Overview

Travel to Mount Saint Helens and environs, from Portland, on this ALL-INCLUSIVE tour with a guide who will discuss the geology, ecology, climate, history, and legends of the area, as well as the history of US public lands. Your guide will lead you on hikes near waterfalls, through lava tubes, and within oldgrowth forests.

You will see some of the most unique geological features in North America, including North America's longest continuous lava tube and a lava tree mold forest. Weather permitting, you will be driven to the closest viewpoint into the crater of the volcano, where you will be provided a picnic lunch, overlooking Spirit Lake. No matter how hot the weather, you'll enjoy natural air conditioning as you hike by dramatic waterfalls and through primeval forest. You'll have the option of a dinner/beer stop (own expense) on the way back to Portland. *THIS IS A 12-HOUR TOUR*

Description

Stop At: Mount St. Helens, Washington 98649

Travel to Mt. St. Helens and environs with a naturalist guide who will discuss the geology, ecology, climate, history, and legends of the area, as well as the history of US public lands. Your guide will lead you on hikes near waterfalls, through lava tubes, and within oldgrowth forests. Stops both inside and outside of Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.

Duration: 7 hours

Stop At: Ape Cave Lava Tubes, Cougar, WA, United States, Longview, Washington

Traverse North America's longest continuous lava tube! No matter how hot it is outside, the temperature in the cave is a constant 42F (5.5C), so bring layers. Also, be sure to bring shoes that are suitable for scrambling, and wipe those shoes before entering the bats' home so that they don't get white-nose syndrome!

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Trail of Two Forests Trail, 42218 NE Yale Bridge Rd, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Amboy, Washington 98601

A lava mold forest. Walk through a wonderland of wells and tunnels, that's hard to pull kids away from.

Duration: 20 minutes

Stop At: WIndy Ridge Viewpoint, Forest Service Rd. 99, Amboy, Washington

Weather permitting, we'll take you to the closest viewpoint with a view into the crater that is accessible by vehicle. There you'll have a picnic lunch, and have the opportunity to burn off your lunch by ascending the 357 stairs to a 365-degree view overlooking Spirit Lake, with the mountain looming. If conditions are clear enough, you'll see four stratovolcanoes: St. Helens, Rainier, Adams, and Hood.

Duration: 1 hour

Pass By: Johnston Ridge Observatory, 21500 Spirit Lake Highway, Toutle, Washington 98649

The place where Dave Johnston got on the radio and yelled "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!", the fateful morning of May 18, 1980.

Pass By: Mount St. Helens Visitor Center, Hwy. 504, milepost 5, Castle Rock, Washington 98611

The visitor center with the most detailed history and geology of Mt. St. Helens.

Pass By: Lava Canyon, South Cascades, Stevenson, Washington

A fairytale landscape of sapphire waterfalls and blue-grey andesite that were scoured and smoothed by the 1980 lahar resulting from the rapid melting of the Shoestring Glacier by pyroclastic flows.

Pass By: Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center, Hwy. 504, milepost 43, Amboy, Washington

The visitor center that provides a special retro experience, with a movie about Mt. St. Helens circa 1985, and a 1990s-era Disneyland Haunted Mansion-style park ranger statue, who will give you a lecture.