A Ghostly Forest

So Saturday my friend Michael and I went to photograph the standing dead zone of trees at Mt. St. Helens. For those not in the know, the standing dead zone is a ring of trees surrounding the blast zone from the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens that were killed by the intense heat of the blast cloud, but after the cloud itself had lost enough energy that it couldn't blow them over. Now they stand, forlorn sentinals of the power of nature, both to destroy and to create. So what better than that inspiration to motivate a photo trip?

We got there, and decided to hike the closed road to Windy Ridge (which is closed due to road washouts). We hiked 3 miles in (it's 11 miles to the Windy Ridge viewpoint) to the blast zone, and timed it just right to have the sun at a nice low angle when we got there, so we got lots of cool shadows on the standing dead forest, as well as on the forest being reborn from the ashes of the old. Fall color is already starting to come out and the wildflowers are just at the tail end, still saw Lupine, Indian Paintbrush, Fireweed, and Pearly Everlasting. After we hiked in (taking photos the whole way) we stopped for food and then explored the forest alongside the road as the sun set and the moon rose in all it's brilliance. The moon was literally so bright that we could see just fine without headlamps or flashlights. So we took a few long exposures until our batteries were dead or near dead, and began the long walk back, lit by the moon and some headlamps and flashlights.

Along the way, we saw 7 Western Toads camped out on the road, absorbing the last heat of the day. We stopped to photo the first couple but after that it was just a counting marathon! We also were amazed to be standing on the road when a large owl silently glided right over us, the only reason we even saw it was because of the near full moon.

Gorgeous afternoon light on the remnants of the standing dead forest

The standing dead forest with new growth (HDR image)
The light of the moon was brilliant enough to illuminate the trees

Western Toad hunkering in between the 2 yellow paint stripes in the center of the road

So it was a very fun trip, one of the few times I've ever been to Mt. St. Helens without the goal being to actually GO to the mountain. It was fun and I can't wait to go again!