Mt. St. Helen

[dawndelion]

Anyone have suggestions of which points to venture to around the Mt. St. Helen area? I found a map that shows several points of interest and visitors centers http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/04mshnvm/global/images2/mshrec.jpg Ape Cave looks interesting, but is it worth the longer drive? Any help or info about visiting the volcano would be great!

[jstducky]

you might want to post this question over at the Pacific Northwest board rather than the Alaska board. You might be able to get a better response that way.

[mbisson]

The ape caves are cool, but it is a lot longer drive. Don't know that I'd do it, but I grew up in that area and have been there several times. There are some nice parks/lakes on the Lewis River as you head down toward I5-Woodland.

 

BTW-The search for DB Cooper (many moons ago) was centered in this area.

 

If you come down that way I encourage you to visit this web site:

http://www.lelooska.org/chief.htm

 

Chief Lelooska is gone now, but I watched him carve several totems in Kalama, WA. They now stand in a park between I5 and the Columbia River.

 

Gee, the more I think of it, maybe I would visit the Ape Caves again.

 

-Monte

[mbisson]

OOps-BTW-It's Mt St Helens (not Helen)

 

Even during the eruption in 1980 many of the media folks couldn't get that right. ;)

 

-Monte

[TourGuideMom]

Hi Dawndelion. We just visited Mt. St. Helens on 6/4 after our Diamond Princess cruise. We rented a brand new Chevy Trailblazer from Budget for $44 and headed off from Seattle. We got off of I-5 South at Exit 49 which is Hwy 504 I believe. There were several visitor centers along the way that each gave a different vantage point of view. We saw a herd of Elk down by the river at the first stop. We saw more coming back hanging out by the river. It was somewhat cloudy that day so the dome of the volcano was covered in clouds but we still had a decent view. I was told by a guide that they get about 160 clear days a year for volcano viewing. You definitely want to travel all the way up to Johnstons Ridge visitors center. You get the best view there and can see a very good documentary in the small theater. They have a real seismograph that shows the current activity on the volcano. That freaked my 9 y/o son out. He was ready to leave when he saw that. We stopped off at a small family run restaurant and had dinner. It was a quaint place by a campground. The family that owns it lived thru the eruption and have their story on each table for you to read. I too saw the brochure with Ape cave in it but we didn't want to drive all that way when it was already late in the day and it had started to rain. I am so glad that we took this trip and saw what Mt. St. Helens really looks like in person and how things have changed in 25 years.