Trip Report

On the road again! Everyone was so prompt and well prepared that we left Shopko ahead of our scheduled 7:30 a.m. departure time. First stop was our coffee break at the Wilsonville rest area, first time riders were impressed. This is a lovely area with picnic tables under the towering fir trees. It was a nice sunny day so we got glimpses of Mount Hood as we passed through the Portland area.

As we started up the Spirit Lake Highway developed areas soon gave way to young forests, mostly planted by Weyerhaeuser after the eruption. It was fun to spot the signs telling the year of planting. This is a beautiful drive; the areas of Noble Fir trees are especially lovely. We made three stops along the way; the Forest Learning Center; Johnston Ridge Observatory; and Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center. Each of these buildings is an impressive structure built in the late 1990’s and offer interesting educational information on the Mount St. Helens eruption and the forest recovery process. They all overlook the North Toutle River Valley and allow great views of Mount St. Helens.

The Forest Learning Center focuses on the destruction of the forest, replanting, growth and harvesting of timber through pictures, videos and the written word. There are some lovely bronze sculptures on the grounds.
Johnston Ridge Observatory is closest to the mountain and has two excellent videos about the force of the eruption and recovery of the immediate area. We learned that the current North Toutle River valley floor is now 150 feet higher than it was prior to the eruption. Here we were able to see part of the “new” Spirit Lake.
Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center is one of the largest post and beam structures on the west coast, truly a beautiful building.

When we arrived at the Mill Village Motel in Eatonville for the night, we were delighted to see we had a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier right from the parking lot. After check in we all headed off to find some dinner, several went to Brunos next door to try their buffalo burgers, very good. Upon returning to the motel many of us watched the sunset turn the snow on Mr. Rainier to pink – lovely sight.

Wednesday we arrived at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park at opening. We were greeted by admissions staff and guided down to the tram for the first tour of the day where we had an up close look at a family of caribou – it seemed they wanted to go on the tram tour as well. Our delightful tour guide, Angela, gave us an excellent and informative tour of the grounds, locating all the animals for us as we drove along. Along with the caribou we saw bison, elk, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, and deer, also lots of geese - some of which brought the tram to a stop until they decided to get off the road. Following the tram ride people headed off in different directions to view the predatory animals, walk the nature trails, visit the gift shop and find a spot for lunch.

Early afternoon found us heading towards I-5 via back roads bordered by farms, ranches, and small communities. As we were passing through the land of Alpacas of America the bus decided to make an unscheduled stop so we could have a closer look at some of the 1600 alpacas raised on this ranch. They were as curious about us as we were them. Meanwhile Jay, our driver, was busy making phone calls and receiving instructions, soon we were on our way again with no further incidents. As we were traveling along on this trip we had great views of Mt. Hood, Mount St. Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier as well as several rivers. In spite of our extra stop, we arrived back at Shopko “around 7 pm” as anticipated. Great weather, great scenery and a great group of people!