Mt. St. Helens

This beautiful mountain exploded May 15, 1980. The clouds of ash fell on Portland for weeks, it was awful. The mountain used to have a perfectly-rounded ice cream shape. Now, after the explosion, from the north side you can see the remaining crater. Surprisingly the vegetation has regrown remarkably fast. This is Spirit Lake, once considered a holy place. Lots of people had summer cabins around it. This hike is called Harry ‘s Trail, named after Harry Truman, one of those cabin owners who famously refused to leave. The trail is a memorial to him. The entire area is now a National Monument.

This time of day the alpenglow is so lovely!