Day 15

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Headed to Mt St. Helens today. I have to say, when you see all the news of the eruption on the TV, it looks like it's really straight forward on what happened where and how much damage there was to the surrounding area. However, when you see it for yourself the sheer distances you're talking about make it quite difficult to gauge just what went on in 1980.

The other thing that complicates the destruction and rehabilitation of the area is all the signs that say "Planted in 19xx" next too all the trees. I was furious when I saw those signs all over. Why would they plant new trees everywhere? All they're going to have is a bunch of trees that are all the same age and it will never be the type of forest that was naturally there to begin with. Plus the sheer expense that had to be put forth to plant all these trees by hand. They had to be planted by hand because of the ash layer that covered everything was not full of the minerals needed for the trees to grow. It wasn't directly harmful to them if the roots could get below that layer, but you couldn't just salt the surface with tree seedlings or seeds and expect a forest to spring up, the workers had to scrape down to the soil and place the seedling at that level.

Then I saw it by the Hoffstadt Creek Bridge on the way up the mountain, but didn't take a picture of it for some reason. If memory serves, it cost nine billion dollars to replant the hills surrounding Mt St. Helens and it wasn't completed until 1992, and the first trees will be ready for logging in 2010 or 2012. Oh, that's why the trees were planted so thickly and no care was taken for diversity in the forest.

Thankfully they didn't replant the entire area around the Volcano as there was a large portion directly around the summit that was set aside for science. This area has many little shrubs and flowers starting to grow on it, but very few trees and tree like plants. There were some evergreen trees in some of the crevasses that look like they were somewhat protected from the heat of the blast, but they are small enough that they look like new growth to my untrained and unaided eye. Other than that, the hillside is a bone yard of broken tree trunks and stumps that were left from the sheer force of the eruption. You wouldn't have wanted to be standing up there when it went, and the monument to the people that were shows that some where.

Now for things to get interesting. I was planning on camping at one of the many (ok about three) campgrounds in the near area to Mt St Helens and doing some hiking tomorrow. But by now you know how plans work, or don't. Being Saturday night between two major metropolitan areas (Portland and Seattle) every available campsite I found within about fifty miles was full. New plan for tomorrow: Drive closer to Seattle and spend the whole day downtown... ready... break!

Day 15 Distance: 237, Elevation: 10 -> 4311

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