July 11, 2012 – Longview North/Mt. St. Helens KOA, Castel Rock, Wa

We decided to make a campground close to Mt. St. Helens the destination for today so that we could visit and see how the mountains have recovered since we last were here (about 8 years ago). It was a short 135 mile drive, but we had to contend with Seattle traffic for the first part. But, we had an uneventful trip and got to the campground about 12:30. This is another very nice campground. It is about 2 miles east of the interstate and the sites are terraced so that each has a view looking back down the valley toward the interstate. This park even has a fenced dog run, so the dogs were finally able to be free and off leash. We had so many campgrounds in Canada and Alaska that were basically gravel parking lots that Harry wants to roll in the grass every time he sees nice grass.

Later in the afternoon we headed east to Mt. St. Helens. It is about 48 miles from our campground where the road ends by Mt. St. Helens. You start seeing the remains of the eruption when you are very close to the Johnson Ridge Observatory. Maybe it is my memory, but it seems that the destruction was noticeable at a greater distance 8 years ago. Even as close as the Observatory is, you now see flowers blooming and much of the trees that were knocked down are gone (probably from the passage of time). The change seems amazing, but then you think that it has now been 32 years since the eruption.

Mt. St. Helens as we drove in today.

Mt. St. Helens from Johnson Ridge Observatory

Downed tree and flowers by Johnson Ridge Observatory

Hillside with remains of the downed trees.

Think of the force required to sheer a tree off like this one.