Today, because I am off for spring break and the only day Dee could take off this week, we were able to visit this no-longer-dormant-volcano on what became a mostly sunny morning and early afternoon. As we turned the corner on hwy. 505 where Helen first is visible, we noticed a plume of steam. This had not been visible when we looked at the web volcano cam earlier in the morning before heading south.
By the time we got to Coldwater Lake, the plume continued upwards. We decided to go all the way to Johnson's Point, but were stopped by an "area closed" gate about two miles along. We pulled into the Hummock Trail parking lot and hiked inwards for about a mile getting closer to Helen, but were never able to get a clear view into the caldera. Nonetheless, seeing her vent gave us a thrill. It also made us realize that anything could happen. As we were walking, I got to an area where a sound made me jump. I looked about thinking that a lizard, bird, or small mammal might have been startled. There was no sign of any little critters around. I proceeded along the path and after discussing it, we think that we may have experienced a very small earthquake.
I don't know if I'll ever know. I'll try to find out if there were tremors on the mountain which saw a lot of geologists' activity via helicopter while we were there. As we got to the hummocks trail, we noticed them carrying some piece of equipment up toward the crater. About 20 minutes later, the chopper returned sans trailing machinery.
We noted three more trips out and returns. On a couple of those trips, we spied the helicopter circling over the dome and rim of the crater. This had to be some serious developments for the scientists to be that actively busy up there. That would lend credence to the earthquake theory.
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