Today we visited Mt. Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument and hiked the Hummocks Trail located about 8 miles before the Coldwater Visitors center. After a picnic lunch at the Coldwater Lake area, we started out on our hike. Right away, we noticed this trail was very different from all of the other Western Washington trails we have hiked so far. The trail surface the entire way was a very fine, dark grey powder that is made up of dirt and ash from the 1980 eruption. Also, this was a very young forest, everything that has grown here is less than 32 years old. This was a starling change from the 500+ year old Douglas Firs and Cedars we are accustomed to seeing on the trails. This trail was full of wildlife, we saw 2 different types of snakes, 2 different frogs, many different color dragonflies, even a duck. There were also many more insects than we are used to seeing, and a few very large ant hills with trails of ants by the thousands. Claire did great on the 2.5 mile hike except for the sharp rocks that stuck out of the trail surface, they were the same color as the dirt, and that made it hard for her to see them, causing her to trip more than usual.
The Hummocks trail is named after the giant Hummocks that are seen along the trail. Hummocks are huge mounds of rock, ash and mud that were formed in the days after the eruption. This trail runs along the North Fork Toutle River, which was a huge path of lava flow during the eruption.
As for the peak of St. Helens, there was substantial cloud cover today, so we were unable to see the top part of the mountain. There were moments throughout the day when the cloud cover was so low it felt like we were going to bump our heads on the "ceiling". Overall, this was a great hike, and is a great way to get away from the "visitor center" crowds are really experience the nature of St. Helens.
Following our hike on the mountain, we stopped at a fantastic roadside restaurant in a beautiful old house called Patty's Place, the dinner food was great and the Strawberry/Rhubarb and Northwest Berry Cobbler was excellent. It was a great dinner and a fun place to eat.
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