Chris Geier / cgeier@chronline.com Visitors make their way back down a long flight of stairs after visiting a look-out point with views of Spirit Lake and Mount St. Helens.
Closed for the winter and long into this summer due to heavy snow pack, Forest Road 99 in the St. Helens National Monument was alive with traffic Friday, as tourists from near and far drove, rode, and walked along the road that has not been open since late September 2010.
“When you’re driving on 99, you can really feel the effect of the eruption,” said Lori Laycoe, who works for a non-profit organization at the park. “There are so many different stops, and at some points you can see all four mountains (St. Helens, Rainier, Adams, and Hood).”
