Mt. St. Helens, Take Two

Since I heard there was an earthquake at Mt St Helens while we were there and we all missed it, I decided to check it out again. Supposedly the crater changed a bit. It didn't seem as flat the second time which was 6 days after the first trip. Since I got there earlier this time, I was able to do more, including taking a walk on Hummock Trail. It is a short (2.5 mile) loop around hummocks (hills caused by volcanoes). There was a bunch of signs describing various facts. One sign mentioned frogs. I wondered if there were frongs around. A short while later a frog jumped off the path in front of me. Then I thought, "If there are frogs, I wonder if there are snakes to eat the frogs." At this point, I tripped from too much day dreaming. But further along the path I did see a small garter snake. Later, I was walking around Coldwater Lake and I saw a bigger garter hunting in the water.

I decided to head back towards the coast. I took a very nice route (WA-4) along the Columbia River which runs between Washington and Oregon. This hooked up with US 101 nearly where I camped the night before. I turned south towards Ilwace. The road got really fun and curvey. I think I'll have to do it again in the daylight.