The Powerful Force of Nature

May 18, 1980 was a momentous day here in the northwest. The eruption of Mt St Helens destroyed lives and livelihood. It awakened us to the powerful force of nature that is our living planet. It renewed interest in science, and specifically geology and it's related fields. Twenty-nine years later it is a major tourist attraction. It had been years since we visited, and that was at Windy Ridge, before a National Monument was established. Sunday, on our way home from the Oregon coast, we drove the hour long "new" road into the Toutle Valley, to see the volcano up close. The river still shows the remains of the lahar that rushed out of the mountain and down the river. The hillsides are reforested, but this was in the blast zone, stripped bare of vegetation. The volcano looms in the clouds ahead.

Our destination was The Johnston Ridge Observatory, named after Dave Johnston, the geologist on duty at the monitoring station that day, who's famous last words were "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!" an instant before his death.

The rain and clouds parted for us and we enjoyed a great view of the mountain.

The light played across the still barren blast zone surrounding Spirit Lake.

Paint Brush and Fire weed bloomed abundantly in the "soil" left by the landslide and pyroclastic flow.

Clouds simulated an eruption.

But all was calm and peaceful this day.

Six year old Isaac told me as we were leaving, "I always wanted to visit a volcano". It made the long drive and the late arrival home all worthwhile.