We liked the Mt St Helens area quite a bit. It was a pleasing combination of active volcano and plenty of things to do. The easiest access to Mt St Helens is to the west. And since we stayed on the east and south sides we rarely saw other people either driving or hiking.

We both began and ended our trip in this area. That's just a trip-planning quirk I have -- I like to have the feeling of returning to familiar territory when travelling.

Lodging
The first two nights we stayed in Government Mineral Springs Guard Station . It'a a nice renovated cabin -- 3 rooms downstairs including a kitchen, 2 bedrooms upstairs. No electricity, but it has propane gas for the stove and the lighting. So when it gets dark, you go around the house and light the gas lighting -- definitely a retro experience. And there's pots & pans in the kitchen and dishes. No running water, though. So it's handy to have a child who can go down the the creek to fetch water -- luckily, I got one. Remote, unique, and well furnished. Recommended

The last two nights we stayed in a tourist auto court built in the first half of the 20th century. Sandhill Cottages was historic and charming. The innkeep, Jay, is also your barista -- serving up great coffee roasted right there on the premises. It's in a good location for exploring Mt St Helens or the Columbia Gorge. Recommended

Mt St Helens
Enough about the digs, what's there to do? Since Mt St Helens has been active lately, the Forest Service has restricted where folks can go. But unless you're the hardcore climing type, it's not going to affect your trip much. We drove up Windy Ridge and hiked down to Spirit Lake via the Harmony Landing trail. I didn't realize that Spirit Lake still has thousands of floating trees from the 1980 eruption. And the trees prevent you from actually getting to the shoreline of Spirit Lake. But the views are breathtaking and the hike's a good chance to stretch your legs. Continued driving up the mountain and turned around at Windy Ridge. There's a strange feeling that you have looking at the steaming crater of a volcano. And up close, that feelign gets stranger. I wouldn't call it fear, but I wouldn't call it relaxing either. Worth going there yourself to find out what to call that feeling. Recommended

Ape Cave
Named after the scout troop that discovered it, Ape Cave is a long lava tube you can hike. Unlike caves in the east (that go up and down and everywhichway) a lava tube is like a big subway tunnel -- fairly straight and large except where the ceiling has fallen in. We rented a lantern at the ranger station and hiked the upper cave. We passed one group, but otherwise we had the cave to ourselves. And yes, it was very dark. No bats, though. Highly Recommended

Ice Cave
The Gifford Pinchot National Forest surrounds Mt St Helens and extends over a large area in that part of Washington. We decided to forego driving the Columbia Gorge to do a bit more exploring in the nat'l forest. In particular, the ice cave. Like Ape Cave and the other caves in the area, it's a lava tube. Because of its elevation, this one has ice in it year round. Unfortunately, it'd been a dry summer and all the ice that was to be found would easily fit in the ice-maker tray of your freezer. It indeed was there -- and thus Ice Cave lived up to its name. But the cave itself is smallish and not nearly as impressive as Ape Cave. Eh