Mt. St. Helens and Columbia River Gorge

August 1999

JP and me at Oneonta Falls, after taking the short but fun jungle gym hike over the fallen trees, stream beds, and rock walls of Oneonta Gorge to get there. Oneonta is almost like a southwestern US slot canyon, except that it is lush with wall-covering plants, some of which are not found anywhere else in the world.

 

The suspension bridge above Lava Canyon, on the south side of Mt. St. Helens. Lava Canyon was originally formed by ancient lava flows, subsequently filled in with dirt, and then was scoured back down to its original lava rock by huge mud flows. It now has lots of pretty cascading waterfalls along its entire length.

 

Me hiking up south side of Mt. St. Helens to the crater rim. We hiked through the woods from Climber's Bivouac, followed Monitor Ridge ("trail" directions: go up, the more up the better), and then climbed the open south face. A fun day up and back, and beautiful long distance views the whole way.

 

JP and me on the crater rim of Mt. St. Helens, with Mt. Adams in the distance behind us. This viewpoint gives a real perspective on just how much of the mountain blew up in the latest blast. While standing there, we could hear the constant sound of rocks falling from the crater walls; erosion at steady work.

 

If you can get up close to your monitor and squint to see a tiny speck on the very top of the peak there... that's me on the current summit of Mt. St. Helens. It's 1300 feet lower than it used to be!