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When Mount
St. Helens erupted, southern Washington wasn’t toasted, but
it was scrambled. The just-completed Spirit Lake Memorial Highway
lays it all out for you.
By John
Goepel
At
8:32 in the morning of Sunday, May 18, 1980, the top of Mount
St. Helens "rocketed into the stratosphere."
Hyperbole
is quite an achievement when it comes to describing the explosion.
Actually, a lot of the mountain blew out laterally, smashing into
surrounding hills and valleys. A huge landslide and rushing hot
gasses flattened thousands of forest acres. Ash blanketed the
scene. The familiar landmarks all were gone. What took their place
looked, in the words of Jimmy Carter, "like the moon."
Much of the land around Mount St. Helens still does.
On the other
hand, the former forest and river valley instantly became "the
youngest landscape on earth," and a golden opportunity to
see what Nature would do with this vast and nearly lifeless expanse.
You might
think an event like that would be considered something of a lemon
for the area. But in a large-scale demonstration of lemonade-making,
the county, state, U.S. Forest Service, and private industry got
together and built a broad scenic route, the Spirit Lake Memorial
Highway (SR 504), from I-5 right through the blast area. Along
the way are five visitor centers designed to give people the best
possible picture of what happened and what’s going on now.
"What we have here," boasts one local highway booster,
"is 50 miles of accessibility."
Beginning
at the small town of Castle Rock, the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway
climbs through forest into the blast zone. It has been opened
in sections beginning in 1992, and the final eight miles, up to
Johnston Ridge Observatory, opened this May, along with the observatory.
For much of the way, there’s a steep dropoff on one side,
with views of surrounding mountains, Mount St. Helens, Toutle
River Valley, and ridge after ridge of smashed trees. The scenery
is progressively more dramatic as the road ascends.
Every few
miles, a large visitor center presents itself. Three are operated
by the Forest Service, one by Weyerhaeuser, and one by Cowlitz
County. There’s little duplication among them; each gives
an opportunity for first-class views and each offers a different
perspective on the event of May 18.
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VISITORS
CENTERS ALONG SR 504
Mount St. Helens Visitor Center (milepost 5)
This Forest Service facility gives an overview of
Cascade Range vulcanism and the events before and
after May 18, 1980. It’s open daily from 9 a.m.
to 6 p.m. in the summer. Winter hours, which begin
late in September, are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is an
$8 per person fee, good for admission to all three
Forest Service centers and other Mount St. Helens
National Volcanic Monument sites for three days.
Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center (milepost 27)
This Cowlitz County facility gives the first broad
panorama of Mount St. Helens, the Toutle Valley, and
where the landslide ended. It offers a very nice restaurant,
crafts gallery, espresso bar. The architecturally
interesting, Alpine-style building features open-beam
construction held together by wooden pegs. Open 9
a.m. to 9 p.m. from May into September. Winter hours
vary. Free admission. Helicopter tours are available
for $69 per person from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., mid-May
to mid-September, weather permitting. Phone (360)
274-7750.
The
Forest Learning Center (6-plus miles farther)
A significant portion of the blast area was Weyerhaeuser
land. This company-operated center tells of the blast’s
effect on the St. Helens Tree Farm and the challenges
of salvaging the blown-down timber and replanting.
The viewing area gives an excellent overlook of the
St. Helens Game Refuge in the valley below and is
a good elk spotting area. There is a nice children’s
play area. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May through
October. Free admission.
Coldwater
Ridge Visitor Center (milepost 43)
Well within the blast zone, Coldwater Ridge gives
an excellent view of the crater, Coldwater Lake, and
the Toutle River Valley. Exhibits focus on how plants
and animals were affected and how they’re currently
faring. Computer simulation forecasts how the blast
zone will recover in the future. A "Video Wall"
presentation shows how life actually survived the
blast (being underground was a big help) and slowly
is returning.
This
is a good place to get out for a walk through the
former forest. There’s a paved, quarter-mile
loop to one side of the center, and a trail down along
Coldwater Lake on the other. It’s five miles,
one-way, but an easy one-mile walk gets you down to
the lake, which is surrounded by blasted trees.
Coldwater
Ridge is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the summer.
Winter hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., begin late in September.
Johnston
Ridge Observatory (milepost 51—the end of the
highway)
From 4,220-foot Johnston Ridge Observatory, mostdramatic
of the centers, you look straight into the crater
at the lava dome, some 5 miles away. You’re standing
in the explosion’s direct line—and evidence
of what the landslide and blast did is all around
you.
The
building itself, of glass and tinted concrete, is
built into the ridge and looks as though it were already
there when the volcano exploded. You can see part
of Spirit Lake, Castle Lake, and a broad panorama
of mountains in the background. Moonscape is in the
foreground and all around you. You park in the midst
of it. Johnston Ridge Observatory is open from 9 a.m.
to 6 p.m. in the summer. At press time, whether it
would be open in winter was undecided.
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How
big was it?
The mountain shook and bulged for weeks before suddenly losing
1,300 feet of its top in a landslide and explosion that, according
to the Forest Service, sent a cloud 15 miles up, blew over 96,000
acres of trees, spread 540 million tons of ash over three states,
and killed 57 people. It was the largest landslide in recorded
history.
Where’s
the lava?
One
thing missing from the explosive May 18th eruption was the kind
of flowing, glowing lava which helps make Hawaii’s eruptions
so picturesque and which contributed to the Hollywood version
of the toasting of LA. Later eruptions produced a thick and oozing
lava.
An advantage
to lethargic lava is that while you might have been smashed by
an avalanche, drowned by a displaced lake, buried in ash, or blown
away, you could have outrun the lava had it made any real headway.
