July 31 Quick Update
Hello again, this time from Vancouver, BC. We said goodbye to the lower 48 yesterday, and don't plan to be back until October.
Mount St. Helens
We decided not to take 4 days and hike around the mountain itself. We decided to take two of those days and just hang out in Seattle. We spent some time at the zoo and took the Seattle Underground tour during that time. Our two days at Mount Saint Helens were amazing. We spent the first day hiking to a nearby peak called Mt. Margaret. The 6 hour round-trip hike took us to a point that looked right at the northern side of the mountain which was blown away in the 1980 eruption. The path took us through miles of blown down forest. Everything was destroyed by the eruption in this area, so we were seemingly hiking through a desert at times - all of he plant life was new and all of the trees were obviously very small since they were all less than 20 years old. All of the old-growth forest was blown down, with all of the old tree trunks still lying on the ground today with their tops pointing away from the mountain. The second day we spent on the west side, spending time at the 2 visitor centers that were built there in the last 10 years. We took time to attend ranger talks and video/movie presentations at the centers. They were all incredible. We were both very interested and moved by the stories of the survivors of the blast as well as those that were not so fortunate. We both highly recommend a trip to Mount Saint Helens for anybody traveling in the area.
Lake Chelan
We picked up our friends Karen and Jay at the Seattle Airport, and headed for Lake Chelan in Central Washington. We traveled from Chelan to the remote town of Stehekin at the other end of the 55 mile long lake on a float plane, and spent two nights there. Stehekin has no road linking it to the outside world... everybody comes by boat or plane, so it is very quiet. We had a great time horseback riding, and generally just relaxing for a couple days. Check out Jay and Karen's website for pictures soon (now?), and check back here in a couple weeks or so for our pictures.
Where From Here?
Tomorrow we leave for Campbell River where we'll camp for a couple nights and do some snorkeling with the salmon. We're slowly making our way up to the northern-most tip of Vancouver Island, where we'll hop on a ferry - The first of 3 that will eventually take us up to Skagway Alaska for our Chilkoot hike.