From Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument:

The Johnston Ridge Observatory will reopen for the season on Sunday, May 17. The visitor center will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through October. Admission to Johnston Ridge and Coldwater Lake is $8 per person, kids 15 and under are free.

The reopening of State Route 504 and Johnston Ridge will restore access to a monument that has been largely inaccessible due to roads blocked by snow.
Visitors will be able to gaze into the crater and view North America’s youngest glacier and learn how the landscape was reshaped by the 1980 eruption. The visitor center offers live seismographs, geologic exhibits, 16-minute eruption movie, ranger-talks, and bookstore.

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Hurricane Ridge Road at Olympic National Park is scheduled to open for the summer season Thursday. If the weather allows, the road will be open seven days a week and 24 hours a day from May 7 through Nov. 1.

Nearly 90 inches of snow still blankets Hurricane Ridge however, and snow showers are predicted this week, so visitors should call the park’s Road and Weather Hotline at 360-565-3131 or stop by the Olympic National Park Visitor Center for current information about road and weather conditions. The visitor center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Travelers need to be aware that the Hood Canal Bridge is closed for another five-plus weeks. They will need to find an alternative route around the closure.

Hurricane Ridge is located 17 miles south of Port Angeles at an elevation of 5,242 feet.

Click here for information about visiting Hurricane Ridge. You can find it within the “Plan Your Visit” section.

Razor clam fans may get two more days of digging this season.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife said if marine toxin tests are favorable, Long Beach and Twin Harbors will open Saturday and Sunday, while Copalis and Mocrocks will open Saturday only. Kalaloch Beach remains closed.

The final decision will be announced once test results show whether the clams are safe to eat.

The following digs are tentatively scheduled on morning tides, with no digging allowed after noon.

The low tide times are: Saturday, 7:23 a.m., -1.2 feet, and Sunday, 8:02 a.m., -1.2 feet.

Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager, said the department was able to offer one more dig because there are sufficient clams remaining in the total allowable catch for those beaches.

The Mount St. Helens Institute has announced that Bill Nye, the Science Guy, will be on hand May 16 to help celebrate the season opening of the Johnston Ridge Observatory at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.

Nye’s appearance is part of “It’s a Blast: Volcano Science in Your Backyard!” Acitivities will be held throughout the day. Nye is scheduled to give a presenation from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. There also will be guided walks, presentations by monument scientists and a silent auction.

Tickets are $10 per person, children 8 and under are free, or $35 per person for admission that includes the Nye presentation. Proceeds will support the new “Feel the Pulse of an Active Volcano” exhibit which is in development and will be introduced in May 2010.

Click here for tickets.