Mt St Helens – July 28

I was up well before the boys, so I took Taiko for a walk around the campground. There were only three or four other campsites up and moving around that I could see. The campground is pretty full. It’s nice. I’d recommend it for anyone looking to camp in the area. I found the place where you can get firewood. $5 for a bundle. The boys have been crying out for a campfire and marshmallows. The day simply will NOT be complete without one.

Well, we finally got up and moving. We left Taiko in the popup and walked over to the Visitor Center across the street. Since it’s state run, my federal annual pass didn’t help and we had to pay admission. I think it was $5 for the three of us – Oh! Break the bank time.

The visitors center is very well done. It has a lot of information no only about why St Helens blew, but about her historical significance to the local Native Americans. They also had loads of information and maps about the area. We decided to head up to the Johnson Ridge Observatory – it’s the closest you can drive to the mountain. And yeah, since it’s federal – I can use my annual pass. Grin.

It was an interesting drive. I was living in Seattle in 1980, when the mountain blew – so I remember it well. But, this is the first time I’ve been to the actual site. Entire forests were replanted. We found out a Johnson Ridge that the USFS replaced over 20,000 acres of forest, and another over 150,000 acres were replanted privately. Weyerhaeuser put signs up next to the road indicating when the forest was replanted, and what species of tree was planted. It was weird. We’d drive around a mountain bend and see tract upon tract of forest. But it was different from the usual forest. Usually there’s variety in height, age, shapes, species – there’s just variation. It was like looking at a lawn. All the trees were exactly the same height and shape. Creepy. Really.

The shatter zone near the mountain has been left alone to return naturally. Twenty-eight years later, and plants are slowly returning. After all – the seed has to be carried in – mother plants were all destroyed. A few very young trees survived the explosion – protected by snowpack. But they haven’t had an easy time of it – elk, and beaver have taken their toll. Mt St Helens isn’t going to have an evergreen forest. Red Alder is the first tree to return successfully. It grows a lot faster than evergreens. I remember reading that somewhere – “young” forests are deciduous, while “old” forests are evergreen.

But the power of the explosion really hit home during the drive up. At one point we drove down by the river – and you could see foot upon foot of ash and mud making up huge banks. Buried five and six feet under the ash and mud, sticking out over the river where the ash and mud had been undercut by the river were the ends of trees. Piles of them. Old giants, four feet in diameter – thrown down like a game of pick-up-sticks for the gods.

Taiko wasn’t allowed out of the parking lot at Johnson Ridge Observatory – so we made him comfortable, and played shadow tag up to the entrance where a ranger talk had just started. Yeup. Completed the Junior Ranger program here too. We’re getting to be real experts at it.

This stop seems to have made a big impression on Issac. He continues to talk about it a days later. “You know, like at Johnson Ridge.” Is a common comment. I think it made an impression on all of us.

Back home at the wagons, the boys finally got their campfire. Jakob made the fire while I tended to dinner. We had campfire packets – which the boys found quite tasty. We also had a new neighbor. A guitar playing neighbor. Taiko is much more comfortable with this one – he’s alert, but isn’t growling.

Goodbye Woods, Hello Seaquest State Park – July 27

It took four adults working fairly diligently to get us on the road. I was figuring lunch time, and sure enough at about 1pm – we finally got it all put back together and were on our way. Our family friend, Sue Paules was us at The Woods for the weekend and was a huge help getting us resorted out and back on the road. Mom has been collecting quarters – and sold me $20 for future laundry runs. Dad and Issac took our bottles (and one of theirs) down the hill to refill them. Thanks Dad!

We pulled into Seaquest State Park at about 5:30. Our spot is quite handy to the path under the highway to the Mt St Helens Visitor Center run by the state. It was easy to back into, and Jakob is getting much better at directing me. We were fairly close to our neighbor on the door side – sites 70 and 71 would make a nice combination for a small group needing two sites. 71 can only accommodate a tent though – it’s not long enough for a camper. In any case, our neighbor hadn’t arrived yet. And there’s a tap with a drain for dumping grey water just across the street. Handy. We spent the rest of the evening getting the popup, up, and getting settled. The boys were definitely crawling out of their skins – so we headed over to the playground to burn off some more energy. Our neighbor had arrived by the time we got back. Poor guy, stuck next to us. He just wanted a quiet place to read, and go through the pictures he’d taken that day. I had to remind Issac to be neighborly twice – that child is LOUD. Taiko didn’t trust him at all. He didn’t bark at our neighbor, but he was very alert and growled quietly. I think maybe I should have had him come over and introduce himself to the dog. That might have solved it. However, he only stayed one night – so in the end it didn’t matter.

We broke out the mosquito coils. The mosquitoes aren’t bad, but certainly are a nuisance. They worked quite nicely. We ate all our meals outdoors. I switched the outside stove to one of the little 1# propane bottles. It clips along quite nicely now. Don’t remember if I mentioned the trouble with the outdoor stove I’d been having. It was taking an hour to boil a liter of water – really. Very anemic. Turns out we messed up our high pressure line to the stove when we modified the propane for two bottles with an automatic cutover regulator. Anyway, Dad suggested just hooking it up to one of those little bottles – and I’m good to go. I hate using them though since they can’t be refilled or recycled. Ug. But, I’m back in business – so I’ll us them, and fix it sometime after we get home.
I’m having trouble getting the boys to bed at a decent time – it means they’re getting up late, and we’re getting off to rather late starts. Hummmm.