Today was one really interesting day. We left our campsite in the woods and drove up to Mount St. Helens. We were just amazed by the sight. It is hard to believe the devastation there, yet the regrowth that was there was fantastic.
Here is the site we camped at last night.
Here is our approach to Mount St Helens. You can see all the devastation evident in the area.
We stoped at one of the creeks and took a walk through the trees. Looking up the hill I saw this lovely yet forlorn moon silhouetting a shattered tree in a near desert looking landscape.
Looking the other direction the landscape was nearly destroyed, yet just a few hundred yards up the road life had returned as evident by the deer we saw on the side of the road.
At the base of the mountain is Spirit Lake. A once beautiful resort site primarily known as the home of Harry Truman who refused to leave when the alert was put out when geologists determined that there was a threat of an "event" at Mount St. Helens, and died in the ensuing explosive eruption.
We rounded the last intervening hillside and reached the observation site just under 5 miles from the mountain. From there we were able to climb up one of the hillsides and had a marvelous view of the mountain and the path of the eruption.
One of the most remarkable pieces of this part of the trip was the solitude at this location. We had started our drive up the mountain relatively early and were near the only ones there at the time. It really added to the perspective of visiting the mountain.
After leaving the mountain we drove back out to the freeway, and down into Oregon and visited the Wildlife Safari Park near Winston Oregon. This is a park where you drive your car through and the animals are all around you. They had everything from Lions, Tigers, and Bears to Turkeys, Giraffe, and Antelope.
We had a real funny encounter with the Ostriches. It seems that they are real curious animals and checked out each car. When we passed by it checked us out through the window of the car and tried to get in. It was hilarious to watch and we got a very close view. The hair on it's head was very interesting.
After leaving the safari park we left the coastal area and headed back east. We made it to an area just across the road from Crater Lake National Park where we found a spot to camp for the night. It was in the middle of a pumice field and we collected a load of the rocks to bring home.
