{"id":3570,"date":"2017-08-13T08:10:27","date_gmt":"2017-08-13T14:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=3570"},"modified":"2019-03-16T10:27:35","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T16:27:35","slug":"mt-st-helens-dismal-nitch-the-dead-fish-dingo-washington-8-24-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=3570","title":{"rendered":"Mt. St. Helens, Dismal Nitch, & the Dead Fish Dingo, Washington (8-24-12)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 17 of Lupe’s 2012 Dingo Vacation to the West Coast.<\/em><\/p>\n

Once again, Lupe and SPHP were up before Lanis.\u00a0 Lupe soon found the Loop Trail, which runs entirely around the Iron Creek campground, NE of Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.\u00a0 Iron Creek campground is located in an amazing mossy forest of huge Douglas firs.\u00a0 Before it was time to head to Mt. St. Helens, Lupe and SPHP wanted to explore the Loop Trail, and see it all.<\/p>\n

\"Iron<\/a>
Iron Creek campground, Washington state.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The trail was in good condition.\u00a0 Lupe, as always, was an enthusiastic explorer.\u00a0 She sniffed ferns, and jumped up on giant mossy\u00a0logs laying on forest floor, using the\u00a0logs\u00a0as her own private green-cushioned Dingo trails.\u00a0 If there were any squirrels, Lupe wasn’t finding them.\u00a0 They may have been up in the stratosphere of the towering tree tops.<\/p>\n

The N and NE sides of the Loop Trail went along a lovely blue river, the Cispus.\u00a0 The\u00a0water of the Cispus sparkled in the morning light.\u00a0 Not far from the Cispus, on the W side of the Loop Trail, were signs next to two huge Douglas firs.\u00a0\u00a0The little tree\u00a0was 280 feet high, had an 8 foot diameter trunk, and was 600 years old.\u00a0 The\u00a0biggest one was 285 feet high, had an 8 foot 2 inch diameter trunk, and was also 600 years old.<\/p>\n

These trees were already\u00a080 years old when Columbus set sail for America!\u00a0 It was hard to imagine they had been standing here all that time.\u00a0 Both\u00a0trees\u00a0were still alive, and looked to be in good condition.\u00a0\u00a0The forest was full of Douglas firs that looked almost as\u00a0huge and ancient\u00a0as these two.\u00a0 Iron Creek campground was a pretty amazing place!<\/p>\n

Lupe and SPHP completed their journey around the entire Loop Trail.\u00a0 Lanis was up, when Lupe arrived back at her tiny house.\u00a0 It was time to leave for Mt. St. Helens<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(8,333 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>!\u00a0 A long, winding paved road took Lupe up through a dense forest\u00a0to the E entrance of Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 Lanis parked the Element at the first overlook in the monument with a view toward Mt. St. Helens.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe,<\/a>
Lupe, sporting big soft Dingo ears, with Lanis at the first overlook in Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mt.<\/a>
Mt. St. Helens is poking up in the distance. Yeah, thinking maybe Lanis would look better sporting big soft Dingo ears, too! They’d probably be useful for his music, too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"From<\/a>
From the first viewpoint using a telephoto lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lanis and SPHP\u00a0started reading some plaques at the overlook\u00a0showing pictures of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens on May 18, 1980.\u00a0 Amazingly, the man who took those very\u00a0photos,\u00a0Gary Rosenquist, showed up while Lupe was at the overlook!<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/a>
Gary Rosenquist, Lanis and Lupe. Gary had taken the photos of Mt. St. Helens’ cataclysmic eruption on May 18, 1980 featured on the plaques Lanis and SPHP had been reading!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe got to meet Mr. Rosenquist.\u00a0 Lanis and SPHP got to chat with him for a while about his experience photographing the Mt. St. Helens eruption<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, and then fleeing for his life from the falling ash.\u00a0 Mr. Rosenquist said he still likes to visit Mt. St. Helens fairly frequently.<\/p>\n

