5/7/19 - Today was my first mostly free, unstructured day since leaving my job last Thursday. What to do?
I read a cool-sounding trip report about the road up to Johnson Ridge Observatory near Mt. St. Helens, which is still closed for the winter, but bikes are permitted.
It is an hour and 40 minute drive up to the place where the road is closed by a gate. The trip only requires 2 roads. I-5 North, and then 504 east. 107 miles, but could not be simpler. Upon arrival, I loaded up my rear wooden bike crate with water, snacks, hiking boots, and helmet (for the way down). Leaving the house by 6:10am meant that I started the bike ascent by 8.
No turns to remember, and no traffic. Just up. The trip up is 6.5 miles and climbs 1,800 feet. This makes for slow and steady, but relatively serene biking. The birds were out in full force, there are some small waterfalls and big streams, and the the initial views are nice, with lots of ridges and dramatic landscapes, but no St. Helens. After about 5 miles you come around the bend and get to see St. Helens (also Loowit) in it's full glory. It is impressive, and the pictures don't capture it. This trail gives you the view from the north, so you can see straight inside the crater. You look across a huge plain of pumice fields and hummocks, which are made of big chunks of the mountain that settled in the field below after the eruption.
Explanatory information signs are all over, which many cool before and after pictures describing the 1980 eruption. At the very top of Johnson Ridge, you look down at least 1,500 feet to the fields below, which then slope up to the crater. The most impressive and awe-inspiring note to me was pretty subtle. It explained that during the eruption, the pyroclastic flow came down the slope of St. Helens and completely overtook Johnson Ridge. Standing on the ridge, it feels like you are on top of a mountain. To visualize a wave of gas and mud blasting over the top of that very ridge is quite humbling. To add to the effect, there are a few huge stumps left on top of the ridge which whose missing trees were violently torn off, leaving jagged splinters.
At the top, I swapped my sneakers for hiking boots, threw the backpack onto my shoulders and hiked around for a couple miles. At 4,300 feet of elevation and in May, there were probably 5 small snowy sections to cross. Easy enough to handle in short stretches, but hiking these for any distance, or with a heavy pack, would be treacherous and not enjoyable. Felt good to exercise some different muscles, and was nice to be in a spot where you had a continuous and impressive view of St. Helens.
Then it was time to descend on the bike. Don the helmet and sneakers, check the brakes, and get into a comfortable coasting position. Quite simply, this was a lot of fun, with every minute of the downhill blast rightfully earned on the trek up. The slope of the road is great, where you can let it fly without being reckless, and without having to touch the brakes. You can control your speed with your body position, deciding how much wind resistance is needed to stay safe. It was 15 minutes to cover around 5 miles, so that is a not-insane cruising/coasting speed of 20 mph.
Home by 1:15pm, for a total adventuring time of 7 hours.
Summary: There are lots of different places to explore and hike on St. Helens. This is a good one.
Fun fact - Johnston Ridge is named after David A. Johnston, a young USGS volcanologist who was monitoring the activity on Mount Saint Helens and was one of the 57 people who perished in the May 1980 eruption. His transmission "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!" was the first report of the cataclysm.
I read a cool-sounding trip report about the road up to Johnson Ridge Observatory near Mt. St. Helens, which is still closed for the winter, but bikes are permitted.
It is an hour and 40 minute drive up to the place where the road is closed by a gate. The trip only requires 2 roads. I-5 North, and then 504 east. 107 miles, but could not be simpler. Upon arrival, I loaded up my rear wooden bike crate with water, snacks, hiking boots, and helmet (for the way down). Leaving the house by 6:10am meant that I started the bike ascent by 8.
No turns to remember, and no traffic. Just up. The trip up is 6.5 miles and climbs 1,800 feet. This makes for slow and steady, but relatively serene biking. The birds were out in full force, there are some small waterfalls and big streams, and the the initial views are nice, with lots of ridges and dramatic landscapes, but no St. Helens. After about 5 miles you come around the bend and get to see St. Helens (also Loowit) in it's full glory. It is impressive, and the pictures don't capture it. This trail gives you the view from the north, so you can see straight inside the crater. You look across a huge plain of pumice fields and hummocks, which are made of big chunks of the mountain that settled in the field below after the eruption.
Explanatory information signs are all over, which many cool before and after pictures describing the 1980 eruption. At the very top of Johnson Ridge, you look down at least 1,500 feet to the fields below, which then slope up to the crater. The most impressive and awe-inspiring note to me was pretty subtle. It explained that during the eruption, the pyroclastic flow came down the slope of St. Helens and completely overtook Johnson Ridge. Standing on the ridge, it feels like you are on top of a mountain. To visualize a wave of gas and mud blasting over the top of that very ridge is quite humbling. To add to the effect, there are a few huge stumps left on top of the ridge which whose missing trees were violently torn off, leaving jagged splinters.
At the top, I swapped my sneakers for hiking boots, threw the backpack onto my shoulders and hiked around for a couple miles. At 4,300 feet of elevation and in May, there were probably 5 small snowy sections to cross. Easy enough to handle in short stretches, but hiking these for any distance, or with a heavy pack, would be treacherous and not enjoyable. Felt good to exercise some different muscles, and was nice to be in a spot where you had a continuous and impressive view of St. Helens.
Then it was time to descend on the bike. Don the helmet and sneakers, check the brakes, and get into a comfortable coasting position. Quite simply, this was a lot of fun, with every minute of the downhill blast rightfully earned on the trek up. The slope of the road is great, where you can let it fly without being reckless, and without having to touch the brakes. You can control your speed with your body position, deciding how much wind resistance is needed to stay safe. It was 15 minutes to cover around 5 miles, so that is a not-insane cruising/coasting speed of 20 mph.
Home by 1:15pm, for a total adventuring time of 7 hours.
Summary: There are lots of different places to explore and hike on St. Helens. This is a good one.
Fun fact - Johnston Ridge is named after David A. Johnston, a young USGS volcanologist who was monitoring the activity on Mount Saint Helens and was one of the 57 people who perished in the May 1980 eruption. His transmission "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!" was the first report of the cataclysm.
Comments
Post a Comment