Mount Saint Helen and Mount Rainier

Greetings from the state of Washington! Today we decided to hunt for Big Foot and take in a few other sights. After driving several hours we saw several sightings of Big Foot but not until we got in the foothills of Mount Saint Helen was I able to get a picture of him. The visitor center gave me a tip on where I might find Big Foot.

My hunt for Big Foot is officially over!

After the sighting, we drove up to Mount Saint Helen.

Mount Saint Helen last erupted in 1980. Who remembers this event? It devasted a 14-mile radius around the volcano. The government has spent millions of dollars on replanting trees and landscaping the area.

The eruption began with a massive landslide filled the valley with at least 150 feet of mud, rock, and intact pieces from the mountain. This created a new landscape of hills and depressions providing new places for water to pool, forming 150 new ponds and wetlands. Virtually nothing survived the landslide.

Picture of Mount Saint Helen erupting in 1980

Mount Saint Helen today

Forty years later, the forest is thick with trees and to the visitor unnoticeable of the destruction. The creeks carried rock debris and ashes to the lake forming a delta. This new marshland is a haven for wildlife today.

Next we drove about 2 hours to Mount Rainier about 60 miles southeast of Seattle.

As we entered the park the vegetation was large and thick. It was if the plants were on steroids. It seems volcanic ash is very good for plants.

It last erupted in 1894. Its height is 14,410 feet, almost 3 miles high. Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the decade volcano list. Because of its large amount of glacial ice it threatens 80,000 people and their homes. We got to see a glacial river that was still flowing pretty strong from the ice melt.

Glacial River

There were several beautiful waterfalls. Some we didn’t get to see because of the snow still in the park.

The top of Mount Rainier was covered by the clouds. You can see snow coming down its sides.

Reflection Lake is frozen in June

We saw several animals in the park.

Hoary Marmot

Stellar Jay

Deer

Elk

And today’s flowers from the parks.

The bottom right flower is a foxglove

Both parks were very interesting but quite different because of the difference in the time of their last eruption. We enjoyed the beauty as well as learning about their history.

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