Lupe, Lanis and SPHP continued on the road toward viewpoints closer to Mt. St. Helens.\u00a0 From one of them, there were some great views of Spirit Lake.\u00a0 The 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens was so powerful, it created a wave of water from Spirit Lake that went as high as 850 feet up the mountains on the N side of the lake.\u00a0 Debris blocked the outlet to the lake, and the water level rose about 200 feet above its prior elevation.\u00a0 The surface area of Spirit Lake is now about 2,200 acres compared to only 1,300 acres before.<\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/a>
Getting closer to Mt. St. Helens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Spirit<\/a>
Spirit Lake is N of Mt. St. Helens. The outlet from the lake was blocked by debris from the collapsed mountainside. The water level was stabilized by engineers at a level 200 feet higher than before the May, 1980 eruption.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The eruption of Mt. St. Helens stripped away 230 square miles of forest. Many thousands of trees were flung into Spirit Lake. More than 32 years later, thousands of tree trunks were still floating in giant mats on the lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The road ended at a final viewpoint, still quite a distance from the volcano.\u00a0 From here it was possible to get a very good view of the huge debris flow extending down to Spirit Lake\u00a0formed by the collapse of the former N slopes of Mt. St. Helens as the\u00a0volcano erupted.<\/p>\n

\"Shown<\/a>
Shown here is the debris flow that blocked Spirit Lake at the part of the lake closest to the mountain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mt.<\/a>
Mt. St. Helens as seen from the last viewpoint at the end of the road coming in from the E side of the national monument. The May 18, 1980 volcanic eruption reduced the elevation of Mt. St. Helen’s summit from 9,677 feet to 8,363 feet when the N side of the mountain collapsed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the last viewpoint, there was a set of stairs climbing up a steep hill above the parking area.\u00a0 Lupe, Lanis and SPHP went up to the top of the hill for a better view.<\/p>\n

From the hill, it was possible to get a better look not only at Mt. St. Helens, but also\u00a0see Mt. Adams<\/a><\/span><\/strong> (12,276 ft.)<\/strong><\/span> and Mt. Hood<\/a><\/span><\/strong> (11,239 ft.)<\/strong><\/span> in the distance.\u00a0 Lupe even got to see Mt. Rainier<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(14,411 ft.)<\/strong><\/span>, after all, despite having missed seeing it due to cloud cover the day before.\u00a0 The summit of Mt. Rainier was peaking up over the ridge beyond Spirit Lake.<\/p>\n

\"Mt.<\/a>
Mt. St. Helens from the hill above the parking lot at the last viewpoint.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mt.<\/a>
Mt. Adams, seen here, is 34 miles E of Mt. St. Helens. Mt. Hood is 60 miles SSE. Lupe could see Mt. Hood, but it was too far away to show up well in a photograph.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mt.<\/a>
Mt. Adams with the telephoto lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe did get to see the summit of Mt. Rainier, after all! Here it is poking above the mountain ridges beyond Spirit Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the top of the hill above the final viewpoint, there was a trail leading one mile back to the best viewpoint over Spirit Lake.\u00a0 The trail\u00a0was high\u00a0up on the\u00a0side of the mountain facing Spirit Lake, so it was bound to be a very scenic path.\u00a0 Lanis didn’t feel like taking the trail, but Lupe and SPHP did.<\/p>\n

The one mile trail was very scenic, and did have great views of Spirit Lake, but at one point there was a stretch of trail a few hundred feet long that was a bit scary.\u00a0 The trail was very narrow with cliffs directly above, and a very steep slope leading to more cliffs below.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP made it through easily enough, but it sure wouldn’t be a place to take little kids.<\/p>\n

Lanis was waiting with the Element at the best Spirit Lake viewpoint along the road at the other end of the trail.\u00a0 Lanis said there had been signs saying the trail was for experts or advanced hikers only. \u00a0SPHP had not noticed them.<\/p>\n

Going back down the paved road heading back out of St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was interesting, too.\u00a0 There were some pretty big drops off the side of the road, and no guardrails.<\/p>\n

More concerning was that the road itself was cracking, and in many places had already slumped creating troughs in the road several feet deep.\u00a0 The pavement was still smooth, these weren’t abrupt cracks, but after seeing a whole mountain that had collapsed, it was easy to envision a 50 or 100 foot section of the road failing, and plunging down the cliff!<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking back at Mt. St. Helens as Lupe leaves the area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of course, nothing actually happened; the road did not fail.\u00a0 (Some day it will!)\u00a0 Lupe, Lanis and SPHP left Mt. St. Helens behind.<\/p>\n

