Broken Top Mountain

The "Volcano Tour" is picking up steam, so to speak, with another batch of snow capped peaks. They are all volcanoes and one can't help wondering when the next one is going to erupt. Without being a vulcanologist, I would hazard to guess that Broken Top isn't likely to be next, since it has clearly blown its top already.

The towns closest to Mt. St Helens are quite depressed, due perhaps in part, to the fact that the rivers on which they stand were nearly wiped out by raging silt/gas/steam/ash boiling down from the mountain in a two hundred foot high wall. Although there is disagreement as to whether he resulting devastation should be under the jurisdiction of The Department of Agriculture or the Department of the Interior, there seems to be general agreement that it should be left alone to regenerate itself. Despite the fact that it is a fifty mile drive to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, there are very few places to stay overnight. The one restaurant near our motel (with a sweeping view of a big rig parking lot) closed at 6pm.

Bend, Oregon, where we are currently staying on the Eastern side of the Cascades is surrounded by volcanic Peaks--Broken Top, Mt Jefferson, Mt Washington, The Three Sisters and The Husband and Mt Bachelor, to name a few. The dense forest of the rainy West side has given way to high desert. It is a thriving town full of young people, actively pursuing all kinds of outdoor activities--skiing, snowboarding, kayaking on the Deschutes River, hiking fishing and running. The town is full of breweries, outdoor clothing stores, restaurants and cafes run by fresh faced, polite and friendly young people.

We didn't quite make it to Sparks Lake, a short drive out of town, due to snow on the road at 6,500', but we did cross the snow and climb over a large log for an uninterrupted view of the presidents, the sisters, the bachelor and the husband--all seemed peaceful and serene, the bachelor and the husband coexisting quietly with the sisters for now. It is hard to believe that these mountains, so solid and majestic looking, are all conduits into the earth's crust and could suddenly turn into a raging inferno.