Windy Ridge - Mount St. Helens

Sometimes, less is more. There are wonderful trails beyond the end of Windy Ridge, but the 4-mile ramble from the end of the drivable road to the end of the old ash-blasted logging road offers some of the finest views you'll find in the entire Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. This makes a fabulous late-afternoon hike, as you can enjoy the setting sun be-hind the jagged crown of the big volcano. From the Windy Ridge trailhead parking area, walk south to the gate that marks the southern end of the parking lot, and walk down the old logging road. This road was used by people fleeing the eruption, and prior to 1980 it was used by loggers who pulled the massive old trees from the once-rich forest that filled this region. Today, many of those same trees can be found along the old road-turned-trail-no longer as towering cathedral forests, but instead as massive matchsticks. The explosive superheated winds that came out of the eruption laid all the mighty trees down neatly and perfectly arranged, all side-by-side. All point the same direction (directly away from the source of the blast), and most were instantly stripped of all limbs and even bark, leaving a forest of silver logs stacked along the ridgeline. Beyond this horizontal forest, the Windy Ridge Trail provides unmatched views across the blast plain and right into the gaping maw of the Mount St. Helens crater. As you walk the ridge, you can look right into the mountain's heart. At the end of the road, where the single-track trail takes over, turn back for the trailhead.