We are spending a few days at the Cowlitz River and it is very close to Mt. St. Helen's. Since we had a beautiful clear day we decided to head to the mountain. Here is a picture of what the mountain looked like before the May 1980 eruption.
Will, Jennie, Carole and Ron with Mt. St. Helen's in the background.
This is a good example of how the landscape is renewing itself. Remember seeing all those trees laying down like toothpicks just after the eruption? Time has passed and the wildlife has carried seeds back into the area.
As we enter the National Park there is Prairie Lupin growing everywhere. It's so pretty!
And here is what the mountain looks like today. A ranger told us that the haze we see is blowing ash. There hasn't been rain for a few weeks and there was a little breeze today. He said they could use a rain to settle it down. You see that there is little to no vegetation in the blast area closest to the mountain.
This tree was many miles from the mountain, but the blast traveled at 300 miles an hour, so reached it very quickly. As the first trees were hit they were carried into the next trees and the next and the next.
This area shows how wide the the initial flow was during the blast. It's quite a story and visitors come from around the world to hear it and see the destruction and rebuilding.
