JULIE'S JOURNAL

You may follow along in our journey by visiting Julie's Journal page. It will include photographs, suggestions, mishap adventures and our experiences on the road and back-country trails.

If you would like to know more about the history of our adventure click here for the history page. How we planned, saved money, chose our equipment and prepared for ten months on the road.

These are some other web sites we found useful and/or have recpical links with.

Mt. St. Helens & Mt. Rainer, Washington
June 7, to June 11, 1999

Written by Julie Hackler and Dave Fink

The roads were open when we arrived at the first Visitor's Center off of Route 504 so we planned to visit the Coldwater Ridge and the Johnston Ridge Visitor's Centers as well. All three have excellent movie presentations depicting different aspects of the 1980 blast. If time allows I suggest that you see all three. The best view of the Mountain is from the Johnston Ridge Visitor Center. You are able to see the lava dome and the horizontal blast section. It is an unbelievable sight, a definite must see if you plan to visit Mt. St. Helens.

We were able to hike a few of the trails in the National Monument. One of my favorites was the 2.5-mile Hummocks Trail. It gave you an overwhelming feeling of what the volcanic blast destroyed in its path. You could see the natural re-growth of plants and wildflowers after the devastating mudslide. Among the re-growth you could also see the deposits of mud that the slide left behind.

Another worthy trail is the Boundary Trail. There are several parts of the trail of various lengths. The trails run all along the boundary of the gigantic mudslide perimeter. On one side you can see the land that was spared and on the other side of the trail you are able to observe the path of the destruction. An awesome sight. We decided to hike part of the Boundary Trail that began at the Johnston Ridge Observatory.

The powerful feeling I received from visiting Mt. St. Helens was enough to get the urge to come back whenever I could.

From Mt. St. Helens we drove to Mt. Rainer via Interstate 5. The ride can be done in a short day's drive. We stayed at the Sunshine Campground, it is the first one you come to when you enter the park from the west. We liked it better than up at Cougar Rock Campground due to the lower elevation. At Cougar Rock there remained around two feet of snow in the woods. It was also 10 degrees cooler. At Sunshine Campground it was comfortable enough at nighttime to sit out and roast marshmallows. Plus the campground was right along a beautiful stream and only cost $10 per night instead of $12.

Mt. Rainer is viewed best from Paradise Viewpoint, unless, of coarse, you plan to climb the mountain. Without crampons and an ice axe your best bet is to see the mountain from this point. While we were there many roads were still closed but we were able to get a great view of the volcano from Paradise. We even spotted a group of climbers through a pair of binoculars heading to Camp Muir to begin their attempts at the summit.

The museum at Paradise was an interesting treat. It gave you an idea of what the mountain means to many climbers. Dave and I knew a little about the attempts made on Mt. Rainer, Everest and K2 thanks to a book called "Addicted to Danger" by Jim Wickwire, a fascinating introduction to the desire and dedication of mountaineering. Reading the book gave us an insider's point of view on what we observed at the museum.

Back down at lower elevations we decided to hike the Kautz Creek Trail, the trail had some great views of Mt. Rainer. The trail goes through the woods and across the creek on a log bridge. The hike was fairly easy up to the creek, after that it got narrow and steep.

The most memorable trail was the Rampart Ridge Trail, a 4.6-mile loop with a 1300-foot elevation gain. At the higher elevations the entire trail was covered in snow. Our boots came in handy as well as our hiking sticks. The trail was pretty much unmarked in the snow except for footprints left by previous hikers. So we followed then and successfully make it down. The view of Mt. Rainer was fantastic from the trail. The forest opened up and gave you a clear view, almost as nice as if we were on the mountain itself. We had a lot of fun on the Rampart Ridge Trail, so much so we decided to treat ourselves to a snack at the Longmire Inn. We sat on the front porch of the Inn and relaxed in the wicker chairs facing the grand volcano. Both Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainer offered a different perspective on volcanoes. Another must see on anyone's travels.

Addicted to Danger by Jim Wickwire is a great book into the mind of a climber. Everyone asks why they do it? Why they risk their life for such an adventure? This book gives any adventurer perspective on just how far they're willing to take it. It is a true-life survival story of a man addicted to the dangers of his chosen adventures.