After our Pacific Coast adventure we traveled inland through Aberdeen and continued on Hwy 12 and caught the I 5 toward Mt St Helens Volcanic Monument on Hwy 504. We camped at a nice spot across the street from the visitors center at the Seaquest State Park. Since it was still early in the day, we drove further into the park to Johnson Ridge Observatory.
The drive up was again beautiful sights on every turn.
We stopped at the Forest Learning Center. The exhibits were very well done documenting that fateful day in May, 1980 and the recovery efforts.
There were thousands and thousands of pine trees hand planted three years, 1983, after the eruption which was in May of 1980. The previous two years were spent harvesting the destroyed trees.
We watched two documentary films at Johnson Ridge about the volcano. Both were very interesting. From this vantage point, the volcano is just right in front of you.
The next day we broke camp and made our way up to Mount Rainier. From many points along the way, the mountain is visable. There are only two campgrounds in the park and both were full so we just drove through and made stops at the view points along the way.
We left the park a little late in the day and we knew the camping spots were full but we found a camp site at a Forestry Service Campground. All a long the way we have been blessed with a place to stay.
Our time is running short but on to more adventures through Washington with a couple of stops to see family. Then it is on to Glacier.
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