Lupe was heading back to the West Coast!\u00a0 She traveled through the little towns of Cougar, Yale and Ariel on the way back to I-5.\u00a0 She\u00a0turned N on I-5, and then W on Hwy 4, which followed the N bank of the Columbia River.\u00a0 Along Hwy 401, Lupe, Lanis and SPHP stopped at Dismal Nitch, a cove along the Columbia River.<\/p>\n

It was beautiful at Dismal Nitch!\u00a0 The Columbia River is almost to the Pacific Ocean by the time it reaches Dismal Nitch.\u00a0\u00a0The river was so wide, it\u00a0was hard to tell if it was still even\u00a0a river, or a bay of the ocean.\u00a0 Seagulls were swirling around over the river.\u00a0 The long bridge over to Astoria, on the Oregon side of the Columbia, could be seen just a few miles ahead.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe & Lanis at Dismal Nitch on the N bank of the huge Columbia River, at this point almost as much ocean as river.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>Lupe had just missed seeing Lewis & Clark!\u00a0 Well, not quite “just” missed.\u00a0 Lewis & Clark\u00a0first reached Dismal Nitch on November 10, 1805, so Lupe was 206 years,\u00a09 months and 14 days late.\u00a0 It was a good thing, really.\u00a0 Lewis & Clark had taken shelter here from a severe winter storm.\u00a0 The storm forced them off the river for 6 days, causing them to miss their supply boat.\u00a0 It was Captain William Clark who had named the place, calling it in his journals “that dismal little nitch”.<\/p>\n

It was getting late enough in the day to start thinking about finding a place to camp.\u00a0 Lupe, Lanis and SPHP left Dismal Nitch, and continued W on Hwys 401 & 101\u00a0all the way to the Pacific Ocean at Cape Disappointment.<\/p>\n

Cape Disappointment is located at the very SW tip of Washington state on the N bank of the Columbia River.\u00a0 It was named by a British fur trader, John Meares, who had been sailing S in search of trade and the Columbia.\u00a0 On April 12, 1788, he sighted Cape Disappointment, but had to turn his ship around due to a storm, thereby failing to discover the mouth of the Columbia.\u00a0 Lupe, Lanis and SPHP were also disappointed – the campground at the Lewis & Clark State Park<\/span><\/strong><\/a> was full.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe saw the Pacific Ocean here, just N of Cape Disappointment in Lewis & Clark State Park, WA. Lupe was disappointed, too. The campground was full.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe, Lanis and SPHP drove all around the general area, stopping at all the campgrounds.\u00a0\u00a0Every one was\u00a0full.\u00a0 People were flocking to the area for some kind of big kite flying contest.\u00a0 SPHP’s road atlas did show a “World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame<\/a><\/span><\/strong>” on the coast a little way N of Cape Disappointment State Park.\u00a0 Well, no problem.\u00a0\u00a0Lupe would just take the Astoria bridge\u00a0over the Columbia River to Oregon, and find a place to stay over there.<\/p>\n

When Lupe crossed the bridge, Oregon became the 6th Lupe state to join her Dingo Nation!\u00a0 Unfortunately, the story was both different and the same in Oregon.\u00a0 Just like in Washington, all the campgrounds were full.\u00a0 So were all the motel rooms, except for a few luxury suites priced well beyond budget.\u00a0 The reason was different, though.\u00a0 People were flocking here for a big Mt. Hood to Seaside relay running event that was in progress.<\/p>\n

Lupe, Lanis, and SPHP gave up finding a place to stay in Astoria.\u00a0 Lanis drove S on Hwy 101 towards Seaside.\u00a0 Suddenly, Lanis spotted a black lab on the very busy 4 lane highway.\u00a0 The black lab was clearly lost.\u00a0 He was running back and forth right on the highway\u00a0looking at each car as it whizzed by, hoping to find his owner.\u00a0 The poor black lab was doomed to cause an accident, and die within minutes\u00a0doing this!<\/p>\n

