Report: Mt St. Helens & Mt Rainier Road Trip - Aug 2011

[Ceg]

Mount St. Helens & Mount Rainier Road Trip
by Clay Graham

A little after 9 AM on Wednesday August 17th, 2011 we left Eastern Washington Adventures in Selah, Washington with two rigs to go to Mount St. Helens. We made our way to US12 and headed toward White Pass. At the intersection of US12 and SR410 we were stopped by the DOT. They told us the US12 had a lot of delays and said SR410 would get us over to Randle faster. So we change our route to go over Chinook and Cayuse Passes.

On US12 we stopped for lunch at the Bevin Rest Area just past Packwood before turning off at Randle to see Mount St. Helens. Around Mount St. Helens we stopped at most of the pull off areas to see the sights. Since both rigs had a Northwest Forest Pass, we could without worry. We took two hikes during the day that were well worth doing. A long the way we ran into to different Rangers that were very good with the kids and with answering all of our questions. This trip to Mount St. Helens was great.

After the seeing Mount St. Helens, we found a free campsite off of FS21. I believe this was the same campsite we stayed at in the early 90s.

The next morning after breakfast we parted ways. Foxracer headed back home to Ellensburg and we did some exploring. We first tried to find Camp Cispus since my wife "99" remembered going there when she was in 6th grade. We found it. The name of the place is Cispus Learning Center. My wife told stories about the place to our children as I headed to Elbe. Once in Elbe we got some high price fuel and then took a break at the Train Station. We got some info about the train rides for a later date adventure. The kids played by the old train as my wife got us some espresso.

Next we headed through the Mount Rainier National Park. It was $15 for a pass that was good for a week. We stopped at all the view points along the way and did one hike to see Narada Falls. We headed back home by going over SR410 with a few stops here and there.



See full report with 148 pictures at: Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier Road Trip - Aug 2011

[RiponredTJ]

Looks like a great trip Ceg. I really like the pictures, especially this one:
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[Ceg]

Originally Posted by RiponredTJ

Looks like a great trip Ceg. I really like the pictures, especially this one:
.

There were thousands of them swimming together across the lake. The water was pretty clear so you could see out a ways at all these black lines made up of tadpoles. Life in the blast zone.

[blucher]

It feels funny to be like the Maryland lady who moved to Portland. She's been waiting for an earthquake for years and is dismayed it hit where she left.

A volcano erupting like Mt. St. Helen's would be a spectacular sight but something about that mountain looks ominous since the last blast. Both Hood & Rainier could take a city with them if they blew. Better one like Redoubt carries the load where damage in minimalized.