And we're off

The next morning we shuffled things around in the car and loaded up Darcy’s bags. We were off to Mount St. Helens. Darcy’s friends, Nick and Brian, were going to meet us in Cougar by the southern entrance to the park. We drove back down the I-5 and off into the hills. At the Mount St. Helens Visitors Center we got our first good glimpse of the mountain. The volcano erupted in 1980 so it’s been 26 years. Most of the trees seemed new growth but honestly, I found it hard to tell. Everything was green and beautiful. Then we turned around and continued our way to Cougar. We wound through back roads until we hit a small town. We had found our destination; a sculpture of a cougar (!) stands outside of the local grocery store/gas station. Nick and Brian were already there waiting for us so we loaded up on beer and fire wood for camping that night and continued on to the ape caves, a lava tunnel created when the volcano erupted. Along the way, we passed hunters in full-on camo clothes and painted faces. It was making us a little nervous about camping that night so at the ape caves we asked the ranger whether we’d be safe. “Oh yes,” he says, “as long as you stay at a campsite.” “Great,” says Darcy and turns around. Then she turns back, “hey. What are they hunting?” “Around this time of year?” he answers, “just bear.” Great. Forget the hunters. Now we have to worry about bears.
The ape caves were cold and long and dark. It was interesting at first but we only got half way before we decided to turn around and find our campsite. And of course, I scraped my foot up in the process. (Almost a week later, the scrape has only gotten worse. It’s hard to keep things clean while camping. I’m determined to take care of it from now on…).

We found a free campsite that night. It was called Miller Lake. There were only about 6 sites and it sat on a small clear lake, surrounded by mountains. We built a fire and watched the sun dip down. Next morning it was into the lake for a bath. Yes, it was cold (think Sebago in early June). Yes, we all went in.