Mt St Helens

We spent one day visiting Mt St Helens. That was one of the neatest things we did on vacation. Just the drive up was fascinating. In order to get to the National Monument, you drove through a great deal of logging areas first. I have read extensively about areas that are clear cut and then replanted but I hadn't ever seen it in person on that grand of a scale. It looked just like what it was, a large tree farm with that typical patchwork look of farmland. I understand the need but it was still kind of sad to see. So very unnatural looking.

Below are some pictures of the valley near Mt St Helens on the west side. When St Helens erupted the flow of ash and debris filled this valley. The area used to be a fairly dense forest with campgrounds etc. The visitors center had fascinating stories of those who managed to escape and those who didn't. You can still see grey ash and such clogging the river and dead trees everywhere. There also is a lot of new growth and life.

The pictures below are from the visitors center. Around St Helens it is still pretty desolate. My understanding is before the eruption over 20 years ago the areas around St Helens looked a bit like the area around Mt Rainier. Which is very lush and green. If you look real closely you can see steam coming from the center of St Helens.

The trees burned in place. In this area there are dead trees everywhere and you can tell which direction the blast went from the direction all of the trees were felled.






(you might need to click on this one to see it larger to be able to see but the whole mountain side is covered by dead trees felled from the eruption)

We then went to Crystal Lake near St Helens. It is a new lake that did not exist before the eruption. The lay of the land changed rather dramatically.