Walking the Miles ...: Awesome Hike with the Mount St. Helens Institute

"Awesome Hike" - very appropriately named! It was AWESOME! We started our hike at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, went into the Mount Margaret Backcountry, past Coldwater Peak, and along south Coldwater Ridge. We ended our hike at Coldwater Lake. This hike was into the blast zone of the 1980 eruption. It was a GREAT HIKE and I learned so much more about the history of Mount St. Helens. This was my second time to hike with the Mount St. Helens Institute guides (the first being my first time to climb and summit Mt. St. Helens) and once again, it was a GREAT EXPERIENCE! The guides' knowledge, their friendliness, the pace, the accommodations made for individual needs... all of it... they were AMAZING! The guides are there to ensure you have the best experience possible and a successful one too! While you're enjoying the hike/climb, you're also getting an education. I can't say enough positive things about these guided hikes and climbs! I just signed up for another one in September - the Glacier Overlook Hike. I CAN'T WAIT!

It's hard to remember all of the information we were given today but as I see my pictures, I remember some of what was said during those stops. I actually wanted to sign up for the hike a second time just to hear it all over again but my schedule is already booked the next two times this hike is offered. Next summer... ;)

We had four guides on this trip (two who work for the Institute and two volunteers) as well as seven hikers. It was a small, friendly group and we were all able to stay together. We stopped several times for short breaks and two times for longer food breaks. At each of the stops the guides would educate us about our surroundings... what we were looking at, how it was created, etc. We learned about hummocks (ridges, hills and "islands" in the lake that are actually one solid chunk of the mountain from when it erupted), lahar (pyroclastic rock, mud, debris and water) that flowed after the eruption causing all but three of the 57 deaths in 1980, and plutons (a body of intrusive igneous rock that crystallized from magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth - which is what the Coldwater Peak is as well as many other rocks and ridges such as Half Dome and El Capitan). We also learned about several berries along the trail that were edible (plenty of snacking going on... ooooh, the wild strawberries!) and some plants too (one plant leaf tasted exactly like a green apple... delicious!). I'm not a science girl or a history buff, and I never really enjoyed going to school (other than the social aspect of it!) but I really, REALLY enjoyed learning about the Earth and Mount St. Helens on this hike! (I should have gone to a Montessori school!)

I truly had an AWESOME DAY on this AWESOME HIKE.

Coldwater Peak - the one in the center of the picture above, shaded by the clouds - was our high point destination.

More specifically, we were headed to Coldwater Arch aka Hole in the Wall.

You can see the light through Coldwater Arch.

Fortunately we were able to see the mountain before the clouds came and completely blocked our view.

First glimpse of Spirit Lake -

what I was most excited to see on this hike and it did not disappoint!

The clouds moved in, covering Mount St. Helens

Our "view" of the Mountain at our first lunch stop

Spirit Lake

What you see on the water are logs. The trees were swept into the lake when the landslide overtook it, temporarily displacing the water and creating giant waves that went up the ridge on the other side. The water came back down dragging even more trees into the lake from that hillside. 39 years later those logs are still there! There are thousands of them!

Spirit Lake sits 200 feet higher than it did before the 1980 landslides and eruption. Imagine the force it took to displace all of that water and the amount of earth/mountain it took to fill the lake up 200 feet! The landslide that occurred here was the largest landslide on the Earth ever recorded.

If you want to know more facts regarding the size of the eruption, amount of earth displaced, size of the crater, etc., click here for a U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet.

Our view while hiking... so typical of Washington!

Rain or Shine, it was still beautiful.

Coldwater Arch aka Hole in the Wall

We saw little patches of snow/ice along the way

Mangled tractors and logging equipment blown down the hillsides from the blast still sit where they landed.

No trees remained within the first six miles of the blast area. Beyond that, the trees were blown to the ground. At the outer blast area, the trees still stood but were burned.

These pictures show the trees that still lay across the ridges like toothpicks. (zoom in)