Day 11: Mt. St. Helens, and Beginning the Long Road Home

We had another nice breakfast and packed up and left the hotel at around 9:30. It was only Carrie and I for today as Tracy and Jeremy were taken back to the airport. It was actually the first day of stereotypical Pacific Northwest weather as it was about 55 degrees, overcast, and damp when we left Suquamish. We began our drive to Mt. St. Helens by taking the western route and bypassing Seattle and the ferry. This route took us across the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which just opened the day before, with a huge public ceremony attended by the governor of Washington and 60,000 people.

With the weather still overcast, we approached Mt. St. Helens. The first view of the mountain is truly incredible, as you see the intact western part of the mountain and then almost immediately you glimpse the massive hole on the north side. We snapped a few pictures at an overlook, and then stopped at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, which is only 5 miles from the mountain. We watched an introductory video on the eruption, which occurred on May 18, 1980, only 4 days before my birth. We also read some of the stories of several survivors, some of whom were camping only a few miles or less from the mountain. The plaque commemorating the deaths (there were “only” 60, but this was incredible considering the size of the landslide (the largest in recorded history) and the strength of the blast (many thousands of times powerful than an atomic bomb) was moving. We left and visited the Clearwater Ridge visitor’s center on the way out.

The rest of the day was occupied by driving south through Washington, bypassing Portland to the east, and driving I-84 along the length of the Columbia River. The river is amazing. It was damned at least three different times along our route, to provide much of the power for the region. It was fun driving down the same river that Lewis and Clark navigated on their way to the Pacific. I thought about the expedition a lot while we were driving down the Columbia, and how much it has changed since the early 1800’s.

Tracy and Jeremy got back to Denton late tonight, and the BDC is reduced to 6 for the rest of the trip. Tomorrow we go on a long scenic drive to Hell. Actually Hells Canyon. As usual, check out the photos below.

Day 11

--BDC