8/1 - 8/2 Mt. St. Helens

Mount Saint Helens today

On our way from Hoh rain forest to Mt. St. Helen's (on a clear and sunny day) we popped out on the coast of Washington (Ruby Beach). It was so foggy we couldn't see the beach from the picnic area. We decided to go inland for lunch at a lake.


The Seaquest campground is next to the Washington State Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center, about 40 miles from the crater. Another beautiful and lush campground.



After all these years (1980), the landscape around Mt. St. Helens is still pretty barren. If you click on the picture for the enlargement, you can see all the dead trees pointing away from the blast site.


Did you know that Mt. St. Helens has been active? The dome has grown and there are numerous small earthquakes. We saw two landslides while viewing from the observation deck. That puff of smoke on the left rim is the dust that was produced by the landslide. What are we standing so close for? The Washington State Visitor's Center pointed out that the whole Cascade Range is quite active (starting with Mt. Shasta in California), and the melting of all the ice and snow during an eruption is a great risk for massive mudflows. Even Seattle is at risk for this hazard (plus tsunami and all that dreary weather). You can also see that a glacier has already formed within the crater (actually two glaciers since an emerging dome has cut the glacier into two).