Day 30 Week 5

I had a very Geological day today. I took a lovely scenic drive through the mountains between Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens. Mt Rainier is the highest Mountain in Washington State and is an active volcano. It overlooks Seattle and is visible for hundreds of miles. It is often shrouded in cloud, fog and mist. It is regularly used as a weather gauge with people asking “Is the mountain out today.”

On the way to Mt St Helens, I passed by the Teiton Dam. This is a beautiful high altitude dam that still had some ice floating on it even this late into spring.

 Ice on Teiton Dam

Mt St Helens, for those too young to remember, is another active volcano in Washington State that erupted in 1980 killing 57 people and destroying hundreds of square miles of old age timber, houses, roads and railway lines.  I did the tour of the visitors centre and watched the movie. It was a very informative day. Here is a link to a short video about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK--hvgP2uY&feature=related

Mt St Helens before

After

The destruction

While I was there it was covered in snow and a bit difficult to see (clearer in person) but the devastation was still visible 32 years later. The Toutle River is still clogged with debris from the mud flows. A real eye opener.

The valley below the mountain still looks like the surface of the moon

35 miles down stream, the Toutle River still clogged with debris

Tomorrow, I am heading due west to the coast to have a look at the Pacific Ocean from the wrong side. I saw that Atlantic from New York Harbour so this should be fitting.