Mount St. Helens Johnston Ridge Observatory will remain inaccessible until at least 2026 as the state focuses on permanent repairs to the damaged Spirit Lake Highway that leads to the site.
Kelly Hanahan, a Washington State Department of Transportation spokesperson, shared news of the delay in a Wednesday statement to The Olympian.
“We know that is deeply disappointing to many in the community,” Hanahan said.
WSDOT had optimistically anticipated the public could access the observatory in 2024 via a temporary bypass road, she said.
However, a culvert failed in November and water eroded the bypass road. The department considered repairing the bypass road but ultimately decided to pivot its efforts toward a permanent solution, Hanahan said.
“Additional temporary solutions would significantly increase cost and delay the overall timeline of delivering the long-term permanent restoration of the roadway and are also at risk of failure like the first,” Hanahan said.
In May 2023, a massive landslide significantly damaged the highway, also known as state Route 504, near milepost 49 and released debris into South Coldwater Creek. The incident, now known as the South Coldwater Slide, effectively cut off the only means of reaching Johnston Ridge Observatory.
WSDOT employed contractors to stabilize the slope and clean the site in June 2023, The Olympian previously reported. The agency also had the bypass road constructed to provide administrative and emergency access to the observatory.
The road was used to return seven stranded vehicles, Hanahan said.
The permanent solution likely won’t be complete until the latter part of 2026, Hanahan said, because WSDOT needs to go through a phased process to plan, design, assess, permit and construct the fix.
Additionally, Hanahan said this portion of the highway is typically inaccessible for about six months of any given year due to high elevations and harsh winter weather.
While the roadway may be fixed before the end of 2026, that doesn’t mean Johnston Ridge Observatory will reopen then.
Hanahan said the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey have their own timelines for restoring electricity and fiber optic connections to the observatory.
“We appreciate the patience of each person who closely values the progress of this restoration of SR 504 and the associated effects to tourism near Mount St. Helens and in Southwest Washington,” Hanahan said.
Gala Miller, a U.S. Forest Service public affairs officer, said the observatory may not reopen until spring 2027 because it’s typically closed in the winter anyway.
“The Johnston observatory is currently sitting unelectrified, no heat, no systems functioning,” Miller said. “So, there’s a big question mark for us when a facility like that sits for that long period of time without electricity.”
Miller said the U.S. Forest Service will likely allow the public to access currently inaccessible areas along the roadway soon after the washed-out area is permanently repaired.
Until then, Miller said the public should avoid the washed-out area. She said the dynamic landscape may prove dangerous, especially during snow and rain.
State Route 504 remains closed between mileposts 45.2 and 51 until further notice, according to the U.S. Forest Service website.
In the meantime, the public can still access the following visitor centers, trails and viewpoints around the volcano:
