Mt. St. Helens Updates
Update from July 14th, 2023:
We are excited to announce that the Mt. St. Helens Tour is available for the remainder of the summer season (through October 31st). Here’s what you need to know about visiting the area this summer –
Currently, Mt. St. Helens National Monument is open up to the Hummocks Trail access point. The road is closed to all visitors just beyond this point including to Johnston Ridge while crews work to repair the damaged bridge. The only destination this impacts is access to the Johnston Ridge viewing area. For this season, the park crews have opened public access to the Science and Learning Center at Coldwater Lake to the public which sits up on a ridge and offers very similar views to what you could expect at Johnston Ridge.
Evergreen Escapes will still be offering a Mount St. Helens National Monument Tour that visits all of the previously planned destinations with the substitution of the Coldwater Lake Learning Center for the Johnston Ridge Observatory.Information about the May 14th landslide:
Overnight on May 14th, Spirit Lake Highway leading up to Mt. St. Helens experienced a massive mudslide due to rapid melting of snowpack following a weekend of exceptionally warm spring temperatures. The mudslide is currently blocking access to Spirit Lake Highway about 9 miles before Johnston Ridge Observatory and destroyed a bridge along the highway that offers the only access point to Johnston Ridge via car. Crews are currently working to repair the damage throughout the remainder of the 2023 season.
Please direct any additional questions to our customer service team at 206-650-5795.
One of the most astonishing landscapes on the planet – Mt. St. Helens is like nowhere you’ve been before.
This beautiful journey takes you into the ravaged heart of Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. View the massive crater from renowned Johnston Ridge Visitors Center and experience ecosystems recovering from the 1980 eruption as you walk through the blast-swept National Monument.
This isn’t just another driving tour of a beautiful landscape—we prefer to keep travelers outside the vehicle for walks and exploration. You may stop at Lewis & Clark State Park to bask in the shadow of the old-growth forests that once covered the northern reaches of the mountain, or at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge to explore estuary wetlands.
Once in the Volcanic Monument, you’ll traverse the barren landscapes, stopping for a peaceful hike along the Hummocks Trail or to take in the still blue waters of the recently formed Coldwater Lake. At Johnston Ridge Observatory you’ll embark on an interpretive walk along the famous Eruption Trail. The trail offers sweeping views of the blast zone and crater and teems with stunning purple lupine and other flowers in the mid-to-late summer.
Join a few other travelers (each trip is ten people or fewer) and an award-winning guide on a real exploration of our wild home. Don’t worry – we’ll take care of everything! If you’re staying downtown (hotel, AirBNB, etc) we’ll pick you up! We’ll text/call the day prior to your trip to confirm exact timing. We’re bringing breakfast pastries, local coffee and tea. We’ll also bring a fresh, local, family-style lunch, and plenty of snacks, sparkling water and water are included all day.
SAMPLE ITINERARY
7:00-7:30A – Downtown Pickups
Generally, our last pickup for each tour occurs at the Sheraton Grand in Seattle. This isn’t always the case – so check with us – but we consider it a default location for anyone staying outside of downtown. Let our team know where you’re staying and we’ll do everything we can to make your pickup as easy as possible.
SeaTac Airport & Tacoma area Pick-ups: We’re happy to offer centralized pickup options en route to the National Park upon request. On our Mount Rainier tour we can offer pick-ups in:
- SeaTac Airport Area: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Seattle Airport. 18740 International Blvd, Seattle, WA 98188.
- Tacoma Area: TBD
8:00A – SeaTac OR Tacoma Area Pickups (By Request)
8:30A – REST STOP AT THE BILLY FRANK JR. NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
We will stop to press coffee, make tea, and have a light morning snack. This is a good spot to stretch your legs with a short exploration of Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge (a world class birding destination in the region).
10:00A – EXPLORE ANCIENT FORESTS AT LEWIS & CLARK STATE PARK
Take a look into living history and see firsthand what the ecosystems surrounding Mount St. Helens would have looked like prior to the 1940 eruption with a short trail walk through a preserved stand of old growth forest.
11:15A – ARRIVE AT MT. ST. HELENS NATIONAL MONUMENT – SLVER LAKE VISITOR CENTER
Begin the journey along the Spirit Lake Highway with a visit to the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake for a peak into the past and detailed exhibits of what took place before, during, and after the most recent erruption.
1:00P – COLDWATER LAKE + HUMMOCKS TRAIL
Continue along the highwayt to Coldwater Lake and the Hummocks Trail. Enjoy a picnic lunch outside beside the lake and hike like the Hummocks along the Toutle River illustrate the extreme landscape changes created by a major volcanic eruption
3:00P – MOUNT ST. HELENS SCIENCE + LEARNING CENTER
End the day on a high note (literaly) as we wind up a bit in elevation to a view from above Coldwater Lake and the most direct peak into the crater on clear weather days. Enjoy little downtime to use the restroom, browse interpretive info, take photographs, or find a quick gift for a loved one back home.
4:00P – Head Back to Seattle
An optional restroom break will be made available as needed on the journey back to the city.
7:15P – Drop of at your downtown Seattle Hotel
We’ll drop travelers off where we found them (or another preferred spot nearby) after a day full of exploring one of the most famous active volcanoes in the world.
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