Another advantage is that oozing lava tends to create taller volcanoes
with nice cones as it doesn’t spread so rapidly.
Spirit
Lake
You
can see the drastically altered lake’s south shore from Johnston
Ridge. Before 1980 it was a clear mountain lake below snowcapped
Mount St. Helens, a popular vacation spot surrounded by forest.
When much of the volcano’s north face fell into it, water
splashed hundreds of feet up the surrounding hills. Ash and tree
trunks filled the lakebed, which is now some 200 feet higher than
it was.
Scientists
thought it would take many years before the lake would support
a wide variety of life again. But, according to the Forest Service,
within five years the lake had "virtually recaptured the
complexity of pre-eruption life." The land had hardly recovered
at all. The lake may be diverse beneath its waves, but didn’t
look it the day we visited.
Harry Truman,
probably most famous of the eruption’s 57 fatalities, ran
a lodge on Spirit Lake. Claiming he was a part of the mountain,
Truman refused to leave. He and the lodge still are at the lake’s
old level.
And
nearby...
About
30 miles south of Castle Rock via I-5, you’ll find the southern
approach to Mount St. Helens, SR 503. The stretch we’re interested
in begins at Woodland (exit 21) and runs east for 40-odd miles
to Swift Creek Dam.
SR 503 is
completely different from SR 504. It’s a smaller road going
through rain forest and by several small towns. The people there
claim, "If you want to see it, go to 504. If you want to
do it, come to 503." Outdoor recreation is what you’d
do. There are three lakes along the road and access for swimming,
boating, and fishing. There’s an 18-hole golf course on Lake
Merwin (with its own boat launch facility), several woodsy campgrounds,
and lots of hiking. Steelhead and salmon fishing is said to be
quite good in the Lewis River.
Among the
hiking routes is one that takes you to the Mount St. Helens crater
rim. It’s an all-day round-trip. Jack’s, a pleasant
and homey restaurant (phone 360-231-4276), is the place to get
a permit; you’ll see it on the right as you’re headed
east just beyond Lake Merwin.
Helicopter
rides are available in the town of Cougar, which is also the world’s
source of Mount St. Helens Ashware (see sidebar). You might try
the Cougar store, just down the street from the ceramics store,
for local info. Why the name Cougar? We asked Bob at the Cougar
store and were told, "Just ’cuz."
Ape Cave,
a 12,810-foot tunnel formed from an ancient lava flow (they had
faster lava in ancient times), is open for tours beginning in
mid-May just north of Swift Reservoir. Merrill Lake, north of
Yale Reservoir, is a fly-fishing-only lake.
ASHWARE
The small town of Cougar on SR 503 was evacuated for six months
because of the 1980 volcanic activity. Mount St. Helens supplied
it with lots and lots of ash. The ash isn’t sitting around
waiting to be swept up anymore, but you can find—and take
away with you—some Mount St. Helens ashware. The ceramics
are made in a tiny factory in Cougar and sold at 16834 Lewis River
Road (SR 503) in Cougar.
Created from
a mixture of liquid clay and ash, the finished products have a
marbled look, with the tan ash swirling through the white pottery.
The selection is broad, ranging from tea sets, bowls, pitchers,
animal figurines, and candlesticks to such classics of the statuette
world as "End of the Trail" and "The Stag at Bay."
Prices range from $2.95 (small tortoise) to $109.95 (lamp). Most
are roughly $6 to $12. Phone (360) 238-5371.
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If
you’re going...
Use your AAA Oregon/Washington TourBook® and map.
For
complete information on the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway
(SR 504) and on SR 503, contact the Department of
Tourism, Cowlitz County, 207 Fourth Avenue N., Kelso,
WA 98626. Phone (360) 577-3137.
Accommodations:
We looked at four places to stay on SR 504 and one
on SR 503.
State
Route 504: In Castle Rock, we looked at the AAA
three-diamond-rated Timberland Inn. It’s a modern
and very pleasant motel. Rooms have refrigerators,
and some have a Jacuzzi. Price range is $60 to $125;
there are discounts for AAA members and seniors. Phone
(360) 274-6002.
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Also in Castle Rock is the bargain-rate Seven West
Motel. Though the ambiance is of white paint on cement
block, the motel was clean and quiet and the TV had
a remote. Price range is $35-$51. Phone (360) 274-7526.
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Blue Heron Inn is five miles down the road, diagonally
opposite the Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center. Opened
in the spring of 1996 by John and Jeanne Robards,
this six-room bed and breakfast is a large, modern
house in elegant-rustic style. It overlooks Silver
Lake (good bass fishing) and has a view of Mount St.
Helens. Rooms all have private bath and cable TV.
Prices range from $95 to $125. Phone (800) 959-4049.
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The one-room log cabins and wall-tents in Eco Park,
at milepost 24, bring you closer to nature in the
raw. There are propane toilets, lights, and heaters;
bottled water; showers; laundry facilities; and picnic
tables. Campsites for tents and RVs also are available,
as is one yurt. Eco Park has a pocket trout pond and
frequent visits by elk and deer. Price range is $37-$48.
Campsites are $12 per unit. Bring your own sleeping
bag, cooking supplies, groceries, flashlight. Phone
(360) 274-6542.
State
Route 503: Just over two miles from I-5 along
SR 503 you’ll find the Lewis River Bed and Breakfast.
The year-old house is right on the river, with its
own dock and river deck. Each of the five bedrooms
has its own decor theme—and its own bathroom.
Designed and operated by Denny and Suzi DeWeese and
Mary Loumena, Lewis River B&B manages to be both
homey and luxurious. Prices range from $80 to $130.
2339 Lewis River Road (SR 503), Woodland, WA 98674.
Phone (800) 517-3200.
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