Had an awesome ride up Mount St Helens today. Rode up through fir trees by the side of a huge boulder and gravel-strewn valley for a while, then cut up onto a ridge on quiet singletrack. After an hour or so, we came out above the tree line at the top of the trail. Rose hung out here while I carried on up onto the Plains of Abraham; desolate volcanic flat lands covered in rocks of all types and sizes. Black lava, grey pumice and everything in between. Then back down through the woods to the van for a late morning coffee. Great to be mountain biking on a mountain, on remote trails. We saw one other couple with bikes, and another couple walking. Otherwise, it was an empty mountain.
We wanted to carry on around Mt St Helens up onto Windy Ridge where there’s a viewpoint over the 1980 eruption zone, but the road was closed. On the twisty, mountainous Washington roads we’ve seen a lot of rock falls – I guess they are still clearing up the road after a harsh winter. Even the roads that are open can be a bit dicey at points; lots of subsidence and sharp dips. Gotta drive carefully.
So, quick change of plans; now with an extra couple of hours on our hands we decided to keep heading north. Mount Rainier National Park was tempting, but to be honest we’ve kinda had enough of mountains and fir trees for the time being. Time to head back to the sea. We skipped past the Olympic National Park as well; the Pacific coast here is supposed to be incredible – I read in a local tourist brochure that “nowhere else can you experience majestic old growth forest running right down into the Pacific Ocean” … but that’s exactly what we’ve seen quite a lot of so far in California. And we want to spend some good time in BC, on Vancouver Island and in the Rockies, so it’s now time to head to Canada.
After a mediocre (but typically American-sized; huge) noodle meal at a roadside restaurant and a quick and dirty Wal-Mart stop to buy mosquito net for the van we found a motel in the small town of Hoodsport. Time to wash off the dirt from the ride this morning. Right on the edge of the small gravel beach, the Sunrise Motel has a wonderful view over the water, with its own dock that squeaks with every wave that comes through. We’re a long way from the open ocean here at the southern end of the Puget Sound. Seattle is to our east, across a number of estuaries, islands and waterways. We had no reason to stop in there, and generally want to avoid the big cities.
Road and Ocean 