On May 18, 1980, at 8:32am, Mt. St. Helens changed it's complexion in a big way. With a blast 20,000 times greater than that of the Hiroshima bomb, an entire side of the mountain slid down in the greatest landslide in recorded history. The interior lava was then exposed to lower pressure, creating a magnificent explosion upward, and sending pyroclastic flows of hot gas and ash traveling down the mountain in excess of 600 mph, leveling everything in its path for miles outward. The ash fall fell over seven states. Giant mud slides called lahars rushed downward also, realigning the landscape as they went. 57 people died that morning, along with almost all wildlife within the blast zone which stretched many miles from the crater. 200 houses, 27 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highways were erased. The whole devastation was over in less than 10 minutes. I am glad I wasn't there to see it.
I was uneasy being there 33 years after the blast. My uneasiness increased when I learned the mountain has continued to have minor eruptions since the big blast of 1980. The most recent eruption to date was in 2008. This was too close for my comfort. Worse still, the volunteer asked me to train my binoculars on the lava dome in the crater, where I would see steam rising. I indeed saw it. Unsettling.
Much is made of the rebirth after the blast, and there is a lot of new growth. Kathy and I enjoyed the wild flowers and the new trees, (largely replanted by a local paper company). In general, my overall take on the visit was awe at the power of nature to destroy, and then to rebuild. Here are a few pictures from our visit....
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