After visiting Mt. Hood and staying the night at Timberline Lodge, we moved on to Mt. St. Helens. Didn’t do as much hiking, but we visited the Johnston Ridge Observatory and the viewpoints along the way. I took a lot of reference pictures for an upcoming project and got tons of inspiration for it.
Even though the area is still recovering from the devastating eruption over thirty years ago, it feels more alive and healthy than the section of Mt. Hood we hiked. Sure, there may not be grand forests as far as the eye can see, but the area around the volcano is in a state of regrowth and regeneration. Many of the replanted noble fir stands have deciduous trees mixed in with them. There are a few spots that look like someone took a noble fir tree texture and sprayed it all over a mountainside, which was a little trippy to look at.
The chipmunks at the observatory are bold around tourists, obviously hoping for a crumb or two. The one in the picture above kept getting bold around Sir Briarhenge, but he had snacked on a few trail mix nuts in the car. Those little rodents have sharp noses! He kept shooing it away until it gave up and decided to pester another set of tourists. We also spotted a multitude of tiny toads on their migration. Signs posted up along the walkways reminded us to watch our step and not crush the little creatures under our feet.
We’ll be making return visits to the area to do some hiking. I can see why it’s called “God’s country under construction.”
After our visit, we made the long drive to Mt. Rainier. We really didn’t think it would take so long.
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