Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens - Washington State

Majestic Mt Rainier in Washington has an alluring conical snow covered peak that presents a formidable challenge to aspiring climbers.  We were told that the world’s best mountain climbers come and climb in Washington which has a number of fine mountains.

Tiger at Sunrise Point car park. There was a guy with powerful binoculars set up here and we saw a bear sow with a cub on the slopes through the binoculars

We went on a hike and saw several marmots. Just before this shot the marmot's mate was playing with his/her mate but it was too quick for us to capture, sadly.

Andrew went on a 4 mile Skyline loop hike and took this photo of people doing crampon practice on the ice.

Paradise Valley with Mt Adams in the distance behind the Pinnacle.

Our next stop was at Mt St Helens which is infamous for its 1980 volcanic eruption that set off an explosion bigger than the combined power of 1,500 atomic bombs.  57 people perished and the earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale sparked one of the biggest landslides in human history and buried 230 sq miles of forest under millions of tons of volcanic rock and ash.  Gritty ash spread across a vast stretch covering lands in ash as far away as western Montana.

We drove up to Windy Ridge viewpoint where at 5 miles from the mountain, you can look across at the gaping crater created when the northeast flank of Mt St Helens blew out, leaving a chasm 1.2 miles wide and 2.4 miles long.  Before that, the perfectly shaped mountain was referred to as the American Mt Fuji.

Mt St Helens and an old lava dome (centre). A new dome is growing in the valley behind.

Spirit Lake full of dead logs washed down in the lava flow.  Trees uprooted, shattered and swept away.  They have been there ever since, 34 years ago.

Meta Lake with dead trees and recovery growth.