Mount St Helens Visitor Center

Renovation closure

The Mount St Helens Visitor Center is closed for renovations through May 30th, 2025. The Visitor Center will reopen to the public on May 31st at 9 am.

Group tours

Visitor Center parking lot, plaza, walking trails, and bathrooms are currently open. Please contact park staff at (360) 274-0962 or Silver.Lake@parks.wa.gov if you are planning a tour. To visit the center after reopening, please follow the steps to obtain a Commercial Use Permit to register your group.

School trips

Thank you for your interest in visiting the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center. The facility has been closed for a large-scale exhibit renovation. When we reopen May 31st, 2025, there will be new exhibits and a new feature film. 

All school programs/visits must complete the registration form. Click here to download the registration form (PDF, 112KB). Thank you in advance.

In-person visits after reopening

In-person group field trips available at Seaquest State Park per request. With inclement weather anticipated, programs may occur in the day-use covered shelter. Due to available space, programs are limited to 45 people, this includes students and chaperones/teachers. Please contact us to schedule an in-person field trip. The experience has two options:

Option 1: A ranger talk about Mount St. Helens or Forest Ecology with props and open session for questions or an interactive activity. This is a 30-45-minute experience.

Option 2: A guided walk along a half-mile trail at Seaquest State Park about Forest Ecology or the Wetland Haven Trail located across the road from Mount St. Helens Visitor Center. This is a 1-hour experience, which may be altered with impending inclement weather.

In-person field trips to the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center are available after May 30th, 2025. This includes access to our new exhibits and films, a half-mile walking trail and 20-minute ranger talk, per request. We follow a 5:1 ratio of students to adults and waive the fee for students completing an assignment during their visit.

Outdoor field trip assignments

We have partnered with the Mount St. Helens Institute to design a new opportunity for school groups, a self-guided excursion on our 0.6-mile accessible Wetland Haven Trail. Follow this link to learn more: Landscapes of Change: Free curriculum for the Washington State Parks Mount St. Helens Visitor Center.

Teachers are welcome to download the pre-trip activities, student journal pages, the facilitator activity guide and the post-trip activity. Please contact us directly if you have any questions or would like to check out supplies to support your field trip.

Indoor field trip assignments

Pre-visit lesson, grades K-2 (PDF, 96KB)

Activity sheet, grades K-2 (PDF, 346KB)

Pre-visit lesson, grades 3-5 (PDF, 310KB)

Activity sheet, grades 3-5 (PDF, 223KB)

Pre-visit lesson, middle and high school (PDF, 82KB)

Activity sheet, middle school (PDF, 247KB)

Activity sheet, high school (PDF, 314KB)

Hours of Operation

The Visitor Center is open 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., seven days a week beginning May 31st, 2025.  See Hours of Operation for complete information.

Neighboring visitor centers

Located at milepost 33 is the Forest Learning Center operated by Weyerhaeuser. For additional information, visit Weyerhaeuser’s Mount St. Helens webpage.

U.S. Forest Service operates The Science and Learning Center at milepost 43. For additional information, visit The Science and Learning Center’s webpage.

The Mount St. Helens Institute is a nonprofit partner that operates school programs, events and rentals at the Science and Learning Center. For more information, visit the Mount St. Helens Institute website or email info@mshinstitute.org.

Due to a landslide in May 2023, the Johnston Ridge Observatory is closed until road repairs are completed in 2027. They are not accepting school visits at this time. Johnston Ridge Observatory operated by the U.S. Forest Service is located at the end of highway 504. For more information about their facility, please visit the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument site. 

Overnight accommodations

Connected by a short pedestrian tunnel is Seaquest State Park. Reserve a campsite, group camp or yurt to enjoy more of the area. 

Amenities

The park offers Wi-Fi service, in limited coverage areas. For more information, visit our Wi-Fi in the Parks page.