Norway Pass - Mt. St. Helens - Aug 30 2009 words and photos by Sharon Bader and Lee Lau unless otherwise noted.

Aug 28 - Juniper Ridge || Aug 29 - Ape Canyon || Aug 30 - Norway Pass

Day three is the drive home day which leaves us a short ride option. We wanted to stay away from the Moto trails and were told by one of the guys we saw on Ape Canyon that Norway Pass off Hwy 99 is a nice out and back with great views of Mt. St. Helens and Spirit Lake. So that's what we did!

The Norway Pass trailhead off Hwy 26 which is also where the Boundary trail to Bear Meadows starts.

The volvo glistening in the mid morning sun.

Norway Pass is Trail 227 which leads to the ridge above Spirit Lake which will take you to the blast zone where you are not allowed to bike...

Our day was 7.5km, 275m of climbing in 2 and a half hours.

The trail starts climbing through the trees that are coming back quite thick after almost 30 years since the blast.

Climb Climb Climb.

Always up through the gullies that showed varying degrees of devastation since there was snow on the ground when the Volcano blew protecting some of the younger trees.

Trevor nearing the top.

View of Meta Lake and Hwy 99. This forest survived the blast since it was under snow on that fateful day.

Meta Lake.

At the top of Norway Pass heading towards Independance Pass you have a great view of Spirit Lake and Mt. St. Helens.

and time for raaaannnniiiiieeerrr beeeeeeeeeer.

Lunch time.

Not a bad place to hang out for awhile.

Riding back down Norway Pass.

There was a crushed metal canistor near where I took this picture... probably a victem of the blast.

Back down the lush section of Norway Pass that didn't avoid all the turmoil as this tree is falling over the trail.

Duck Chris!

Coming around the corner.

Sharon.

Back at our campsite we go for a dip in Cispus River to clean up before our 5 hour drive back to Vancouver.

Casual riding!

Google Earth Image of Norway Pass in Green. The Red track is from the Ape Canyon ride yesterday.

google earth is cool.

Map of the area from the guide

Map.

Norway - Independence Pass from Lee Lau on Vimeo.

Aug 28 - Juniper Ridge || Aug 29 - Ape Canyon || Aug 30 - Norway Pass

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