Needless to say Mount Saint Helens is pretty cool to see and the visitors center at Johnston Point is interested (especially if you already have the national parks pass to make it free, otherwise it’s a bit pricey).

After checking out the visitors center we went to Coldwater Lake, which was formed by the Mount Saint Helen’s eruption back when my parents were young. They had actually planned on camping at the mountain and watching the smoke when it was going to erupt. That’s what some other campers did and their stories are told in the visitor center (the ones that survived anyway) and sound pretty horrific. I’m glad my great grandma told them absolutely not (and that they actually listened).

I had just been reading (at the campsite) about how colorful flowers are going to grow and point towards the south and was able to see that on this little island in the lake, where the flowers only grew on one side (the southern side). I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t just read about it and been looking, so that was fun. 

Kaya decided not too long into the paddle she needed to nurse NOW (not the first time she’s done that…) so Alex paddled us while I fed Kaya and checked out the beautiful scenary.

We didn’t go very far since Kaya was being clingy (though otherwise happy) and not letting me paddle frequently. All and all though it was still a nice trip and fun to check out the hints of the volcanic eruption over 35 years ago, on the lake that didn’t even exist prior to the erruption.