Harry's Ridge and my neighbourhood active volcano

I've lived in Bellevue, WA for a little under two years now and this whole time I had no idea that just a three hour drive away from me was a piece of geological history. When a friend of mine suggested the Harry's Ridge trail to me, I wasn't particularly enthused. Until I realised that this hike was going to be all about Mt St Helens, its eruption in 1980 and the beautiful scenes the devastation has created.

The last hour of our drive to Johnston Ridge observatory (the trail starting point) was on Spirit Lake Highway and really quite beautiful. The entire landscape was carpeted by evergreens for as far as we could see, and we soon noticed that there was something creepy about the trees - they seemed to be of identical height and age and as my boyfriend put it, a Ctrl+C Ctrl+V of each other. About 15 miles into the highway, we caught sight of a snow capped peak and wondered if that was Mt St Helens. From our sideways view, it looked as though the mountain had been sliced in half and this seemed likely only of a volcano that had an explosive history.

Our first glimpse of the strangely shaped Mt St Helens

The highway is helpfully dotted by several viewpoints where you can stop to take pictures or simply enjoy the beautiful scenes. We stopped at the Loowit viewpoint, just three quarters of a mile shy of the observatory and were lucky enough to run into a friendly ranger there.From the ranger, we learned that the 1980 eruption manifested itself in an explosive blast of ash and pumice that destroyed forests in approximately a 200 mile radius. When we mentioned the identical trees to her, she told us that the entire landscape around us had been recreated following the eruption. All the trees had been planted in bunches and were therefore roughly the same age. This even explained a couple of notice boards we had seen on the drive up, which indicated the year in which a particular area had been planted.

After taking our fill of pictures, we resumed our drive to the observatory. Incidentally, it is also possible to hike the 3/4th mile there from Loowit viewpoint.

At Johnston Ridge, each hiker needs to pay an $8 fee to unlock access to the myriad of trails starting from the observatory and also the educational movies and exhibits showcased there. Our Northwest Forest Pass got us free access for one person. A helpful ranger handed us trail maps and drew out our route for us :

Mapping out our journey

 

Barren lands of the blast zone

The miracle Lupines

Harry's Ridge is an 8 mile loop with 200 ft net elevation gain and a summit overlooking Spirit Lake and of course, Mt St Helens itself. We would later learn that the elevation gain number was misleading as we would consistently make steep ascents followed by just as steep descents. Not to deter anyone though - this is still a pretty easy hike! The hike runs through an area that was in the blast zone of the 1980 eruption but is being preserved as is by the USDA. This meant open fields for the entire journey (don't forget your sunscreen and 2 liters of water!) but the ground was overrun with beautiful wildflowers. Among the most common were these purple flowers that we later learned are called Prairie Lupines. These sturdy little guys were probably the first plant species to thrive in the post-eruption land, with pure chance blowing their lightweight seeds to the area. They're quite the knights in shining armour too, enriching the soil with nitrogen and insects that they attract, thereby creating an environment conducive for less sturdy living species to flourish.

The first mile and a half of the trail was surprisingly crowded. However, just after, we reached a section of the trail that severely whittled down the numbers - the Devil's Elbow.

The Devil's Elbow

You're probably wondering what's special about that picture. Until you realise that the thin light-ish brown line is actually the trail! Its not as scary as it looks on the picture but definitely a place to watch your footing. And if I had kids, I'd probably think twice about bringing them on this section. Acrophobic as I am, I spent the rest of the hike with Devil's Elbow on the back of my mind, I wasn't truly at peace until we safely crossed it on the return trip. Following Devil's Elbow, we really embraced the widened trail and the fact that there wasn't a sheer drop to our side.

Spirit Lake, with a hazy Mt Adams in the backdrop

The next exciting part of the trail was the final ascent upto Harry's Ridge, which is a 700ft climb incidentally. What magnificent views on all sides! First up was the promised view down to Spirit Lake. The surface of the lake, undisturbed by USDA, is still covered by logs of trees that were felled by the eruption.

Next up was a full frontal view of Mt St Helens herself.

Mt St Helens, with its giant crater

What had looked like a slice in the middle of the mountain now revealed itself to be a yawning crater right down the middle. On the morning of May 18, 1980 an earthquake within the depths of the mountain triggered a terrible landslide, the largest in recorded history, and destroyed most of the north face of the mountain leaving the crater seen today. A few seconds after the landslide was the explosive avalanche of gases that wiped out miles and miles of forest, leaving few survivors in its wake. This kind of eruption was a revelation to me as I had previously associated eruptions with hot flowing molten lava. Though calm and serene looking on the outside, Mt St Helens remains very much active, with reports of lava build up as recently as 2008. Although this photo doesn't really capture it, the view of the devastated yet beautiful mountain and the barren lands surrounding it is an absolutely awe inspiring sight!

Harry's Ridge was like a teaser that has made me eager to explore more of Mt St Helens. Maybe some day I'll have to hike to the summit of the volcano itself........