Mt. St. Helens Ride - Page 2 - Ducati.ms

RocketJohn · Mar 26th, 2007, 6:19 pm

Nice pics! Would love to carve those roads!

Bill_Anderson · Oct 28th, 2007, 3:41 am

The End of Summer Ride to Johnson Ridge got canceled this year due to rain, but the organizer scheduled a makeup ride on 10/27/2007. The other bikes were all cruisers and the only thing my Duc had in common with them was two cylinders.

Daren and I took off ahead of the pack. We pulled into the Coldwater Lake area when Daren said he was feeling drowsy. I took some photos there and at the Johnson Rdige Observatory.

These photos are from Coldwater Lake.

Bill_Anderson · Oct 28th, 2007, 3:45 am

And these photos were taken at the Johnson Ridge Observatory.

Dark_Daddy · Oct 28th, 2007, 5:57 pm

Its incredible on how much devastation there was. I would have thought that some of the trees would have started to come back by now. Is that thing is still a loaded gun waiting to go off again?

Bill_Anderson · Oct 29th, 2007, 12:06 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark_Daddy

Its incredible on how much devastation there was. I would have thought that some of the trees would have started to come back by now. Is that thing is still a loaded gun waiting to go off again?

The top soil was blasted off within the blast zone, so it is hard for anything to grow back.

I believe all of the peaks in the Cascade Range are considered active or dormant, meaning they could spring back to life. Mt. Lassen in northern California erupted on the early part of the 20th Century.

Derwood · Oct 29th, 2007, 7:06 am

I Enjoyed the report and photos Bill, I would love to visit there one day. How far is it from Seattle ? is it a day trip for you ? It must be an amazing experience being able to visit each year and See the changes. do you have a old photo or two of your first visits before or after the eruption ?

Bill_Anderson · Oct 29th, 2007, 11:48 am

Here is a good website for Mt. St. Helens
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/
My only pre-eruption visit was a trip to Spirit Lake with my grandparents around 1960. My current photos only go back 3 years and nothing much has changed in that time.

A trip to Mt. St. Helens is a full day for me. If I were going to come out here from afar just to visit Mt. St. Helens, I would fly into Portland. Portland is much closer than Seattle and it is far easier to get out of Portland than it is to get out of Seattle.

There are two places to view Mt. St. Helens: Windy Ridge and Johnson Ridge. For a tourist, Johnson Ridge is the better of the two as it is an easy drive off I-5 on a good highway. There are good facilities for visitors at the Johnson Ridge Observatory and nearby Coldwater Ridge Visitors Center.

There is not much at Windy Ridge and it is harder to get to via a Forest Service road which has not been maintained well. There is no road connecting Johnson Ridge and Windy Ridge. The ride up to Windy Ridge is more spectacular as you are riding through the blast zone in an area which has never recovered. You can see photos from Windy Ridge in my very first post to this thread.

Derwood · Oct 30th, 2007, 4:56 am

Thanks Bill super link. I think I might be a little concerned if I saw that bulge growing as quick as
it did above my tent site.