Loowit (Mount St. Helens): Going Through Changes
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Four years. FOUR. YEARS. The pandemic and other circumstances kept me from Loowit (Mount St. Helens) for nearly half a dang decade! But thanks to vaccinations and a visit from one of my best friends and my honorary nephew, I finally got a chance to see her again.
Ye gods, things have changed! I’m kinda glad now that I slacked off on turning my guide into a book. It’s going to need some revision.
Come join me for some sneak peeks at what’s new around our favorite volcano, plus some pretty shots of old favorites.
I. Castle Rock
The Rock, seen from Lion’s Pride Park in Castle Rock
Okay, so the view from Lion’s Pride Park hasn’t really changed, but I wanted to show you the lovely volcanic plug Castle Rock is named after because it and the Cowlitz River were particularly pretty that morning.
II. The Tree Slice
Slice o’ Log at Lion’s Pride Park
They’ve added some displays on the history of Castle Rock to Lion’s Pride Park. This poor tree was 101 years old when it got logged. It’s seen some shit, including the May 1980 eruption of Loowit.
(And yeah, I’m doubling down on calling Cascades volcanoes by their indigenous names, because holy hells, if the city is recognizing the fact that the region’s Indigenous peoples were here first and still actually exist, it sure isn’t anywhere I’ve seen. The settler worship is … unsettling.)
III. Fancified Monument
Detail of monument
The Rock Community Park has been spruced up. It’s all so new that even Google Street View hasn’t caught up yet.
This fancy granite monument to the founders of Castle Rock used to lurk off the sidewalk at the base of the Rock, nearly swallowed by greenery. Now they’ve installed a picnic shelter with informational signs, and moved the monument so that it has pride of place there. They also gilded the lettering. It’s really striking!
It’s also very last century in the way it treats the settlers as arriving to claim and tame an empty wilderness, rah-rahing about how they were godly patriots doing godly patriotic things like building a lot of stuff and founding a Post Office. There’s not even a hint that this land was already inhabited by tribes like the Cowlitz, after whom the river is named and along which they lived during the winter. Perhaps a future iteration of the park might acknowledge that part of Castle Rock’s history.
I wasn’t able to climb all the way to the top of the Rock due to time constraints, but I’m wondering if the picnic area up there also got a makeover. It’ll be fun to find out!
IV. HMMWV at North Fork Survivors Gift Shop
Bigfoot-Hunting HMMWV
The North Fork Survivors Gift Shop has more attractions than their buried A-frame and gigantic concrete Sasquatch now. They’ve got this rebuilt HMMWV, which was used in a Discovery Channel documentary on hunting for Sasquatch around the volcano. Yes, a lot of people are big on Bigfoot in these parts.
It’s silly good fun – you can get in and poke around, and even pretend you’re an intrepid cryptozoologist on the hunt for elusive apes if you’d like.
But wait! There’s more!
V. Steam Tractor
1923 Case 65 horsepower steam tractor
The North Fork Survivors have also acquired a genuine 1923 steam-powered tractor, which could be used for a variety of farming and logging jobs. It seriously looks like a locomotive and it is huge. They’re trying to restore it to operating condition, and plan to allow visitors to actually use it. Can we all just agree we need to don Steampunk costumes and go take a whirl in this thing?
VI. Vultures at the Forest Learning Center
Turkey vulture at the Forest Learning Center
We stopped at the Forest Learning Center because their website said they’d be open, but they were closed due to COVID. If you plan to visit Loowit this year, make sure you’re ready for no exhibits. Bloody pandemic (and don’t get me started on anti-vaxxers!). The exhibits were updated last year, so it would have been really neat to see it. Bummer!
But a group of vultures put on some good entertainment, flying over the North Fork Toutle River Valley with the volcano as a backdrop, so that was lovely.
VII. Loowit peeking over South Coldwater Ridge
Mount St. Helens peeking over South Coldwater Ridge
One thing that hasn’t changed is the gorgeous view of Loowit’s rugged crater over the shoulder of South Coldwater Ridge from Coldwater Lake. But the trees are certainly getting bigger, and the forests thicker! People thought the area might never recover in the immediate aftermath of the blast, but life finds a way. This whole area is healing beautifully – bad news for those of us who enjoy being able to see volcanic deposits without all the dratted greenery in the way!
VIII. The growing delta
The delta approaches the opposite shore
South Coldwater Creek’s delta is growing! I swear the banks weren’t this close together last time I was here! Pretty soon, this channel will close – possibly in less than a decade. And if you don’t mind rocky lake beds, you can wade across to that lovely sandy beach. In the geological future, that may become volcaniclastic sandstone and conglomerate!
Bonus: there’s a glacial moraine in this photo. Can you spot it?
IX. These are the bombs!
A display of volcanic bombs at the Silver Lake Visitors Center
This lovely collection of volcanic bombs forms part of the stone wall at the Silver Lake Visitor Center. These all belong to various eruptions of Loowit. Look at the texture of those breadcrust bombs!
X. Invasive Beauty
Purple Loosestrife at Silver Lake
This beauty growing on the shores of Silver Lake is, alas, an invasive species that drives out native plants. But it is absolutely gorgeous, filling wetlands with vibrant violet spears. A little processing in Photoshop Elements, and it becomes haunting. I hate to love it, but I do. And I enjoy it today, because I’m pretty sure the rangers will be working on eradicating it soon so that the native beauties can thrive.
Another change: this lake isn’t long for this world, geologically speaking. It seems more overgrown each time I visit. It was born of a volcano, and a volcano will end it. Eventually, sediment from Loowit will fill it in. It will become a wetland, a bog, and a meadow. But the volcano is restless, and I’ve no doubt some future lahar will dam another creek, creating a new lake and a new opportunity for remarkable beauty.
Neither human nor natural features are forever here in volcano country. And that is exactly as it should be.
