We got to the Mount St. Helens visitor center at the bottom and used our annual national parks pass!!! I am super excited about it! That means, lots of traveling!!! YAY!! We didn't end up spending too much time at this one but we did get photos of the newpaper articles of when the eruption was, which was super neat to see. We didn't know enough before coming to realize that there were 3 actual visitor centers, 2 from the national parks and the Forest Learning Center- one from the lumber company. It was a lot of driving in between the three centers but it was stunning.
The Forest Learning Center visitor center was our second stop. We could have spent an entire day here alone. It was very informative and we learned so much. We both really wished we had the kids here for this one....that just means we have to bring them back here. There was even a kid section they could spend hours in. It was pretty impressive and heart breaking at the same time.
The further up we drove the more destruction you can still see today, some 39 years later. You can still see full grown trees, parcials of land freshly cut trees, lots of land that is barren and very few trees and then the land that nothing still grows on. You can see where the lumber company started replanting verus where the government chose not do anything to help the land. It is a very stark contrast. I was a year old when Mount St. Helens exploded. I don't remember it but I do remember learning about it as a child and was always a place I wanted to visit.
The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was very busy with lots of visitors, not many of which we saw at either of the other visitor centers. WOW! Talk about a massive explosion! There is so much mass missing from this volcano. One of the park rangers had a telescope set up so you can see some of the wildlife and another one looking at the smoke coming from the volcano....that was an odd feeling looking at the smoke rising.
A funny side note are the squirrles here. They think they own the place and get super close to you as if they're playing cute with you until they turn and attack you.
We explored and learned more at the last visitor center. We got our books and magnets of course!
We heard of an "A" frame house that is still partially barried from ash and debree. So we went off searching for it and actually found it...along with a huge bigfoot! It was ery to be there. Yes, going up the road to each visitor center you saw destruction but that was to vast amounts of land and you didn't see much evidence of the remains of life until we got here to the "A" frame house. You could see into the house and see the fridge, the stove, couches, patio furniture...that this was a lived in home until the eruption. How truly devistating!! So I think it was perfect to learn all we did then end here with a simple humble home that still stands and tells its beautiful horrific story from so long ago.
Our next destination was to Mt. Rainier. So off we set, passing so many lumber yards and lumber trucks. The tree line along the road looked like it was fake. It was as if out of the movies, like a wall of giant beautiful pine trees. It was breathe taking!!!
When we crossed over into Mt. Rainier National Park, I could not contain it any longer and I had tears of gratitiude. This is heaven on earth. I found my most favorite place to be...ever. We HAVE to bring our family here. They have to feel how hallowed this ground is and it beauty!
We were taken back so much by its beauty. We stopped at one place and took some photos and drove not too far before stopping again and again. Then we realized that the visitor center at the top of the mountain was closing soon so Quique literally flew us up there going so fast. We made it before it closed. Talked to a ranger for a few minutes then left after making our plan for tomorrow.
We had gone from the visitor's center to the lodge that had a gift shop to browse as it was still open but about to close too. We didn't get much looking in before it did close so we just walked around taking lots of photos of the magestic views. We had seen Mt. Rainier from below and on our drive up but it was so cloudy at the top we didn't see it. Then all of a sudden the clouds parted and wa-la! There she was in all her glory!!!
We stayed and soaked in the crisp chilly moutain air for a while longer before starting to fly down the mountain in hopes we could get a few hikes in.....I don't know how we thought we could fit so much in and such a short amount of time....good thing Quique drives so well and safely as he zips us around!
We got to go on a hike down to the near bottom, the Narada Falls. WOW! It was spectaular!!! We got super wet but it was ok. It was awesome! We started back because dusk was coming and Quique had picked up a large stick to defend us off from mountain lions and bears. He was so serious and I couldn't help but laugh and laugh hard. He kept hurrying me up to get out to there as fast as possible....I shouldn't have laughed but it really was funny to see him like that, as he's never been that worried being out in the mountains. Once we got back to the car, he was his usual calm and collected Quique.
We headed out of the park and on our way to the Air B&B cabin that we booked for tonights stay. It is a super charming "A" frame cabin just outside Mt. Rainier National Park. It was so cute and perfect!
