Volcano Visit Visitor, Interpretive Centers Make St. Helens Trip Worthwhile

More than 4.5 million tourists, hikers, campers, hunters and fishers are expected to visit the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument this year, lured by the visual evidence of nature’s power to destroy and recover.

It has been 15 years since the eruption on May 18, 1980, that destroyed the ice-cream-cone symmetry of the mountain in southwest Washington, leaving a mile-wide crater and miles of devastation on its north side.

In the intervening years, the slow return of life to the moonscape slopes has helped it become one of the nation’s most popular attractions. Two new visitor centers opened in May along Spirit Lake Memorial Highway (Washington 504) leading deep into the volcano area, and another is under construction.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 permits to climb Mount St. Helens have already been issued for the 1995 climbing season, which began May 15 and lasts until Nov. 1. Up to 100 climbers per day are allowed to tackle the south side of the mountain. As many as 12 people can travel on one of the permits, which are good from midnight to midnight.

Climbers can go to the rim of the crater and look down upon the still-steaming lava dome in its interior.

Permits can be obtained from the U.S. Forest Service office in Amboy (360-750-3900) or by mail addressed to 42218 N.E. Yale Bridge Road, Amboy, WA 98601. They also can be obtained a day before the climb at Jack’s Restaurant, 23 miles east of Woodland on State Route 503; (360-231-4276).

Circling the mountain by highway will not be possible until later in the summer because up to 25 feet of snow still blocks the way on the east side.

Two popular tourist spots near the mountain - Windy Ridge, five miles northeast of the volcano, and Harmony Point, where hikers can descend to the blast-altered shores of Spirit Lake, where shattered logs still drift - are available by road.

Windy Ridge guided walks and talks by naturalists are offered on the half-hour, Thursdays through Mondays, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There are toilets at Windy Ridge, but no running water.

The dirt trail down to Spirit Lake is about a mile long. It’s easy going down, but steep, tiring and dusty returning to the road - carry something to drink. Kids enjoy the trip as well as adults, but care needs to be taken because there can be slick places and rough areas where the unwary can fall.

The trail is not recommended for people with physical limitation or infants who need to be carried.

Meta Lake, north of Harmony Point and at the same level as the road, has a paved walkway and is worth strolling for its reflections and the profusion of wildflowers that have recarpeted the area.

The four existing visitor centers and the fifth under construction, each with unique exhibits relating to the volcano, are northwest of the mountain and east of Interstate 5. Take Exit 49 at Castle Rock to Spirit Lake Memorial Highway.

The first center, five miles from the interstate by Silver Lake, opened in December 1986. The volcano is reflected in the lake, often with blooming waterlilies in the foreground. The center features giant murals, ash-gray statues of simulated volcanic victims and newspaper clippings about the eruptions of 1980, the creation of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, and information about the Cascades rim of fire.

Just opened in May are the Hoffstadt Bluffs Rest Area and Viewpoint, 27 miles from Interstate 5 and the Mount St. Helens Forest Learning Center at milepost 33.

Cowlitz County built the Hoffstadt Bluffs center overlooking what Shireesh K. Sharma, county director of tourism, calls “a living landscape of primordial splendor.” It is 15 miles from the volcano and above the place where a debris avalanche came to rest. Exhibits feature the devastated landscape where 57 people died and show how life changed forever for the living. Available are pamphlets and videos about the area and other places of interest in Cowlitz County.

Weyerhaeuser Co., in partnership with the state Department of Transportation and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, opened the Forest Learning Center at North Fork Ridge overlooking a branch of the Toutle River. The theme celebrates “return of the forests” with exhibits stressing what life was like around the mountain before, during and after the eruptions. In the valley below, about 600 elk graze on vegetation that has returned to the area.