Lanis stopped the Element.\u00a0 Lanis and SPHP intended to rescue the black lab, but time was of the essence.\u00a0 Fortunately, someone else in a pickup truck also saw the dog’s plight, and stopped closer to where the dog had run to.\u00a0 In just seconds, he had the dog safely in his truck.\u00a0 The black lab was saved!<\/p>\n

At Seaside, unsurprisingly, it soon became clear there were no campground vacancies here, either.\u00a0 However, there was a little park right along the highway, and a large pullout parking lot for it.\u00a0 The park had a big open field, with scattered stands of trees.\u00a0 Beyond the field was a view of a bay of the ocean.\u00a0 No tents allowed.\u00a0 It wasn’t dark yet, but it soon would be.\u00a0 Looked like car camping in the Element again.<\/p>\n

As twilight was fading, SPHP and Lupe went for a walk through the park down to a little river flowing into the bay.\u00a0 Very high, thick, coarse grass grew next to the river.\u00a0 Lupe sniffed around in the grass forest, while SPHP gazed out over the river down to the ocean bay.\u00a0 SPHP didn’t notice anything was wrong until getting into the Element for the night.<\/p>\n

Within a few seconds, the Element just reeked.\u00a0 The source of the stench was quickly identified as Lupe.\u00a0 She must have found some dead fish along the shore of the river, and rolled in them.\u00a0 Dogs, even Dingoes, sometimes love to roll in the nastiest, most awful things.\u00a0 An instinctive way of hiding their scent from prey?\u00a0 Well, it was true no sensible prey animal would likely suspect it was being\u00a0added to the menu\u00a0by an extraordinarily\u00a0obnoxious dead fish.<\/p>\n

Lupe\u00a0was very happy curled up in the Element\u00a0wearing her Eau-du-Dead Fish perfume, and wondered what all the fuss was about?\u00a0 Lanis and SPHP were far less thrilled.\u00a0 The smell was horrid and overwhelming.\u00a0 Lanis refused to stay.\u00a0 He took a sleeping bag outside, and tried to sleep on the ground next to the Element.\u00a0 The air was much better, but the traffic roaring by on the highway did not bring sweet dreams.<\/p>\n

After Lanis had suffered outside, and SPHP had suffered inside, for about an hour, neither could take it anymore.\u00a0 Take your pick – traffic noise, or the stench of a Dead Fish Dingo – it was impossible to sleep.\u00a0 Lupe, Lanis and SPHP went for a long walk in the darkness, just wandering around Seaside.<\/p>\n

The walk helped.\u00a0 By the time Lupe, Lanis and SPHP returned to the Element, it had aired out somewhat.\u00a0 Somehow, Lupe had, too.\u00a0 She was still no rose garden, but the worst was clearly over.\u00a0 For Lanis and SPHP, sleeping in the Element still wasn’t going to be a treat.\u00a0 With the back loaded with gear, the front seats didn’t recline.\u00a0 Sleeping in the Element always meant sleeping sitting up.<\/p>\n

High up on her pile of blankets and pillows, Lupe curled up and drifted peacefully off to sleep,\u00a0soothed by\u00a0the aromatherapy of the hint of Eau-du-Dead Fish she was still wearing.<\/p>\n

\"Pacific<\/a>
Pacific Ocean<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Next Adventure<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Prior Adventure<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s 2012 West Coast\u00a0Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a> or Master Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 17 of Lupe’s 2012 Dingo Vacation to the West Coast. Once again, Lupe and SPHP were up before Lanis.\u00a0 Lupe soon found the Loop Trail, which runs entirely around the Iron Creek campground, NE of Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.\u00a0 Iron Creek campground is located in an amazing mossy forest of huge Douglas … Continue reading Mt. St. Helens, Dismal Nitch, & the Dead Fish Dingo, Washington (8-24-12)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[429],"tags":[105,522,106,523,26,521,519,525,104,520,524,371,501],"class_list":["post-3570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2012-west-coast","tag-american-dingo","tag-cape-disappointment","tag-carolina-dog","tag-dead-fish-dingo","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-dismal-nitch","tag-iron-creek-campground","tag-lewis-clark","tag-lupe","tag-mt-st-helens","tag-oregon","tag-spirit-lake","tag-washington"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/P1030770.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3570"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20773,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3570\/revisions\/20773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}