Mt St. Helens Windy Ridge

[ballast]

Had a great ride today.
Met up with Dan, a coworker on his Vstrom or storm or whatever it is. Anyway it had 2 wheels so I took him along. Rode about 45 miles south to Morton where we met up with Kris, Greg and his friend Larry.

From there we headed out through Randal and up toward Mt St Helens National Monument. The road is narrow and kinda twisty as they work their way through the forest and then start heading up the mountains. You catch a glimse of the mountain here and there. Then:



Being good tourists that we are we couldn't pass up a photo opprotunity. The hard part, as always is getting the bikes to settle down long enough to actually get them lined up and the other tourists out of OUR picture.



Once you get to Windy Ridge you are looking directly into the blast crater. There are about 340 steps up the ridge from the parking lot to where you can get a great view of Spirit Lake.



The lake is still covered with logs from the forest that was leveled almost 30 yrs ago.



The peak in the background of the lake is Mt Rainier. You could also see Mt Adams and Mt Hood.

What a great way to spend a Sunny Northwest Morning!