#Coxesoutwest2015: Mt St Helens

After five days in Seattle, we headed south towards Mt. St. Helens. Dan’s brother William had visited the park a couple years ago and raved about so we made a detour to visit it while we were on the west coast. I am SO glad we did. This was easily one of my favorite parts of our whole trip.

The approach to the mountain is gorgeous. Its the land of Big Foot so that already got us excited. It’s also the longest dead-end road in the state of Washington, leading you right to the Ranger Station. It’s over an hour drive one way. You also get glimpses of the mountain along the way and it really did take my breath away. Its the only mountain we could see that had snow on it, which made it stand out. The other thing that shocked me was that it looked like a drawing of a volcano that a kid might draw: a mountain with the top missing.

We spend over 2 hours here, listening to the ranger talk, taking photos, reading the museum details, and just staring at it. It really is a sight to behold. The devastation, the ever-changing crater, the re-birth…. it was all incredible.

Not to be missed.