Phil & Marsha Go Westward: Mount St. Helens

I remember the day......May 18, 1980 when Mount St. Helens erupted. It was our oldest son's third birthday. I remember having the TV on watching all the newscasts....everyone making sure that the residents were evacuated......remembering a story about an elderly man who was not going to leave his home......I think he may have perished? Remembering the reports of ash, the devastation of the trees, the forest floor, the fauna..... the deer and the antelope, the moose and the elk, the bear? Where did they go? I have read that 57 people perished and thousands of animals. Ash was spread to 11 States and 5 Canadian Provinces.

(Google National Geographic and Mount St. Helens)

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Mount St. Helens is located south of Seattle. We stayed in Chehallis, Washington, about an hour north of Mount St. Helens. On the route to MSH there are three Visitor Centers along the way that give three different views of MSH or the volcano and the valley and how it appears 34 years after the eruption. There were signs posted along the route of the replanting of trees in 1983 and 1985, mostly the Noble Pine and Aspens. There has been extensive reforesting and immense study on this phenomenon, and each of the Visitors Centers explained the processes.

The "flat" top mountain is Mount St. Helens in the far distance. It literally blew its top (peak) off.

In this picture you can see where the rubble, ash, ice, pumice flowed. Spirit Lake and the Toutle River were a part of Mount St. Helens area. Those areas were filled with volcanic debris, snapped off trees, etc...

Mount St. Helens

I believe this is Mt. Adams in the far distance, part of the Cascade Range.

The first Visitor Center offered Helicopter Rides. We declined. They take you "down" into the cap of the volcano and you observe "steam" ....... Maybe next time?

We left this amazing place and traveled on to Oregon on Interstate 5. What a change of pace to be on an interstate as opposed to driving on winding cliffs and in the mountains. We drove to the west coast of Oregon and went through flatter land.....fields, vineyards, tree groves. Of course we spotted a semi loaded with poles that we guessed were at least 100 feet long.

A Washington Barn

Our daily post of a lumber truck.

We drove through McMinnville, Oregon. We had a supplier in this town, too....once upon a time.

In McMinnville there was an Aviation Museum....I took these pictures on the "fly."

This is NOT super-imposed

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I learned that Howard Hughes, "The Spruce Goose" is on display at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. Had we known it was there, we would have stopped! Next time!

An old grain elevator on the way to the coast. Please forgive the antenna.