Spirit Lake Area Hiking
- oldandslow
- Posts: 175
- Joined: August 22nd, 2012, 12:47 pm
Spirit Lake Area Hiking
A little over 60 years ago, when I was in high school, I hiked to Panhandle Lake with two friends. We hiked along Spirit Lake and over Bear Pass. Some photos of the hike have survived.
We crossed Harmony Falls about two miles into the hike.
From the end of Spirit Lake, there was a nice view of Mt. St. Helens.
Not far from the lake we passed the Sweden Mine. The site of the mine is now below the surface of Spirit Lake.
There was another good view of Mt. St. Helens from Norway Pass.
I did a lot of hiking around Spirit Lake and I really miss the beautiful area that it was.Re: Spirit Lake Area Hiking
*sigh* Those photos look so idyllic. Thanks for posting them!
It's sad to think of what was lost, but what remains is still a fascinating, unique area to explore.
It's sad to think of what was lost, but what remains is still a fascinating, unique area to explore.
Hannah
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.
-- T.S. Eliot
- retired jerry
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Re: Spirit Lake Area Hiking
Wow! Thanks for the pictures.
I spent a summer and the Boy Scout Camp and did the hike up through Norway Pass, around Mt Margaret, back to the other end of the lake. 1971
I wonder when Mt St Helens will look like that again?
I spent a summer and the Boy Scout Camp and did the hike up through Norway Pass, around Mt Margaret, back to the other end of the lake. 1971
I wonder when Mt St Helens will look like that again?
- weathercrazy
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Re: Spirit Lake Area Hiking
I love these type of old pics...they way it used to be.
Tyler Mode
http://www.naturespixpdx.com
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- IDratherbehiking
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Re: Spirit Lake Area Hiking
Thank you for sharing these great photos, oldandslow!
Welcome to the site.
Welcome to the site.
Re: Spirit Lake Area Hiking
I love the old pictures and adjusted a newer picture:
It is hard to tell when comparing the pre-1980 picture and the recent picture, that Spirit Lake moved north and that its surface is now 60 meters higher than pre-eruption. If anything, it looks to me as if the lake moved closer to Mt St Helens.Some people are really fit at eighty; thankfully I still have many years to get into shape…
- Dustin DuBois
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Re: Spirit Lake Area Hiking
I agree, it does look closer. There are those two knuckles of land in front of the mountain. In the old pic, they're both behind the lake. In the new pic, the lake is around the front knuckle and up against the back knuckle.Peder wrote:It is hard to tell when comparing the pre-1980 picture and the recent picture, that Spirit Lake moved north and that its surface is now 60 meters higher than pre-eruption. If anything, it looks to me as if the lake moved closer to Mt St Helens.
Hi!
- Splintercat
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Re: Spirit Lake Area Hiking
You've got a good eye, Dustin!
I miss the old Spirit Lake, too. I don't spend much time up there, now... still sad about what was lost, though glad I lived to see a major Cascade eruption with my own eyes.
Imagine the top 1/3 of Mount Hood blown off, obliterating Elk Cove, Cairn Basin, McNeil Point and even Barrett Spur, and leaving a gaping lateral crater as the backdrop to a completely altered Lost Lake, where the trees have been erased and everything is covered in ten feet of ash and pumice... and that's what it's like to lose Spirit Lake.
(though in reality, Hood is unlikely to have that kind of eruption... and the south side is most likely where the force of the blast would go... geo-nerd footnote...)
Nice pics - expecially of Harmony Falls! Thanks for posting.
Tom
I miss the old Spirit Lake, too. I don't spend much time up there, now... still sad about what was lost, though glad I lived to see a major Cascade eruption with my own eyes.
Imagine the top 1/3 of Mount Hood blown off, obliterating Elk Cove, Cairn Basin, McNeil Point and even Barrett Spur, and leaving a gaping lateral crater as the backdrop to a completely altered Lost Lake, where the trees have been erased and everything is covered in ten feet of ash and pumice... and that's what it's like to lose Spirit Lake.
(though in reality, Hood is unlikely to have that kind of eruption... and the south side is most likely where the force of the blast would go... geo-nerd footnote...)
Nice pics - expecially of Harmony Falls! Thanks for posting.
Tom
- oldandslow
- Posts: 175
- Joined: August 22nd, 2012, 12:47 pm
Re: Spirit Lake Area Hiking
This is sort of like the guy on the TV infomercial who has offered his product and all sorts of accessories at an incredibly low price and then says, "Wait there's more." There is more.
In July 1979 my three kids and I hiked the Mt. Margaret loop. By the time we got to Mt. Margaret, the youngest was really dragging so we stopped and set up camp. We got water from a snow melt and enjoyed one of our most scenic camp spots, little suspecting that by the next summer it all would be dramaticly different.
In July 1979 my three kids and I hiked the Mt. Margaret loop. By the time we got to Mt. Margaret, the youngest was really dragging so we stopped and set up camp. We got water from a snow melt and enjoyed one of our most scenic camp spots, little suspecting that by the next summer it all would be dramaticly different.
Re: Spirit Lake Area Hiking
Thanks so much for posting those. So beautiful. And still is, just in a dramatically different way.
Hannah
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.
-- T.S. Eliot