Johnston Ridge Observatory

Wow, wow WOW! Come here to get the BEST view of Mt. St. Helens. The park rangers were great and informative as well. We were unable to watch the video but heard it was a great one by other people around. I highly recommending driving all the way up here! We came here twice. Once on a Saturday afternoon which was PACKED. Then on Monday morning which was very quiet and few people. It was much nicer with it being not as busy.
*If you are military, make sure to get a national parks pass (FREE for Military) beforehand and you can use it here for free entrance*

Great views of the volcanic ridge. you can see al the volcano’s from Washington to California. It makes you feel small next to an 80 megaton crater.

Johnston Ridge was a great place to learn about the volcano that literally turned day into night in the state of Washington. It was such a beautiful drive. Once you get off of the interstate and onto to the drive that takes you up the mountain, you get some of the best views you will see in the US! You can also stop and pick some berries on the way!
Once you get there, the views of Mount Saint Helens are incredible. It feels like it’s only been a few years since the volcano erupted. It’s almost an eerie feeling because there is no wildlife there and no plants where the ash and mudslide came down from the eruption.
Not only do I think this is a good place to go for visitors but it’s definitely a place for Washington state locals also. I highly recommend checking it out!

Went here are what seemed to be a beautiful afternoon. The drive up was completely dry, gorgeous, and cloudy. We did have a dog in the car and dogs are not allowed at the top, keep this in mind! It was a very cool afternoon and the dog was fine with food and water in the car.
The observatory has a lot of very interesting information. We spent a long time reading and looking at all the information inside. Not to mention a very interesting video.
The views i am sure are usually stunning but unfortunately it was so cloudy so we couldn’t see much more than the valley floor. So we were very disappointed with the weather but not the observatory. We didn’t enjoy our trip any less. It was all very informative and the ride was just as enjoyable as the end.
For those who enjoy hiking, bring your shoes and plenty of water. There are trails abound from the observatory.

We drive south on Rt. 5 to exit 49 to drive east to Mt. St. Helen’s Johnson Ridge Overlook. We first stop at the visitor center in Silver Lake, and they are very helpful there. We buy a few items that are cheaper here than other visitor centers we’ve seen. We stop for views at several other visitor centers going east, and take photos a few times, and when we get to the end of the 52 mile drive, we find the Johnson visitor center is very crowded and the entry is $ 8 each. We decide not to go in since we’re tired and we can see the view outside.

Johnston Ridge Observatory is the closest visitors center to Mt St Helens named after a guy who was monitoring the mountain in the days before the eruption and was subsequently killed in the blast. It’s about 1 hour drive from the 5 Freeway. The drive is nice and scenic and you drive through much of the blast area and get to see how nature has come back since the eruption.
The center is run by the US Forest Service and there is an admission with includes a number of exhibits and a movie. The movie itself does not focus so much on the eruption itself but more on how the eruption has changed the landscape and how it has effected it since. There is a visitors center near Silver Lake closer to the freeway that focuses more on the eruption itself.
If you get there on a clear day, the view doesn’t get any better. There are some outdoor exhibits and trails nearby. Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area.

Worth the drive. Amazing views!

Last week I made my regular trip to Mt. St. Helens for a hike with my wife and our new little baby. I remember the park charging to enter the Observatory, but I don’t remember them charging to hike! To use any of the trails and around the observatory, you need to pay $ 6. Not cool! But, I guess that is the result of a tough economy.
The Observatory is nice, but small. There are videos and pictures of the explosion and you can read first hand accounts of people who lived in the area. There is also a movie you can attend. It is cool, but you can see everything in a matter of 30 minutes or less.
Don’t waste your time in the observatory. Take a $ 6 hike and see the results of the explosion. It won’t take you very long before you are walking in fields of fallen trees that were ripped down by the blast. If you are a «real» hiker, you can go far enough to see mangled vehicles and logging equipment.
The views are great. Don’t waste too much time inside.

Attention Johnston Ridge Observers please make the following observation:
DO NOT take the rocks around Johnston Ridge Observatory. A park ranger will use his electromagnetic volcano rock absence detection equipment and hunt you down like Walker Texas Ranger.
If he’s sees you holding rocks with intention of making these rocks live someplace other than where Mt. St. Helens placed them he’ll karate chop them out of your hands. Okay, so I made the last part up.
He will tell you each rock is a $ 250 fine.
Innocent mistake of obtaining a souvenir could be costly. Take a photo instead.

For those never witnessed or remembered the eruption at Mt. St. Helens in 1980, a visit to the Johnston Ridge Observatory will amaze you. You will get a spectacular view of Mt. St. Helens. The Johnston Ridge Observatory is 5.5 miles from the crater of Mt. St. Helens. If you choose to go inside the observatory, you will have to pay a fee, but included in the entrance fee is a movie about Mt. St. Helens and there will be an amazing surprise at the end of the movie. Also, the entrance fee to the observatory will let you access trails around Mt. St. Helens. You can take some amazing photos while you’re on the trail too. The amazing thing about the trip to the Johnston Ridge Observatory is that you will witness an enormous amount of destruction all over the area for many miles and miles. You will feel like you’re in another planet and the view of the Mt. St. Helens is more amazing than viewing the Kilauea volcano at Jagger Museum and Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

She’ll be coming ’round the mountain when she comes…
When the weather is more agreeable, get in your car & take a long, long drive to see creation at her finest. Of course, try to go on a clear, sunny day. It’s a little over a 2 hour drive, 100 miles NE from Portland.
At 4200 feet, the observatory appears relatively new, with a decent size museum-​like lobby with a model of the volcanic terrain, before/​after shots, & machines showing ongoing seismic activity. It also has a cool theater with an ILM-​esque movie about the volcano. When the movie ended, the curtains rise to a spectacular view of… fog.
Minus 1 star for nature shrouding the crown jewel in fog. If you can, wait until later in summer when the nearby snow has melted. But still, for a city gal, it was awesome to be outside, enjoy the crisp air, vast forests of trees and valleys, feel immensely tiny, & see glimpses of her greatness, Mt. St. Helen.

Come on Seattle and Portland, this is only an hour or two away!
Maybe I am jaded being from the midwest, and any hill or valley is a mighty impressive thing to me, but this is truly magnificent!
The highlight was when we were standing there on the ridge, looking at Mt. St Helens in the distance (5 miles they say, even though it looks like it is across the street, were there streets between, that is) and a cloud came up over us and obscured everything but what was directly in front of us.
Thats right, we were standing in a cloud. Friggin awesome.

Johnston Ridge is the closest you can get to the volcano by car and treats you to an amazing view when the weather is clear. Currently due to periodic small eruptions there is no hiking allowed up to the mountain itself. This park is an awesome reminder of the power of nature, as well as it’s ability to thrive in hostile environments. The wreckage of the eruption in 1980 is still around with felled trees and a scorched landscape. Yet green also abounds and it’s clear that the forest has retrurned. Left alone this environment will return to it’s pristine beauty and only the trained eye of a geologist will be able to see that something calamitous happened here. Well worth the journey, heck worth making a trip to this section of Washington State all by itself.