Lady Saint Helens

When talking with rangers, they always referenced to the mountain as a "her". I will let you gender studies majors out there do with that what you will. (You know who you are :) ) Needless to say, I went to Mount Saint Helens over the weekend.

I went with a new VISTA friend, who was great company along the way. We first started at Ape Cave.

Ape Cave is an old lava tube made from when the mountain erupted many years ago. (They really don't know when.) But that is not the point. The point is, that two forest rangers rented us a propane lamp, and just let us descend into the cave by ourselves. No guidance. No assistance. Just descend into a dark cave by yourself and your lamp. Sweet. (They don't do this in the East, just for reference.)

We then checked out the "Trail of Two Forests". Yeah. Cheesy name, I know. But it was amazing because of the fact there was old growth beside new growth from the explosion of the mountain in 1980. One really cool feature were these holes in the ground where lava surrounded trees, and the trees burned to charcoal, and then rotted away, leaving just the hardened lava hole where the tree was.

We then drove onto the next hike, to a lake created from debris blocking a river. On the way up, we saw the mountain herself:

June Lake was a really pretty site. It had a waterfall flowing into it from a cliff above, and was stock still and clear. The lake was also located in the path of a debris flow from the 1980 explosion, which was really cool to see the ash and pumice covering the ground around the new vegetation. It was amazing thinking that this area as a huge active volcanic site when everything seems so calm and peaceful.

Finally, the last stop was Lava Canyon. The name pretty much described it all. Once upon a time, not 1980 explosion, lava cascaded down the mountain and created this huge ravine of solid rock when it cooled. Water has slowly eroded this area from a small stream to a gushing waterfall.

Apparently there was a suspension bridge loop which crossed the canyon. We set out in search of adventure, and eventually found it. Here is what I mean a stream to a waterfall.

And here is what I mean by suspension bridge.

It was literally one person wide, and swung when you walked across it. It was pretty much the most thrilling experience I have had to date. (Yeah, my life isn't that exciting and perilous.)

Climbing up the other side of the canyon, we got great views of the side we had just hiked up and over. There is so much perspective when one looks at the canyon. The huge rock walls, the sheer drop to the stream/waterfall below, just the massiveness of the mountain itself. And the best part of this was not only the scenery and the magnificence of it all, but that I have started to make friends, and hopefully my social life will start to settle in. 

Maybe as a little birthday present.