We spent a week here too. We wanted to move closer to Mount St Helens so we could see it in a day trip and leave Sophie in the RV. She couldn’t go anywhere around the Visitor’s Center or on any trails.
We stayed at a campground right on the Columbia River, and watched lots of big ships going back and forth from Portland. It was really cool.
One day we took a Scenic Drive and saw a few waterfalls, and did some geocaching. We stopped at Vista House, which overlooks the Gorge. What a beautiful view! Multnomah Falls is the popular one. I first saw it on one of those art doors back in Grants Pass, then people told me we had to go see it. It was really beautiful, but pretty crowded. You can see it from I-5, and there is a rest area where highway travelers can stop and access it. The kids loved it, they got squished pennies and ice cream.
Mount St Helens was really cool. It was a pretty drive through a bunch of forests owned by Weyerhauser. It was neat seeing signs for when they planted and when they plan to harvest. I think they let the trees grow for about 45 years. Talk about long term planning. Anyway, it was so interesting to see where the vegetation changed so much after the eruption. Its still looks very different almost 30 years later. Right near the mountain it still looks deserty and surreal. I’m waiting for free internet access again to upload a bunch of pictures to Flickr.
I took the photo of the Noble Firs because they looked so neat. With the branch structure, it looks like the whole scene is composed of layers that don’t quite match up.
By: Alice on June 10, 2009