Extremely popular because of its commanding view of the volcano and much of the interior of its crater is the Forest Service’s Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center, eight miles northwest of the volcano and 43 miles from the interstate. It opened in 1993, with not only the mountain as a backdrop, but also overlooking 766-acre Coldwater Lake, which was formed with debris that blocked the Coldwater River. A road leads down to the lake, now stocked with a good supply of fish. Trails invite visitors to see closeup both the twisted remains of conifers destroyed in the eruption and new plants growing in ash and pumice. Trails are well-marked and signs warn to stay on them or risk $100 fines.

Lakeside facilities include a boat launch, fish cleaning station, picnic area, boardwalk interpretive trail, restrooms and parking for approximately 30 cars. Anglers can fish from boats or float tubes. Boaters are restricted to electric, wind or human-powered boats, no internal-combustion engines are allowed.

Elsewhere, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has opened a wildlife viewing nature trail near milepost 22 that leads to a $114 million sediment retention facility. It was built to hold sediment flows and natural erosion. It is east of Castle Rock near the North Fork Survivors Gift Shop on Spirit Lake Memorial Highway.

The center that will open in 1996, an $8.7 million visitor facility and observatory with a view directly into the crater, will be on Johnston Ridge, 52 miles in from Interstate 5. The ridge and observatory are named for David Johnston, a U.S. Geological Survey volcanologist who died nearby just after radioing frantically, “Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!” when the north face of the mountain collapsed May 18, 1980.

Ape Cave, 11 miles east of the town of Cougar on the south flank of the mountain, was popular years before 1980 and remains so today. This long lava tube is divided into two sections. Almost anyone can negotiate the lower section, which is about three quarters of a mile. The upper section is twice as long, more challenging, and emerges above ground where explorers can take a surface route to the parking lot. Sturdy shoes, kneepads and lanterns are advisable for the upper section.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO Getting there: The turnoff from Interstate 5 at Exit 49 (Toutle/ Castle Rock) to Spirit Lake Memorial Highway (Washington 504) is approximately one hour north of Portland and 2-1/2 hours south of Seattle. Silver Lake Visitor Center is 5 miles east of the interstate, Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center 27 miles, Forest Learning Center 33 miles and Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center 43 miles. The highway continues seven miles past Coldwater to Johnston Ridge, where the fifth center is under construction.

Days, hours: Silver Lake and Coldwater Ridge centers are open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Phone for Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake is (360) 274-2100; Coldwater Ridge (360) 274-2131. Hoffstadt Bluffs center hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. May through October; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. November through April. For general information, call (360)577-3137. Forest Learning Center hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. May through October. General information, call (360) 414-3439.

Learning opportunities: U.S. Geological Survey scientists, in cooperation with the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, will present a series of talks, walks and demonstrations in July and August at the Coldwater Ridge and Silver Lake visitor centers and at Seaquest State Park. Campfire talks at Seaquest, across the highway from the visitor center at Silver Lake, will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays. The topics: July 27 - “Recent Geological History and Hazards at Mount Hood”; Aug. 3 - “How Lessons Learned at Mount St. Helens Helped at Mount Pinatubo”; Aug. 24 - “Geological Risks at Other Cascade Volcanoes.” Subjects at 3 p.m. Thursdays at the visitor center at Silver Lake will include the USGS Volcano Crisis Assistance Program July 20, Mount Hood history and hazards July 27, effect of Mount St. Helens lessons on Mount Pinatubo Aug. 3, the past, present and future of the Cascades Volcano Observatory Aug. 10, “Countdown to a Hazardous Eruption” of Augustine Volcano in Alaska’s Cook Inlet Aug. 17, and geologic risks at other Cascade volcanoes Aug. 24. Dates for talks at 11:15 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. at Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center are July 16, 22 and 29 and Aug. 5,6 and 12. Included will be such topics as what can be expected from Mount St. Helens; making water measurements with the USGS; how a post-eruption map was made for Mount St. Helens; volcanic ash and aircraft safety; measuring volcanic gas pollutants; and a demonstration of volcano monitoring equipment. Also at Coldwater Ridge, visitors can breakfast with a U.S. Forest Service ranger at 9:30 a.m. daily and join an interpreter for a discussion of changes the landscape has endured.