Wednesday, May 16th - Mt. St. Helens

We got an early start to the day (for us) and left camp at 9:00, stopped in Hood River for gas and McDonald's breakfast. Then we crossed the Columbia and drove west on Washington highway 14. Whereas the Oregon coastline of the Columbia is comprised of larger towns, tourist attractions and industry, the Washington coast is mostly small villages, historical markers (big on Lewis & Clark), residential and farming. The drive is equally spectacular, simply less development.

We got to the visitors center for Mt. St. Helens and they discouraged us from taking the 52 mile drive to the interior. The facilities were not open for the season and there was some cloud cover around the caldera. So we spent several hours watching movies of the eruption and the aftermath as well as several stories of rescue. It was VERY interesting.

We headed back to camp but made several stops enroute. The first was at the Vista House, an overlook on the Oregon side. From this high place, we could see quite a distance up river and down.

We avoided I-84 and took US-30, the Columbia Scenic Highway as far to the east as we could. We stopped at waterfalls and the town of Cascade Locks.