Snow deeper than in Clarksville last winter!

Day 14
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sightseeing at Mounts Rainier and Saint Helens

Today we drove more miles on 2-lane roads than any of us could remember doing before.

We got an early start and drove UP! to Sunrise Point in Mount Rainier National Park. The elevation at Ohanapecosh Campground was 1,900 feet and at Sunrise Point it was 6,400 feet. As we climbed switchback after switchback, we caught glimpses of a snow-covered Mt. Rainier, elevation 14,410. By the time we got to the Sunrise Lodge, the snow was up to 10 feet deep and hard-packed so that it would support us in normal shoes. We learned that the road opened last week for the season—the lodge and ranger station were still closed. Mt. Rainier gets the equivalent of 126 inches of rain per year—much of it in the form of snow. The park’s higher roads are typically snowed shut from early October until early July.

The temperature drops 3 degrees for every thousand feet of elevation gained. At the summit, the temperature was 52 degrees. Elliot called the Baltimore weather line at that moment and found out that the current temperature was 102 in downtown Baltimore, a difference of 50 degrees exactly!

The views of Mt. Rainier were slightly disappointing because the peak was shrouded in clouds. Rainier is so high and imposing that it actually “creates” its own weather. Actually, its 26 glaciers have more to do with the weather conditions around the mountain than its elevation. Unfortunately for visitors, Rainier is seldom fully visible. Nonetheless, it is an impressive, beautiful landmark worthy of gazing.

After seeing Rainier from Sunrise Point, we fully understood why it was made our fifth national park in 1899, ahead of many others, including Grand Canyon. We think it would be a lot more renowned if it wasn’t so remote and difficult to access.

At 1 PM, we decided to “go for it” and drive to Mt. St. Helens National Monument. It had been 24 years since Frank last visited the volcano, and the others had never been there. The challenge? It was 130 miles, one way, via 2-lane roads, to get there. A solid 3+ hours each way. Undaunted, we set out on US Route 12. Even though we were worn out by the driving, we agreed it was worth the effort.

Mount Saint Helens was a mountain peak with an elevation of more than 8,000 feet. On May 18, 1980, the top third of the north side of the mountain blew out, causing the largest landslide in recorded history. Actually, the resulting destruction came in four forms. First, a blast wave hurled rocks, mud and boulders the size of houses at speeds greater than 300 MPH distances of up to 11 miles. Then a mudslide of biblical proportions rolled down and over an entire region to the north and east of the mountain. It was so large that it displaced a very large lake, mowed down an old-growth forest larger than all of Howard County, and flowed down the North Fork Toutle River valley for more than 15 miles, burying the river and everything else in its path in up to 600 feet of hot mud. Next came a pyroclastic flow of superheated rock and dust that burned everything in its path for 17 miles. Finally, an ash cloud extended to the east for thousands of miles and “snowed” ash in places throughout eastern Washington, Oregon and Montana. People actually shoveled and swept ash in some downwind locations.

Johnson Ridge, 5.5 miles away, was scoured completely down to bedrock! Nothing was left standing on the exposed side of ridges within 11 miles. Trees, some more than 500 years old and up to 8 feet in diameter were incinerated. 57 people were killed by the direct effects of the eruption, many of them loggers and campers who didn’t receive or heed warnings.

Now, thirty years and one month later, the areas outside the National Monument show few signs of the effects of the volcano except for the Toutle River valley which is still “muddy” and barren. Many of the effects were mitigated in the areas outside the monument where felled trees were “salvaged” by logging companies and new stands of trees were planted and have grown into a young fir forest.

Within the monument, officials have adopted a policy of allowing the landscape to recover naturally over time. Therefore, the lands within the monument look just about as barren as they did when Frank visited the area six years after the eruption, although the area is so close to the epicenter that no trees existed in any form. We learned that the ash that came from Mt. St. Helens was not particularly fertile and that park service officials expect the recovery to take many more decades.

We returned to our campsite at 8 PM after driving 330 miles today, with all but 4 of those miles on 2-lane roads. We all worked together to fix dinner and do the dishes. Then we built a fire and Frank read a chapter of Sasquatch before we collapsed in our bunks. We might need another vacation to recover from this one!