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Ride up Ape Canyon |
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| After initially thinking "what a lovely idea it would be to cycle up the south side of Mt. St. Helens", I embarked one of the hardest things I have done, second to the Kilauea Wilderness Marathon. A 22 mile round-trip, starting with a 10 mile slog uphill followed by some rather unfriendly terrain covered with volcanic bombs and pumice, all done in the blazing heat of a summer's day in the Cascades. Here's the shots... | |
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Morning of the 24th June, St. Helens from the south |
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Followed the trail up Ape Canyon which skirts along the large lahar that came off the south flank following the 1980 eruptions; these trees were killed by the lahar |
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A view to the NE; the dead trees (left of picture) mark the edge of the blast zone and the extent that pyroclastic flows travelled |
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View up the mountain |
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Mt. Adams to the east |
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Blast zone again, looking NE |
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Reaching the top of the tree line; on the boundary of the blast |
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Dyke |
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Looking north |
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Looking east |
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Trees blasted over (pointing to the upper right of the image) |
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Dyke complex |
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Volcanic bombs and pumice (which I collided with on an occasion cracking a rib and spliting my chin open) |
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Mt. Adams and hikers |
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Blast zone, Adams in the background |
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Some stumps from the blast |
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A meltwater stream that provided a cool drink |
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Looking north along the trail |
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Lupins and other flowering plants mark the ongoing recovery, still slow nearly 25 years later |
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Looking north towards Coldwater Ridge |
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Looking north; Rainier is just visible above the path |
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Almost at the end of the road, its all downhill from here... |
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Coldwater Ridge in the distance (to north) and the debris avalanche deposit from the 18 May 1980 eruption |
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Mt. Adams |
| Mount St. Helens in May | |