I’d say that was one of my generation’s Major Natural Events. It goes right up there with Comet Hale Bopp, and the Northridge Quake of ’94. Now that we’re in Washington, Eric and I wanted to visit the historical monument. More info about the eruption in detail here. Here’s a link for the volcano cams.
Where were you when this event went down? I can remember hearing all about it for weeks. I was living in SoCal then, and it was a huge deal here on the West Coast – actually all over the world. For our visit, we picked a weekday to beat the crowds. Unfortunately, we had no pull with the weather, so we rolled with what was dealt. We met Eric’s friend Brad from Portland at one of the lower elevation visitor centers, then continued up in one car to Johnston Ridge, THE spot to see the volcano.
One the way we stopped at I’d say the best place to eat on the Spirit Lake Memorial Hwy: Eco Park Resort . They have horseback riding, cabins to rent, fishing and the only helicopter tour of the volcano. When we got there, the owner Mark Smith was sitting at one of the tables, working on his laptop. No, the place wasn’t busy…yet. But he went out of his way to make us feel welcome. He has pretty good food, and homemade pies, including marionberry. This girl was a super happy camper because he also had macha green tea (in the woods? you got it!). He told us that they had just tested some off road equipped Segues, and will have them available soon. You heard it here first: Segue St Helens (Mark called it that). His gift shop as HAND MADE items, not that plasticy crap from overseas…
We continued up the road, our hope fading to get a look at the peak as the clouds grew thicker.
Highlighted facts from our visit:
-Spirit Lake, which was a large lake, was ‘dispersed’ by the mudslide and created several smaller lakes.
– All animals, except amphibians which were hidden under the snow, perished.
– The mountain is home to one of the only glaciers which is growing.
– No everyone heard the explosion. The sound wave bounced off the ground, then up against the bottom of the earth’s atmosphere and back again several times. People close by only saw the effects, but didn’t hear it. Can you imaging seeing all those trees just blow over from the blast but not know why?
Some photo highlights:
Top image – Looking towards the volcano – the Toutle River Valley. Completely changed. Filled in about 600-700 ft of volcanic dirt and mud, burying forests.
Bottom – the base of the caldera.
Some alpine flowers: foxglove and asters.
And the best view of the volcano all day:
About fifteen minutes later, the rain came down in earnest and all we saw was white.
I’d go back again just for the view.