Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

June 4 , 2011
Tim's birthday was a beautiful day so we drove south to Mount St. Helens. We hadn't been there for 3 or 4 years, and the weather was perfect for some great views of this wonderful National Volcanic Monument.

Page 1 2

     
   
     
Our first stop was at the Forest Learning Center, just outside the blast zone. What a view!.
   
     
   
     
From the Lookout, I could see the path of the mud flow, 31 years ago.
 
     
   
     
Bright little Indian Paintbrush flowers bloomed beside the walkway.
   
     
   
     
Behind the Learning Center stands The Tree Planter. 'The sculpture depicts a Tree Planter, with his backpack full of seedlings and shovel in hand, leaning over to plant one of the 18 million seedlings which were replaced in the volcano's blast zone.'
  
     
   
     
In the bushes lurks a bronze Elk. 'In the spring up to 500 elk can be seen grazing on the mudflow below the center.' We didn't see any (live ones).
 
     
   
     
There are many viewpoints along the road into Johnston Ridge Observatory.
 
     
   
     
Here's another lookout. Mt. St. Helens is still more than 5 miles away.
   
     
   
     
At times it seemed that we were going to drive right into the volcano.
 
     
   
     
There's always something interesting to look at.
     
   
     
As we entered the blast zone, the landscaped changed.
 
     
   
     
There's still a lot of snow at the higher elevations. This is about 4500 feet above sea level.
     
   
     
Most of the parking lot at the Observatory was clear, but the sides were banked high with snow.
   
Page 1 2

Photographs Index