The Kilt & The Volcano

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Next batch of vacation pics.

The 2nd full day in Washington state we went to see Mount St Helens.

This was quite a contrast to the previous day's visit to Mt Rainier. While Mt Rainier is lush & green & beautiful, Mount St Helens is a picture of brute force & unimaginable destruction.

First glimpse of Mount St Helens


Getting closer...


First view of the crater...


...with a little smoking on the side

[cessna152towser]

Super pics; breathtaking scenery.

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A close-up of the smoldering beastie...
The smoke was a reminder that this slumbering giant is sleeping restlessly


Start of trail to Spirit Lake


Hiking warning sign
Steep, difficult trail ahead!
Inexperienced hikers or those uncomfortable with heights may find parts of this trail too difficult.
There were also signs prominently displayed everywhere about what to do in case of ash fall. (Which basically came down to, if you were caught unprotected outdoors, you could kiss your ash goodbye!)

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"What happened" panel 1


panel 2


panel 3
over the top of the display you can see the beginning of the trail heading off to Spirit Lake


panel 4


panel 5

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The ghost forest


View of smoking crater & pyroclastic flow


Gotta lava it...


Start of the high, narrow part of the trail
this is where that "those uncomfortable with heights" part came in


On the edge
the view looking down from the trail; just our luck that we met a couple of guys on this narrow portion of trail who were headed in the opposite direction; they had to hug the cliff while we inched by them on the outside - yeah, that was fun!

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Close-up of wood debris
After 27 years, this section of Spirit Lake is still covered by timber blasted into the lake


Mt ???? off in the distance
that cliff in the foreground took the full blast of the volcano; notice how the face of it is scoured to the bare rock...


Photo-op with a volcano
as you can tell by my hair standing up a bit in back, it was pretty windy that afternoon; still, no kilt "flare ups", tho'...


... & another, with Spirit

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Straight at ya...
looking straight down the blast line; not the place to be on 18 May 1980


Close-up of the monster


Another look at Spirit Lake


Zoomin' on whatzitsname


Local fawn-a
this was two deer to pass up

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And finally,...

Mount St Helens & Spirit Lake panorama
gettin' the whole picture


Well, thanks for joining the tour; hope you enjoyed it.

Next up, Port Townsend & walking tour of Seattle.
.

[Ayin McFye]

those are some awesome pictures. It looks like you had a great trip. Enjoyable "Puns" too. Thanks for sharing, i've never actually seen pictures of St. Helens.

[GMan]

Excellent shots! Enjoyed them immensely.