Mount St. Helens

We drove up to Johnston Ridge Observatory to get a look at Mt. St. Helens. Admittedly, I wasn't expecting more than to marvel from a distance at the giant crater left from the eruption. But by the end of the day, I left completely fascinated with this remarkable place.

National Volcanic Monument - it's a thing. And the sign is ash-colored, not brown! You can see Hodor parked in the back.

The parking lot was full of people tail-gating the volcano with bbq and kite flying. We followed suit with beer and sandwiches. Bowie holds down the fort. 

 Here's a view from the observatory. The clouds were hanging over the top most of the day, so we weren't able to get a full look at it. Although, I suppose there's not much to see above the cloud-line anyways? That part of the mountain is gone. You can see right into the crater though.

We are about 5 miles away! I looks huge, of course, but even being there, it's still hard to perceive just how gigantic it is. The crater itself is a mile wide.

The Volcano and The Ed

Here's a closer shot of the landscape below. You can see the Toutle River re-establishing it's route through the pyroclastic material which was deposited by the volcanic lahars.

 Equipment for monitoring volcanic activity, set among the ruins of the forest.

The entire area was forested before the eruption. Young trees are growing back among the old white tree stumps, and there are wildflowers everywhere.

“The Eruption of Life” is the park motto, and it is a great contrast to the “moral of the story” that we've found throughout our national park tour. That bluntly being “Everything Dies.”

57 people were killed. The death toll would have been much higher though, were it not for David Johnston (he was a scientist who died in the eruption, the observatory is named for him) and the USGS convincing authorities to close the area to the public, despite heavy local pressure to re-open it. (It's usually a good idea to listen to those scientists..) There are moving stories and accounts of the eruption in the Johnston Ridge Observatory interpretation center. I think the USFS struck a perfect balance in their presentation between the life and death that this volcano has brought. 

But life finds a way. These prairie lupine flowers were the first signs of life to return to the barren area.

The eruption of Mt. St. Helens took everyone by surprise, in that the damage was so much further-reaching than expected. It was a lateral explosion, meaning that all of it's fury was consolidated in one general direction. This was the first time in recorded history that such a phenomenon was witnessed by anyone who lived to tell. 

Because of this, we've learned a lot about volcanic activity that was previously a mystery, along with the explosion of life that grew back from the ashes. It's a brand new landscape, and we get to see exactly how the geology is forming and the wildlife is progressing. (hint: a lot faster than anyone predicted!) The park newspaper encourages you to come back throughout your life to witness and compare the changes you see.

Fancy new facilities! Love that USFS seal.

                 

Research area! The entire place is a giant science lab. We hiked around the hummocks and got to see this brand new landscape close up. 

I love the park interpretive centers, but after that, you've got to get out IN it to find yourself a deeper understanding than a textbook can give you. Open the pic below in a new tab to read about similar hummocky landscapes around the world..and how we now know much more about them thanks to Mt. St. Helens.


We were standing on the red part - it was once part of the mountain!

New life grows among the rubble.

New ponds a little lakes have filled up among the hummocks. This is my favorite picture, you can see right into the crater.

We've been seeing these beautiful foxglove wildflowers all over the PNC, finally got a nice shot of one

There's so much more of this park I wish we could have seen, namely the Ape Caves. They're not technically caves, but lava tubes over two miles long! You can hike through them, but we were on the wrong side of the park for that.

On our way back down the mountains, we made a stop at the buried A-frame roadside attraction - the picture doesn't show very well how deep it was actually buried. The new, higher ground from the volcanic lahar flow has since washed out from in the front of the house, but that line you see on the door is the new ground level around the rest of the house.

There's also this fellow, along with a friendly kitschy-tacky gift shop, which is not even close to the kitschy-tacky you find at the roadside attractions back east! It's kind of hilarious to realize how gaudy things are, east of the Mississippi.

