Still, I had heard about Mt. St. Helens for years. I may never get to this area again. So, I decided Mt. St. Helens was a priority. My next hotel was in Hermiston, OR, which was east of the Columbia River Gorge. If I had time later, I'd visit the Columbia River Gorge as it was on the way.
The drive to the visitor center for Mt. St. Helens was along I-5. The GPS could not find it. Mapquest told me to get off one exit before the appropriate exit. I tried Mapquest's incorrect directions. I drove for a few miles on a narrow, twisty road which went up the side of the mountain. As there were no signs talking about Mt. St. Helens, I determined this was the wrong way.
As I got back on I-5, I noticed there were signs for other exits which read "Tourist Information and Volcano Information." I found the appropriate exit for Mt. St. Helens. Mt. St. Helens is considered a National Volcanic Monument. This means that admission to the viewing area is under the control of one of the Federal Government's entities (I think the Forest Service). However, the State of Washington also has visitor centers along the way. The first visitor center actually had an admission fee. They had some exhibits and a film plus a gift shop. One of the staff indicated that since the day was very overcast, the view would not be so great. The photos and postcards around the visitor center were of course taken on very good days with perfect light. So, the impression in my mind of what it looks like was from those photos.
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The drive to the final viewing area was an hour and fifteen minutes with no stops. There were many viewing areas along the way. There are a lot of mountains and valleys so there were plenty of photo opportunities. Unfortunately the photos did not turn out so well due to the sky being overcast.
Huckleberries are popular around here too. Another visitor center (one without a charge) was selling huckleberry truffles and huckleberry candy bars. I tried them. The truffles were messy (too much huckleberry inside) but tasted good.
The road went around mountains and twisted quite a bit. Mt. St. Helens was not that far away but the twisting of the road added many miles. There is a turn as you get closer and the main road should continue. However, just beyond that turn, it's blocked off.
The second to last observation area gives a very close view of Mt. St. Helens. However, the wind is terrible. I had the camera around my neck but I was really afraid it might be lifted off and dumped way down in the drop off. There was a heavy fence which would prevent a person from being pulled. However, there was a trail along the edge of the mountain with no fence. Some people were actually walking on it. The wind made it very cold as well.
Because of the number of clouds, I didn't realize right away that there was smoke coming from Mt. St. Helens. It was the same color as the clouds and some of the clouds were right near the top of the volcano.
Finally, I went to the main observatory. This is a fee area and costs $8. People can physically walk in without paying the fee (many parks don't allow this) but could be subject to fines if caught by a ranger. In my case, I didn't have to pay at all because I bought the Annual Pass a while back. This doesn't always work with areas run by the Forest Service, but this time it was accepted.
There is a main observatory area and a winding path that gives a higher vantage point. The path has fences to at least hopefully prevent anyone from falling. Along the path are the stumps of trees affected by the eruption in 1980. There are also pieces of trees laying in the area. Going off the path is a violation and subjects the person to fines. They want to preserve all the plants that have started growing in the eruption area. As they say, plants grow by inches and die by the foot. There is a monument along the path listing the names of people who died in the 1980 eruption.
By the time I was done, I felt there might still be some time for a quick visit to the Columbia River Gorge. It would be a three hour trip. The trip went through I-5 and it was during the commuting hour. The radio indicated major back-ups. Meanwhile, it started to rain. It was light at first and then became heavy. I came to realize that I would not be seeing the Columbia River Gorge except for whatever could be seen via I-84 (which was not much at all).
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Along the way back to I-5, there were various displays and tourist shops related to Big Foot. In one case there was even a small museum.
By the time I got to I-5, traffic was moving along at the speed limit. The rain was very hard. As I got to the Oregon border, there was another "Entering Oregon" sign. After crossing a bridge, there was at least a small "Welcome to Oregon" sign.
The scenery along I-84 was beautiful. There were a number of mountains. The Columbia River runs parallel to I-84 for miles. At one point I noticed two large smoking volcanoes on either side of I-84. As I went along further, there were many nice smaller mountains. It became the high desert environment found in eastern Washington, Montana, etc.
In listening to the radio near the Gorge, everything was referred to as "Gorge Country." It's too bad I missed it. I considered going back to the Gorge the next day, but that would mean backtracking by well over 100 miles. The next hotel after Hermiston was just inside the Idaho border so I would have many additional hours of driving if I did that.
I finally arrived in Hermiston, OR, and got to my hotel. I was absolutely exhausted.
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