Toutle — The upper portion of the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway will reopen to the public Saturday.
The Washington State Department of Transportation and the U.S. Forest Service coordinated to get the road to Johnston Ridge Observatory open in time for the annual May 18 event that commemorates the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption.
WSDOT closes the upper portion of the highway every winter near Coldwater Lake because of poor driving conditions. This winter, it closed Dec. 1.