Check out this crazy time-lapse of the lava dome growth from 2004-2008. (In the previous blog post, video didn't want to embed here for whatever reason) The lava squeezes out like play-dough!

Roadtrip week through California and the Redwoods

We left our campsite in Bishop CA, and began heading northwest towards the Redwoods. It was no state park, but the sky was always pretty there!

Lenticular clouds

Goodbye, Mono Lake. Bowie is typically unimpressed with the scenery, but he's always interested in the water.

We had to cross the Sierra Nevadas somehow...we chose Monitor Pass and Luther Pass. Ol' Hodor did us proud going up and over those mountains.



And down


We kind of just blew through the whole state of California. It was a bummer, but we were getting desperate for affordable camping (and food!). We made a reservation in an Oregon State Park, and were making our way up and over to the coast. At the halfway point, we stopped at a county park in Yuba City, it was a really nice place, we had a creek-side campsite, and only wish we could have stayed a little longer.

California Countryside

Getting closer to the coast

There it is


We made it to edge, now we turn right!


Dark sand

We were so happy to be here. To hear the ocean roaring and see the mist drifting in over the green forests was such a comfort. We had been a long time coming through the desert and I can't fully describe how reassuring and refreshing this sight and these trees were for us.

And just a bit further up the coast, The Redwoods. Ah, woodland paradise. I've been wanting to see this place for a long time. We were sad that our visit was so brief, but we'll never forget it. We've seen the biggest, the oldest, and now the tallest trees!

We got to check out a few trails, see a bunch of elk, hug some trees...of course, the pictures do no justice to the last of these ancient wonders. You can't fully recognize their enormity without being there. It's funny because like the sequoia grove in Yosemite, most of my photos just look like a regular old forest - even the ferns offer no scale because they are huge too! 

We talked with a ranger who recommended the Trillium Falls trail for our short stay. Walking into that forest was nothing short of a spiritual rebirth.

"This trail leads you through the misty hallways of an ancient redwood forest. Along the path, families of Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and Sitka spruce reside beneath the shade of the world's tallest trees. The forest floor creates a moist sanctuary for red tree voles, Pacific giant salamanders, and banana slugs. Listen for the high-pitched hoots of the spotted owl or the rapid trills of the ever-present winter wren.

Along the creek, scattered patches of silky white trillium bloom in the spring. Near the waterfall, the heavy, sloping limbs of big-leaf maple reach out in every direction. The Sun's rays attempt to blaze through the foggy sky, sprinkling beams of light upon Trillium Falls, a 10-foot cascade flowing over rocks covered in deep-green moss."

Hello, friend

everything green

Walking through the tall trees

Back on the road, more pretty coast along highway 101

I think we were in Oregon at this point. I think we had parked in a casino RV lot for the night.
It's all blurring together! This was our picnic spot of the day.

We finally arrived at Bullard's Beach State Park which would be home for the next 2 weeks (and dare I say forever in our hearts??) We loved it there. Stay tuned, readers! And thanks for reading ;)

BLM and Little A'Le'Inn

We set out from Hurricane Utah, aiming for Yosemite National Park in California. We had the choice of either going southwest through Las Vegas, or Northwest through...the rest of Nevada. You see, there are only two ways to get around this giant military base/test site/air force bombing and gunnery range/area 51/who knows what else...place in the middle of the Nevada desert. It's big. We had taken the southern route through Las Vegas in our teardrop trailer in 2010 (and had a memorable night in Indian Springs), so with no particular desire to drive an RV through Las Vegas, we decided to take the northwestern route. 

                        Pretty drive through some Joshua Tree forests "where the desert meets the hills"

Nevada is something like 85% BLM land, which means free camping! This was our first time camping on public lands...the road we pulled off of was called Rattlesnake Road (no idea how I agreed to stay here). It turned out to be one of our coolest campsites yet. Remote, beautiful, and complete with ancient petroglyphs! Judging from the old drawings and campfire circle, it's been home to many travelers throughout the years.

