Which Bits of Mount St. Helens Shall We Do Next?

My darlings, the south side of Mount St. Helens is packed with interesting adventures. I’m going to give you a choice as to what we’ll feature next:

Do you want me to do the Trail of Two Forests, where an entire forest was buried by a lava flow and has left casts of itself behind?

Image shows a circular hole in the lava in the bottom center. To the upper left of it, there's a ridge of lava, with a bit of ropey pahoehoe flowing down towards the cast.
Awww, a tiny lavafall!

Do you want me to do the Lahar Viewpoint, where a ginormous mudflow roared down the south side of Mount St. Helens on May 18th, 1980, and left this fabulous view behind?

Image shows a flat area filled with boulders and young trees. Mount St. Helens rises in the distance. You can see the groove down the middle where the Shoestring Glacier used to be.
Mount St. Helens across a young lahar.

Or do you want me to do the entire loop around Lava Canyon, which was scoured out by a May 18th lahar and features a hair-raising suspension bridge?

Image shows a narrow whitewater river flowing down a rocky gorge.
The view from the suspension bridge.

I have so much to show you from this trip that I don’t even know where to begin! So tell me what you want to explore the mostest, and I’ll arrange our itinerary from there. It’ll be awesome good fun!

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Which Bits of Mount St. Helens Shall We Do Next?
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5 thoughts on “Which Bits of Mount St. Helens Shall We Do Next?

  1. 4

    I vote for either the Trail of Two Forests or the Lava Canyon. Both seem quite fascinating. The area North of Mt. Lassen on Hwy 89 at the Susanville junction has a fine lava cave/tube. There are reputed to be many more to the East of this one, but supposedly only the “locals” know the locations.

  2. 5

    And the Lava Beds National Monument has some excellent lava tubes/caves. And check out Glass Mountain (and it is a mountain), a huge pile of obsidian left by a long-ago eruption.

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