I took Friday and Monday off, 9/5 – 9/8 so I could take a long weekend away by myself. Originally, Dad and I were going to go down to the Columbia River and watch a steam engine run, but it was cancelled for lack of interest. So I decided to come down by myself and see some things I haven’t see before or been to in awhile. Namely Mt St Helens, and the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum at Hood River OR.
I left work at 4pm on Thursday 4th and took Hwy 7 south from Tacoma down thru La Grande, Elbe, and Morton, then cut over to Randle on Hwy 12. I stopped for dinner about 6pm in Elbe at the Mt Rainier Railroad Dining Co. and ate an Elk burger in their dining car. Great meal. Then I continued south, and ended up camping at the Iron Creek campground on FS25 about 10 miles south of Randle.
I had an air mattress in the back of the van and slept quite comfortably. The van was quite warm from the 3 hour drive down in the sun, and took awhile to cool off. And it did cool off as in the early morning I felt cold. It was only low 50’s outside, but with the front windows cracked an inch for ventilation, it cooled off inside pretty well too. I slept well inside my sleeping bag despite the temp, and despite getting up twice during the middle of the nite to pee. I actually didn’t get up and going until about 745 when the sun was well on its way up.
On Thursday at work, Todd brought me his small portable JetBoil stove to borrow, and that is an incredible burner. Will have to get one myself. Boils 2 cups of water in about a minute. Used it to heat water for my instant oatmeal, had two servings, along with a bowl of cold granola and milk. Packed up about 9am, took a quick walk down to Iron Creek, then started the engine and headed south for Windy Ridge and the closest view of Mt St Helens.
Took me an hour to get to Windy Ridge, mostly going 25-35mph. There were numerous viewpoints to stop at along the way, a couple of photos at each, but boy, when I got to Windy Ridge, there’s a reason they call it that. It was windy! Windy Ridge is the end of the road for driving, and there is a big parking area for the numerous trails in the area. The most obvious one goes up 438 stairs(I counted’em) on Trumans Trail #227 to a viewpoint overlooking Spirit Lake.
I continued on for about 1 mile, then turned back. MAN it was windy! I then drove back a mile towards Harmony#224 which I took down to the lake for my lunch. Started from the car at 11am, only 1.25 miles down to the lake, although you can’t get right to the water, too many downed trees/logs floating and they don’t want anyone risking a fall or injury on the logs. So I rested with a nice view of the lake for a half hour, then eased my way back up to the car. It wasn’t really steep, but having had lunch, and being exposed in the warm sun, I just took it slow and steady. Still got back up in 45 minutes.
From there I headed back out FS99 to FS25 and turned south for Cougar WA. Lots of winding hilly roads for about 45 miles. Wonderful views enroute and VERY LITTLE traffic either way on that road. Truly wonderful driving. Just before Cougar I turned east on FS90, then south on FS30 down to Carson., and onto 14 west to Stevenson to my room booked at the Rodeway Inn for the night. Got here about 330, cleaned up, then walked into Stevenson and found a Beer and Book shop, had a nice ale, then walked up the street to a Bar and Grill for dinner. Now back in my room for the night.