Dead trees, barren landscape mark path of destruction
The white below the blue is a beach of bleached logsCopyright 2007 Lydia Hinshaw
FLORENCE, OR -- Saturday's wandering took us to a place in Washington called Windy Ridge, which offered a view of Mount St. Helens, site of an infamous and destructive volcanic eruption in May of 1980.
From a towering, thick canopy of giant evergreens, we drove into an desolate area where the oldest living trees -- and there aren't many of of them -- are 27 years old.
From an overlook, we saw Spirit lake, where thousands of bleached out tree trunks still lie crowded against the shore.
At the end of the road, a barren and exposed spot, there are 400 steps leading upward to yet another viewpoint. But Windy Ridge was living up to its name Saturday. The breeze was too much for us. A group of teenagers off a bus, some of them in shorts and sandals, gamely started climbing the steps as we retreated to the warmth of the car and headed south, ending our day on the coast of Oregon.
Sunday we drove farther down the beach, to Florence, a town we particularly liked when we visited last year. The historic hotel where we stayed had a room for us -- the same room we had a year ago.
From a towering, thick canopy of giant evergreens, we drove into an desolate area where the oldest living trees -- and there aren't many of of them -- are 27 years old.
From an overlook, we saw Spirit lake, where thousands of bleached out tree trunks still lie crowded against the shore.
At the end of the road, a barren and exposed spot, there are 400 steps leading upward to yet another viewpoint. But Windy Ridge was living up to its name Saturday. The breeze was too much for us. A group of teenagers off a bus, some of them in shorts and sandals, gamely started climbing the steps as we retreated to the warmth of the car and headed south, ending our day on the coast of Oregon.
Sunday we drove farther down the beach, to Florence, a town we particularly liked when we visited last year. The historic hotel where we stayed had a room for us -- the same room we had a year ago.
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