Mt. Saint Helens daytrip - need advice
 

I will be in Seattle in early June and am looking to do a one-day trip to Mt. Saint Helens. I anticipate leaving early in the morning but am wondering if there are any interesting sights I shoulds see along the way to break up the driving a bit. Any suggestions?

Mount St. Helens is a really long day trip from Seattle. The major sight to see along the way is Mt. Rainier, which is the most frequenlty taken day trip from Seattle. You could also check out the Museum of Glass, in Tacoma.

I recall nothing of interest or even particularly scenic on the trip - but Mt. St. Helens will be worth every minute on the road. Wish it a happy 25th anniversary after eruption for us.

It is definitely doable, just plan on a full day. When we lived north of Seattle we often went down. There are several visitors centers to stop at. Each is unique and worthy of a stop. The last one, Johnston Ridge, is closest to the crater and just recently reopened. That is a must see! I would not try to include any other sights for the day and would just focus on Mt. St. Helens and all it offers.

It is indeed a full days trip. You will appreciate the National Park Service for its excellence in developing this area and the visitors centers. There are interesting exhibits, trails and naturalists speaking at various points (though they have been talking of cutting them back, due to budget cuts).

For a first visit, I think the drive from the west from Cougar, at I-5 is the most informational. The first National Pk. Ctr is a few miles in, at Silver Lake. That Center puts the volcano and explosion in the context of time and size, with good displays and films of the event itself and the people who were there.

Coldwater Ridge is the next stop, with an emphasis on the plants and animals of the area. There is a little trail there. You can picnic at Coldwater Lake, which you will see below. There are lovely paths along the lake.

The Johnstone Ridge Observatory is in the blast zone and focuses on the geology. They have an excellent movie and you can take a walk on path laid out in the ashes and rocks. That is as close as you can get to the crater, and you look right into it. I understand the Weyerhouser visitors center is also good, but we've never had time to go.

Plan on taking your own food in unless you want to visit the County's Visitors Ctr., (called Hofsteader Visitors Center, or something like that) It is mostly commercial. When we stopped there, the food wasn't great and service was slow.

Here's the website to plan your trip:

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/

One of the more interesting sights I saw at Mt St Helens was near the observation center along the road. Looking across at the hills,the trees looked like an optical illusion. An entire hillside of trees had all sprouted at the same time, and grown at the same rate. There appeared to be horizontal lines running across the hills because all the branches were at the same height.

Recently on this site somebody asked if they were forced to decide between going to Mt. Rainier or Mount St. Helens, to which one should they go?

Did you see the answers?

If you have one clear day for your trip, you should send it at Mt. Rainier--not Mount St. Helens.

I agree with the recommendation to put Rainier first, if you haven't seen either.