Day 16 – On way to see Mt. St. Helens

Today is Thursday, 6/15/2017, and it is heavily cloudy, but we are going to head to the Mt. St. Helens Windy Ridge Viewpoint.  As we are on our way to cross the Columbia River we can see the Washington side of the river and will be on that side soon.

Now in Washington we get a look at the Oregon side of the river.  It is clear that it is getting cloudier and we probably not get any good views of Mt. St. Helens, but we’re going on the drive anyway.

As we are driving along the river almost to our turn north, we are approaching a tunnel for the road and it is right next to a tunnel for the train. 

Driving by Drano Lake, Carmen gets a photo of the lake that is calm and has the reflection of the hill beyond it.  This lake is at the end of the Little White Salmon River and a Fish Hatchery.

Even before turning north we see a falls on the Oregon side and even through the drizzle we can see that it is massive with several steps before reaching the bottom.  Not sure what the name of this waterfall, but it is quite large. 

We turn north on Windy Creek Road and within a few miles we see a lone deer in a flowered field.  Stopping in the middle of the road, Carmen was able to get a picture as the deer turned its head and looked at us.  Shortly afterwards it ran away.

Passing a power line cut, we drove by these lupines.  There are plenty of wild flowers around, but many are in small clumps and this group was rather large.  You can see in the background that it is a little foggy and drizzly.

It is starting to rain a little harder than the drizzle we have been getting and as you can see we are beginning to have more localized cloud cover.  Although I must say I like it when the clouds do this on a hillside. 

We are on the Meadow Creek Road and have entered the Punchot National Forrest and drive along a section where the trees are full of the moss like we saw while hiking the waterfalls.  As evident of the rain we are getting now, I can understand how many of the trees are moss covered.

Back on the Windy Creek Road, we cross this river a little before going over Oldman Pass, at an elevation of 3047 feet, and there is a sno-park here.  We figure that it is used to park your vehicles that are towing snowmobiles while you go riding. 

We turn from forest road-30 to Curley Creek Road and travel a short distance to the first of our viewpoints to see Mt. St. Helens.  We arrive at McClellan Viewpoint which should give us our first good view of Mt. St. Helens.  Looking at the map we are headed to Clearwater Viewpoint and then our final destination Windy Ridge Viewpoint.

Guess what?  According to the map above, this is should be our view of Mt. St. Helens.  Not much of a visual with the clouds so low and the rain; kind of obscures the visual effects. 

Undeterred we continue our trek to Windy Ridge Viewpoint and turn west on Road-90.  We are crossing what I think is Muddy River and we see this contraption in the water.  It is revolving in the water, but we cannot see what is doing. 

Not until we were leaving did we see the sign giving us an indication of what this was.  Our speculations were correct, this is a fish trap; interesting. 

So we are at the intersection to make our last turn for the road to Windy Ridge Viewpoint and we find that the road is closed due to snow!  This is the second road closure due to snow since we started our trip; the first being Glacier’s Going-To-The-Sun-Road.  Oh well!  When we turned west away from the closed road, we see this fence and hope it is just someone’s attempt at art and not to keep thing out.

We thought about going to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, but it is a little out of the way and decided to not continue and instead, since it is around noon, to return to the hotel.  On our way we see this grove of, what we think are birches, and get a quick picture before continuing. 

We are next to Lewis River which has a catch-and-release fishing only and where you can only fish with a single barbless hook and no bait.  There was a small field filled with lupines and thought I’d share with you.

Driving along we had to stop because of a small landslide that was being cleaned up.  Here part of the slide still remains blocked off and a frond-end loader was clearing a section a little further up the road. 

Continuing on our way back to the main roads we are on a road where the trees on both sides seem to bend towards the road.  I think I’ve seen this scenario in a horror or science-fiction movie before where something is ready to grab the car. 

Turning south onto route-503 from the Lewis River Road (road-90) we passed what looks to be an old lodge of some sort.  It must have been some place when it was open.

We are ready to cross the bridge over what I think is Lewis River between Yale Lake and Lake Merwin.  This is a 532 foot, one lane, suspension bridge that was built in 1932.  Notice the nest in the front left tower.  It is either an Osprey or Eagles nest, do not know which since it is raining and neither of us wants to get out of the car for a closer look.

It is beginning to rain harder and nearly to the highway where we will just drive through Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon before reaching our hotel, we come upon this ranch with horses out in the rain. 

On I-84 we once again see the chain-up signs and would find it funny if not for having our destination road closed.  Tomorrow we leave Hood River and travel to Crater Lake then onto Klamath Falls where we will stay overnight before continuing.