roadtrip | summer 2011 | wed aug 10 | volcano, take 2

Morning found the air a little cool and cloudy, but we had a fun time riding bikes around the campsite and the little dirt trails that wound in and around the trees. We packed up and headed back to the Visitor Center across the road, this time to do a little lake hike nearby. But when we saw the live cam of the top of the mountain—clear and blue—we made the snap decision to go up and try again.

We road the same 50 miles, winding up to 4200 feet, but this time we climbed above the clouds to see the magnificent view.

It's really an amazing thing to see it, to know—to remember—the cataclysmic event that transformed everything around. The top of the peak is literally gone, slid off down the river. The entire ridge where the observatory now sits was blasted clean, along with the surrounding hillsides. Trees broke like twigs. Lava rolled uphill. An ash column rose 60,000 feet in the air.

The mountain now is ringed with basalt and wildflowers, with trees growing slowly in the sheltered spots but bare rock along every ridge. The views were spectacular, and we were glad to have made the trip for the second time. Matty got to do another, different Ranger program, where he watched and participated in a few experiments. We hiked the boundary trail along the lip of the ridge and saw the smoke drifting from the crater, from the domes of rock that grow a little every day. There's no openly-visible lava at this volcano, but it's not hard to imagine what's trapped just below a thin crust of rock and dirt.

On the way down we stopped for a late lunch at a place called Patty's, right on the Toutle River. We had burgers—Adrian had an elk burger—plus their homemade berry cobbler for dessert. We ate on the back deck with a view of the river, and felt happy and content to have been in the sun, in the fresh mountain air.

Matty's drawing of the mountain.

We kept north after that, making our way to the next destination at Mossyrock. The campsite was the opposite of Seaquest the night before—the open grass is a haven for families with campers, RVs, boats and bikes. A dam nearby has formed a lake stocked for fishing, with lots of room for waterskiing, swimming and picnicking. There's a little concession stand that sells ice cream, and the camp host drives around at night selling firewood from his pickup truck. Our site was right next to a bike track, where Matty could ride in circles. He bounced, turned and raced to his heart's content. After dinner, we roasted marshmallows to round out the day, watching bats swoop and glide around the edge of the lake.

The next day would take us into the wild backroads, and also to our very last night of camping.


read about Thurs, Aug 11>