A Long Ago Trip to The Mountains

Here is the story, at least what I can remember of it, of a little trip my dad and I took up to Mt St Helens on his motorcycle in 1972.I believe it was late summer and I was probably about 13 or 14 years old at the time. My dad loved taking his motorcycle and driving the logging roads of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest around Mt St Helens.

Looking back, I recall being a little reluctant to go on this trip. I was a young teenager and of course I had so many more important things to do. lol! In the end though, I had grown up going on these type of family trips all over the western United States and the pull of being in the outdoors was just too great. I find now I have the same love as my parents did for road trips and the outdoors but prefer taking top down, doors off Jeep drives in the hills as opposed to using a motorcycle. :)

Me overlooking Swift Reservoir with Mt St Helens in the background. Our first stop of the trip as we enter the GP National Forest. At this point in time logging was still king as you can see by the huge load of logs coming out of the forest.

Another view of the mountain a little further up the road as we head north. This shot was before the 1980 eruption of St Helens that took of the top 1300 feet off the mountain. My dad had always wanted to climb this mountain so part of this journey was a scouting trip to the east side to look for a route.

Me and Mt Adams.

My dad and Mt Adams.

A couple shots looking east toward Mt Adams. I had no idea at the time but some 40 odd years later I would end up living near the base of Mt Adams in a small town on the south side called Trout Lake.

A view of cloud covered Mt Rainier to the north.

Mt St Helens.

So my dad finally made it to the top some 20 years later in his late sixties, early seventies. Of course the mountain was about 1300 feet lower than in this view, but still no less of an accomplishment. Now in my early sixties I find myself with a calling to scale a peak. Like father, like sun I guess. :)

35mm slides taken by my father (except where noted) with an unknown camera. Scanned by me with a PowerSlide 5000 using VueScan x64 software. There is also some Lightroom editing applied by me.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your day!