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Destination was
Mount St. Helens - home of one smouldering volcano.
After one trip down on Sunday with overcast
weather - we travelled again on Wednesday afternoon having
checked the
Mount St. Helens Volcano Cam. The webcam
sits at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, 5 miles from the
crater.
It is named after
David A. Johnston a geologist who happened to be manning
an observation point, on 18th May 1980 when the volcano
erupted. His last words were transmitting "Vancouver!
Vancouver! This is it!", before being swept away
by the massive explosion. His body was never recovered.
Mount Saint Helens is currently
mid-eruption and at
Volcano Advisory (Alert Level 2); aviation color code ORANGE.
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At the
last eruption (May 18, 1980) 57 people died.
It was the largest known landslide ever - the explosion
was equivalent to a 10 mega ton bomb. The 57
people who died were a combination of unlucky people in
the wrong place,
sightseers there to see the eruption (oops!), and
stubborn old men.
The roads to the mountain had been
opened with the all clear on May 17th.
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Base camp was the
Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center to the Northwest of
Mount St. Helens. The day was clear, and we could see
the mountain in the distance. |
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The 35 mile helicopter trip would take us up past the
Mount St Helens crater (currently with a 5 mile
restriction) and back down the valley again. |
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Fergus riding shotgun! Don't press anything! |
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The valley is full of mud - remnants of the 1980
eruption. The mud is 20 - 50 feet at the bottom,
and goes up to 400 feet nearer the mountain. Note the
shadow of the helicopter. |
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The mountain was still some way off - and is currently
venting steam. |
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Closer to the mountain, there is still evidence of the
force of the 80s eruption - 500 times the blast at
Hiroshima - all the trees in the area were levelled. |
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The last eruption created two lakes. The small mound
within this lake is allegedly the previous top of the
mountain (which was blown off). |
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The mountain itself. (from four to five miles away). |
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There is a
dome of molten rock adding a new bulge to the
mountain (shown with arrow). |
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Other active mountains (all waiting to erupt), are also
visible - Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. |
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The lake closest to the mountain is still filled with
the trees which were decimated in the last eruption. |
This is where the house of Harry Truman stood (now under 400
feet of stuff).
Harry Truman was the stubborn old man, mentioned
earlier.
It was his 16 cats that Karen's worried about (they didn't
have a choice, and they're buried too) |
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On the way back we travelled down low in the valley,
tracking the path of the eruption - at this point it was
travelling over 100 mph |
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We then arrived back to the visitor's centre. |
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Safely back on land (with the pilot, Steve). |
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