I slept good again, but when I finally got up at 7:30am, it was raining. A cold front had come in and will now linger over western Washington for a few days. Snow is expected in the higher elevations.
I drove around town one last time to take in the views along the hillside, before continuing the drive southeast on US30. The last time I drove this stretch toward Portland two years ago, it was at night. I never got to see the wide river open up here into smaller inlets and marshes.
I crossed at Longview nto Washington at 10:30am, stopped at Kelso to get some radiator coolant (the radiator was low on fluid) and resumed the drive. Seattle was only 125 miles from here, but the stop at Mount St Helens would prove to be a 90-minute drive one-way on WA504, a meandering ridge road that takes one directly into the blast zone of the 1980 eruption. Hillsides are still swept away, exploded trees from the lateral blast still stand like broken pencils. The rain dropped the clouds low, so no peaks could be seen.
I stopped at the McD in Castle Rock for an early lunch and drove east. Seeing Mt St Helens was a must-see on this trip, but the fog was disappointing. It got thicker the higher I got in elevation, with no "sun bursts" in sight.
Thirty miles into my drive and at the Forest Learning Center off the highway (with great views toward the blast valley, but a fogged-in mountain), I discovered that my Chromebook was missing. I have been keeping it in the front of my passenger seat, covered by books, clothes, camp towel. Sometimes I slide it along the side of my seat. It was nowhere. Had I left it at the McD? That's where I had taken it to use while eating my lunch. I tore the front end of the van apart, from books and sleeping bag to plums and water bottles. The Chromebook was nowhere. My trip was temporarily put on hold as I drove back to the McDs. At 3pm I arrived and the manager told me "Thank-you for coming back for this!" as he returned my Chromebook back to me. Why would I not come back for this? It's my lifeline! I had left it by the side of the drink dispenser. What a relief to still have it!
The fog wasn't getting any easier and now darkness was playing a factor. Would it be worth it to make the 52-mile drive again just to see a fogged-out peak? I opted to drive the route again after a quick ponder while still at the McD's, arriving at 4:30pm as the last open views were starting to fog over again. It was 41F at the observatory, just under 4000 feet. Quite a few other visitors were also here, many dressed as summerly as me.
The landscape around the visitor's center still looks ashen and no new trees are on the upper ridgeline. Wildflowers are coming back, but the old growth forest is gone. Looking out from the visitor's center, even in the fog, is impressive. Old growth trees splintered like pencils, their stumps still remnants on the hillside. Over 232 square miles were affected by the May 18th blast. Fifty-two people died, many from asphyxiation during the spewing of gasses during the 8-hour eruption. Some people have never been found. The observatory is now named the David Johnston Observatory, named after a USGS surveyor who was on the ridge during the explosion and who perished in the blast.
I was chilled and feeling damp here, but still in awe of the destruction of that volcano. I wish I could have seen the peak but that may have to wait for another time. It's been 36 years since the volcanic eruption (I was in Bloomington, IN when it blew and we had ashen skies all that summer) but there is new growth coming, although no new trees per se as I'm sure that blast zone was sterilized for a long time.
With rain and colder temperatures forecasted for tomorrow, I opted now to drive straight to McChord AFB for the night. I needed a shower and to wash my clothes. I decided to take tomorrow off from hiking and driving and to just stay on base to get some errands done.
I got to the Joint Base Lewis-McChord area by 7:30pm Traffic was still very congested and I was glad to get off I-5 and settle on base for the night. I'd been to Lewis back in the 1990s and remember it as a maze, with a main post and a north post, both used for training. There's been much growth since my last visit here in the early 2000s. I even found a small hiking trail on the north end of the post, the McKay Marsh trail. This trail is well-marked and about 1.5 miles around. I found it after walking the dogs on a tank trail near the post police training center. It was already 7:20pm when I started and I had no idea how much daylight I would have left, but we managed almost three miles at a very fast pace, so it was worth it for the exercise. No one was on this trail but us.
After much driving around, I settled down across the street from the hotel on the air base and used its wifi.
No comments:
Post a Comment