LOOWIT VIEWPOINT

 

I didn’t have any intention of going for a lengthy drive today.

But after I had watered the hanging plants, and the raised garden beds … the thought to drive to Loowit Viewpoint urged me into the Highlander, and on my way.

Loowit Viewpoint, Mt. St. Helens from Heron Pointe - via WA-504 E; 1 hr. 25 mins.

Mt. St. Helens; Before-After Eruption

Pulling out of the carport, I noticed the temperature showing in the dash was 85-degrees; it didn’t really feel like 85-degrees since we are in our Indian Summer phase of the year, and there is a little Fall nip in the air here, near the river.

But, as I drove the Toutle highway, the temperature dropped.

My thoughts were untangling … and my body was relaxing.

Mt. St. Helens is not Mt. Rainier – but I do find the drive enjoyable; there really isn’t much difference in driving time, even though Mt. St. Helens seems closer to home. And my favorite Mt. Rainier haunt is only slightly higher than Mt. St. Helen’s Loowit Viewpoint. The only difference, really is that Mt. Rainier is much more colorful than the current landscape of Mt. St. Helens.

Though Mt. Rainier is the most dangerous/most monitored volcano in the Cascade Range; it is not as active a volcano as Mt. St. Helen’s is.

Mt. St. Helens seems dormant on her surface … but there is still plenty of activity happening inside her shattered bulk.

I respect our mountains because they are beautiful, albeit tempestuous, living things; but I never felt Mt. Rainer was {one of the most dangerous volcanoes of the world} when we annually visited it: I haven’t been back since Bob stepped off Earth – I always think I will; but I never do.

I have, however, been to Coldwater Lake, and Loowit Viewpoint several times in the past year: no particular reason other than that is where the Highlander goes when the urge to “visit the mountains” strikes me.

It was a comfortable 75-degrees when I turned into the Elk Rock Viewpoint.

Mt. St. Helens, forefront' & Mt. Adams in background; Elk Rock Viewpoint.

When I get a close-up glimpse of the broken-edge-topped Loowit, it always drives home the fact that as humans we are very small, and late arrival, features in Earth’s story.

A drive to the mountains puts life in general into a proper perspective considering the whole of life’s picture.

Spending time in the mountains kinda takes the edge of life’s pressing issues.

Standing at the Loowit Viewpoint, and seeing the land laid to waste by an earthshaking blast pretty much parallels my life over the past 32 months.

Mt. St. Helens; descent to Coldwater Lake-Loowit Viewpoint Junction.

The blast that changed the past ... May 18th, 1980; a lot of memories associated with this mountain.

Loowit, “Smoking Mountain” Viewpoint – 3,950 ft. elevation; the fella in my video did a perfect Elk call bugle.

This is what my mind's eye sees (on a more modern scale); the footpath up the mountain’s flank at the Timberline Parking Lot was still there when Bob & I used to visit the mountain while we were dating in 1974. In 1975, our newborn daughter had her first out-of-house diaper change in that parking lot – alongside that footpath 😊

Yet there are also signs of life showing in the barren landscape.

Hope thrives in all the brokenness.

Life livens up the air and colors the gray areas of missingness.

I stood at the encircled viewpoint lookout, and thought to myself, “If Elohei can rebuild, and add colorful vitality to the landscape among the scarred litter of the aftermath of nature’s destruction, He can do so much more for my life.”

Directly across from the volcanic maw, and still visible, is the 'scorched earth' devastation of the eruption blast.

Fallen trees still litter the ground where they were felled by the 1980 volcanic blast.

Elohim has a Plan for my life, and every day more and more of His Plan is put into action: I don’t know yet how, when, where, and why that Plan will be put into a binding effect … but I know I am worth more to Him than the flora and fauna of this planet; beautiful though they are.

I know His Plan will be perfect for my life. 

I know that when that time manifests itself, I will be wholly ready for the changes; and those changes will not seem a hard thing to accept.

I knew then, why I had been prompted to make this drive: the mountains always speak to me. I used to tell Bob, “I feel close to God in the mountains – the sky doesn’t seem so far away.”

My soul was comforted. 

I also spent time enjoying the Lake before driving back home.

Coldwater Lake was created by the 1980 eruption.

It was very quiet there this evening – I only saw a handful of people, and there was no lake activity going on.

I touched down there after 5:15 PM – sundown would take place around 7:30 PM; the temperature was getting chillier, and the atmosphere was getting duskier.

The mountain makes its own weather and atmosphere.

And the advent of Fall is much more riskier in the mountains than in the lowlands: Fall in the mountains is short lived … snow could start falling next month.

Coldwater Lake; 2,503 ft. Elevation; Mt. St. Helens in the background.

This tree caught my attention: the roots appear to be cradling the round rock.

Ancient cinder cone in the background.

I was parked in the carport, at home, before sundown – and with a new outlook on my unfolding new life 😉