I composed this design over a photo I took with my back to the sunset. Later that night (after stomping around the RV to scare off any snakes) when we turned out the lights for bedtime, it was pitch black. Couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Then just a few minutes later, even with our eyes closed, we noticed it suddenly seemed brighter...the heck? The moon! We saw the prettiest moonrise over these hills. It lit up the whole valley.

Petroglyphs

Joshua tree

Do you see Hodor peeking out? 

 Rainbow rocks

Our trusty steed

In the morning, we hit the road. Highway 375 is officially called the Extraterrestrial Highway as it runs just north of area 51. The only thing for about 150 miles of lonely road, is the town of Rachel, Nevada. Rachel is home to a church, a hotel/bar, and less than 100 people. It's not even technically a town, but a census-designated-place.

Rachel is a very curious place. It's an old mining town (the mine failed) founded in the late 70's. It lies just north of Area 51, and is a huge destination for sky-watchers and UFO enthusiasts. There is surprisingly a lot to do out there in the desert! People come from all over the world to explore old mines, ghost towns, hunt for geocaches, and of course – watch the sky. There are a handful of key places to survey the sky, especially looking toward the air-force base. Sadly, it was partly cloudy the night that we were there, but the stars we could see were BRIGHT. We didn't notice anything strange (in the sky), but after dark, (we were welcomed to boondock in the lot next to the Little A'le'Inn) Our RV was buzzed by a very low flying zoom-y, fighter-jet-sounding aircraft. People see and hear strange things in the sky all the time out here, and it makes sense when you're located just north of a super-secretive airforce base! Check out this site for an idea of the kind war games you can regularly observe, also www.rachel-nevada.com has a lot of interesting info such as this:

"Rachel lies underneath a major military exercise area, the Nellis Range Complex. Visitors are startled by the many loud sonic booms in the area, but most residents have gotten so used to them they hardly notice. Some people, like Ralph Grover, a former Air Force mechanic who spent his last years here, have enjoyed living here because they could see jets flying around all the time, but most residents only notice what goes on overhead when the booms knock pictures off the wall or when jets crash in their backyard."

It's yard art, right?

This place is very much like a stop on rt. 66! Traffic is sparse but steady. You will hear a number of languages and accents out here in this middle of nowhere roadside attraction. It's a strange little oasis in the desert, but everyone is very enthusiastic about being here :) There is a time capsule out front, placed in 1996 by the producers of Independence Day! (To be opened in 2050)

Check out this groovy hangout - it says "Groom Lake air traffic and yacht club"

(Groom lake is a dry lake on the air force base)

The gas station is closed. That truck towing a boat in the background was a friendly man who pulled over looking for gas, but ended up giving us a pretty great 20 minute lecture about land forms and weather patterns in the western half of the country.

We made lots of friends! We were lucky to roll into town just in time for the "Rachel Day" celebration. The Litte A'le'inn employees invited us over to the park for food, water balloons, and tug-o-war. After we took a walk around the town, we made our way to the park. We already knew half the people there because the work shift had just changed at the bar. Small town. I cannot stress that enough! We are now pretty clued into the gossip and who's who, and all that. I was roped into a game of tug-o-war, it was the ladies (5 of us, all quite small) versus a big guy who so boldly claimed he could beat us all. He had another gentleman (or two) jump in to help him and we still won, of course. High fives all around! (ask me to regale the whole story in person someday ;)

Fancy custom built bikes (LBD colors!)

One of the guys we met was from LA, his boss was featured on one of those custom chopper reality shows...I don't think he was satisfied with our reaction to this information, so we told him we live in an RV and don't have a television. Anytime it came up the rest of the evening, he explained this to everyone haha

Gorgeous sunset over Area 51

I would go back! I had heard about this hotel before, it's a known roadside attraction, but never ever thought I would find myself out there. It's a really fun place, and very interesting to see how people live waaay far out in a little settlement such as this. Puts your "small town" into perspective for sure.