Oct 6 - Mt. St. Helens

We had asked several people about what to expect at Mt. St. Helens. We knew the volcano had erupted and killed several people. We remembered the cloud of ash that came to Alabama as a result of the eruption but we didn’t know anything about the park. We were surprised when we asked 6 different people in Kelso about the park and not one person had been to the park. They didn’t know how long we should plan or what to expect. Amazing since Kelso is about 10 miles south of the main road to the park. As we were on our way to the park, I noticed a sign about the “Harry Truman Monument.” We didn’t have time to find it but we wondered why they had a monument to President Truman. We stopped at the first welcome center and watched a short, very informative, film. I learned that the word volcano was taken from Vulcan the Greek god of fire. We also learned that the mountain erupted in May 1980, killing 57 and leaving dozens more missing and presumed dead. Among the missing and presumed dead was 81 year old, HARRY TRUMAN, who was the owner of Spirit Lake Lodge. He had refused to evacuate, saying that he had lived with the mountain for 80 years and wasn’t going to leave. Spirit Lake was one of the major areas of devastation. That is when we realized that the monument designation we saw earlier was not to PRESIDENT Harry Truman but rather was in recognition of Harry Truman, who loved the mountain. In 1981 congress established Mt. St. Helens national monument and decreed there would be NO salvage and NO re-forestation in order for the area to be studied by scientist to determine the re-creation of nature. Through this designation, scientist would learn that some plants and some animals had survived the total devastation (being in holes in the ground, under ice, or even in rotten logs.) As we left the first welcome station, we got our first glance at the crater. It looked as I imagined, a mountain without a top. As we started up toward the observatory, we saw what we thought was a river bed and we commented that this area must have really had a serious drought since there was little, if any, water. We later learned that this was the Toutle River basin but the eruption covered the river with rock, lava and mud that is 600 feet deep in some places and it BURIED the river! In fact, the lava heated the river water into steam and, in some places, craters erupted and formed ponds in the previous river bed. As we got to the observatory we saw the total devastation. The land looked like the moon surface and we realized that the mountain did not have a real crater. The entire side of the mountain was blown away. This created the largest mud slide in recorded history. As you can see from the pictures, there are trees which were leveled in the blast but did not burn. The ranger explained that the heat was so intense, 600 degrees, that it took all of the oxygen from the air. Oxygen is required for fire; therefore the trees did not burn – they were cooked! Even as we saw the complete devastation, we also saw the new life. There were trees growing with huge pine cones and there were some wildflowers throughout the area. We also learned that the previous river bed has become a winter habitat for a large herd of elk. We could see them through a huge binocular but could not get pictures so James had his picture made with the sculpture at the observatory. One of the interesting areas, and the proof of regeneration, was our last stop at Castle Lake. This lake didn’t exist prior to the eruption. The debris blocked the outlets of small streams and, over time, this beautiful lake was formed. From devastation to new life. Another great day.