Mt St Helens
The Devastated Area
Around to the north of Mount Saint Helens is the devastated area. Here, trees are either stripped and killed or totally snapped and blown away, depending on the angle and exposure to the volcanic blast. During the eruption, the temperature of Spirit lake was raised to 90 degrees C by hot outflows from the volcano, sterilizing everything, and a huge tsunami wave scoured everything for 200 feet up the surrounding hillsides. As a result, the surface of Spirit lake is choked with countless logs, drifting with the wind.
Even though the eruption happened 22 years ago, and some scrubby brush has grown back, it is very clear that some very major force totally blasted this place. Truly a must-see.
Well, we've finished with Mount Saint Helens. Now it is time to move northwards towards another famous Cascade Volcano - Mount Rainier. We're going to do some dayhiking on a smaller peak near it -
Unicorn Peak.
