Canon Beach - Astoria - Longview - Tutle Valley - Mount St. Helens National Monument - I5 - US 12 - Aberdeen
After yesterdays impression overkill, I decided to take it easy today. I am sitting in Aberdeen now, writing this while I watch TV. I tried to connect to the net, but you need a phone card for long distance calls, and there is no local access number for freei.net.
After sleeping in I had a conversation with the innkeeper of The Hidden Villas in Canon Beech who happens to be an internet addict. I show him my sites and he tells me the domains he owns. Apparently, 4 years back he and his wife discovered cyber squatting and made some serious money with it. Amazing.
Anyways, as I take off, I am once more surprised at the reach of the net.
First, I get to Astoria. The horror bridge as Peter described it.
I decide to drive along the Columbia on the Oregon side. There is not much to see except some big ships which remind me of the size and importance of the Columbia, but my goal is to get to Mt. St. Helens as fast as possible.
As I descend from the montains towards Longview where I plan to cross the Columbia into Washington, I catch a first glance at the impressive volcano.
The bridge across the Columbia offers an interesting pattern and is a monument to technology.
From the I5 I turn into Tutlevalley. At the first Visitor Center I watch a movie about the May 28th 1980 eruption. I always wondered how the crater came to happen. The visitor centers educate quite nicely.
On the road to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, the mountain grows more impressive each mile.
Suddenly the forrest thins, then stops. The landscape turns into a moon scene.
The views from the Highway give a very nice overview of the Mountain and the valley:
At the Johnston Ridge Observatory, a lot of mysteries are solved for me. First, the mountain was not destroyed by an explosion. Instead, a bubble formed in the mountain top. When it collapsed, the North part of the mountain turned into rubble and came down in a giant landslide, turning the tutle valley into the moon landscape.
Then the bubble burst explosively causing further devastation.
A view from the Observatory into the crater, where a lava dome is still in the process of forming:
Looking down the Tutle Valley, the size of the event stresses the imagination.
Even 20 years after the eruption, live is still struggeling to establish itself again in the immediate vincinity of the crater. Further down the valley, the Coldwater Lake has formed 20 years ago. Here, the vegetation seems to have taken foot again.
I spent more time at the volcano than I expected, so I am worried that I might not be able to keep my schedule. I hit the road and drive on to Aberdeen where, after I checked into the Motel, I went sightseeing. Apparently, the historical port is history.
Continues with WWDC Trip - Day 12 (Thursday): The temperate rain forest of the Olympic Mountains and the Washington coast.