After leaving Astoria (read more here) we made our way to the Johnston Ridge Observatory to get an up close view of Mt. St. Helen's. Johnston Ridge Observatory is at the end of Highway 504 and takes you up to the blast zone. As we were navigating, I realized that the Observatory was closed due to a landslide that had closed both lanes of the road. This was disappointing.
Still wanting to get a glimpse of Mt. St. Helens, we exited the interstate at Castle Rock and made our way to the Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center.
The Visitor Center includes an informative video, exhibits leading up to the volcano's eruption, and ranger talks. After going through the exhibits, we made our way out to the trail leading away from the building. The trail became a boardwalk over marshy wetland. Along this walk we saw a ton of birds and interesting flowers. There wasn't much signage about the walk so we were a bit unsure of how long the trail would go and if this was an out and back trail or a circular trail. This boardwalk allowed us to see beautiful views of Mt. St. Helens.
The trail was in fact a loop trail and was a little over 1/2 mile. Although the Visitor Center was pretty crowded (3 tour buses plus several car loads) the boardwalk and trail was significantly less crowded. At times we had the entire boardwalk to ourselves and we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.
While we could have ventured a bit farther and experienced other overlooks, we decided to go ahead and make our way into Seattle.
We did want to get a great view of Mt. Rainier and decided to make a quick stop in Tacoma to do this. We drove to the Ruston Way walkway and easily found a parking place. The walkway and park was filled with folks. Some biking and jogging. Others picnicking. Some were reading books. We originally walked in the direction of Mt. Rainier but turned to walk the other way because we felt we could get a better view. We were certainly not disappointed.
After this quick stop, we made our way to Seattle.
The Travel Gritty: We wished we had more time scheduled in Tacoma. Our quick stop didn't allow us to get a true vibe of this city. Definitely would like a return visit. We were disappointed to miss out on the Johnston Ridge Observatory.
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