Mt. St. Helens: Riding in awe of nature

For many years, I have had on my list of must do’s, a ride around Mt. St. Helens.



My first trip to the devastation caused by the volcano blowing its top on May 18,1980 was in 1985. (Check out this video) Back in the day, I was looking for things to do on light wind days while visiting the Columbia River Gorge for windsurfing.



When the wind shuts down in the Gorge, the temperature soars, and about the only way to avoid the stifling heat is either to go to the coast, or to move up to higher elevations. Seeing as there are three 10,000 ft plus volcanoes in the local vicinity, getting to elevation is not too much of a problem. My first visit to Mt St Helens definitely made an impression, and I have been making trips back to the mountain about every 5 years since. Seeing the relatively recent destruction on the first trip and now the amazing resurgence of plant and wildlife 30 years later has been nothing short of astounding. A few years ago, I read that it was now possible to ride your bike up to areas that until a few years ago were strictly out of bounds. That ride has been on my list ever since.

I managed to get down to the Gorge windsurfing this summer and after a few epic (see definition of epic) days rippin Doug's Beach on my Roberts Sailboard and 4.0 sails the wind shut down. The heat rose and after a couple of days riding under the shadow of Mt. Hood, I decided to venture a bit farther away.

The ride I decided to do was a loop starting on a lahar

on the south side of the mountain and riding up toward the caldera and across an area leveled by the pyroclastic flow until we reached Windy Ridge, the closest public viewing spot to the caldera. We would then loop back down the Smith Creek drainage back to the starting area and the car. My estimate was that it would take about 5 hrs for the round trip. My son Blake is almost always up for an adventure, and he signed on for the ride also.

The ride from Hood River to the start point was really beautiful as we wound through the forests of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Once at the start point we readied our bikes and made a few chicken sandwiches for sustenance. Several other groups were also at the start point getting ready. Knowing other humans beings are around should something go astray always makes you feel a little bit more relaxed when heading out on an unknown ride into areas that see rarely travelled.

A plan was made with my wife for our pick up, and a second plan made should we not show up by a specific time. One of the other groups turned out to be a couple from North Vancouver who were also doing the ride for the first time so we agreed to keep an eye out for each other.

Blake and I headed out and started winding our way up through the forest

beside the lahar. The views through the trees often took your breath away.

Depending on the way you looked you could see any one of three other volcanoes; Mt Rainer, Mt Adams or Mt Hood. Although none of these have popped their top in the recent past, they are all considered a risk.

Once up through the trees we started riding through the blast zone.

It felt like we were on the moon, with small boulders distributed randomly as if thrown by a giant. We worked our way along leapfrogging back and forth with our North Vancouver friends as we alternated stopping, and taking pictures.


I was astounded that the view that I remembered from my past visits has completely changed. I had not been in the upper blast zone before but had toured through those areas affected by the pyroclastic flows. All the trees knocked down by the force of the explosion and ensuing pyroclastic flow are now gone. I cannot believe that they have rotted away in 30 years so I assume that they have been logged and removed.

We reached the top at Windy Ridge and could see Spirit Lake.



It too looked completely different from passt visits. It is now a beautiful blue clear lake compared to the silt filled or algae filled lake of past visits.

We then headed down the Smith Creek drainage and were treated to a very technical steep descent over sandy soil with lots of switch back.


The pitch eventually evened out and we were treated to some ripping single track until the trail deposited us into a washed out river bed.

The trail truly disappeared and we were left maneuvering our way down the boulder strewn riverbed trying to find the trail on the other side. Thankfully, our Vancouver friends caught up with us as we entered the washout and we had 2 extra pairs of eyes on the lookout. Eventually after about an hour of slogging and/or pushing our bikes through the sandy riverbed we bush whacked into the trees and eventually found the trail out.

The rest of the trail was very flowy until we again hit a washout; this one large enough that it had taken out a road bridge leaving only the bridge supports standing. From our map it appeared that our pick up rendezvous point was on the other side of the washed out bridge. We picked our way through the river bed and forded the river. I was reminded quickly that when up to your hips in fast flowing water while carrying your bike always put it on the downstream side. I almost lost mine, but Blake was smart enough to observe my struggles and quickly held his the right way.

Our ride ended with a vertical climb of about 35 ft up the washed out river bank. We alternating climbing and passing our bikes up one to the other. Once over the top we were relieved to see our ride waiting. Our 5 hr estimate turned out to be way off. As my son says whenever he brings a friend along on one of our rides "Whatever my dad says, make sure you add 50% to the time”.

Put this one on your list of must rides. It is a classic.