October, 2020
This was my last full day here, my last opportunity on this trip to see inside this crater. I was up early-ish and did all my morning chores, then jumped in the big white truck and started the long drive up to the mountain, my third drive during this camping trip up to the mountain.
Third time’s a charm, right? If that’s true, then today the weather and the clouds should clear enough that I will be able to see inside the mountain, inside the crater, right? I sure hoped so!
Rather than keep you waiting, I’ll just say it right up front … the third time is definitely a charm! Today the clouds cleared! I have some terrific photos of the inside of that mountain volcano crater. Here’s just one photo (below), taken while I’m standing at Johnston Ridge Observatory and looking south, right into the north-facing crater of this volcano …
Isn’t that stunning? Look at that huge lava dome that’s building, in the middle of the crater.
Ok, let’s go back to earlier this morning. Let me take you along for the day. I promise, more photos of the crater and its new lava dome will be coming below. No worries … no eruptions happened today. 🙂
Let’s get up the road to this mountain!
Ah, first view of the mountain from the road, mostly fluffy white clouds. I kept going but I was ready for disappointment.
I stopped along the road to get some photos of the Toutle River (pronounced “tootle”), with its new route and its new bottom land (new as of 1980, that is, when the volcano erupted and changed the path of this river).
There’s a stump in the middle of the photo above. I estimated it was 2-3 feet in diameter. The closeup photo below shows a little more detail. That tree was ripped right off the base/stump during the blast or shortly thereafter, looks like it was ripped apart too, as a gazillion tons of ash and pumice and dirt came barreling down the hill.
All the rivers hereabouts are still full of the ash and pumice and dirt from the explosion. There is no clear water here. Some of the lakes are miraculously enjoying the return of fish, without any of the fish being “planted” there. There is still great speculation as to how/why the fish have returned to those lakes. The rivers are still full of silt and dirt and ash even 41 years later.
Ok, back in the truck and on up the road.
Here (below) was my next view of the mountain. Fewer clouds! I like that!
Here’s a closeup below. I’m looking at the western side of the mountain so I can’t see into the crater yet, but it’s looking promising.
Just as I snapped the photo above while I was standing next to the road, I could hear that logging truck, and feel the vibration of it, roaring around the corner coming directly at me. I put my camera down and looked up. I waved at the driver … he waved back. No problems. 🙂
The photo below shows what a whole lot of the road up to the mountain looks like, with its millions of acres of new trees planted by Weyerhaeuser after the 1980 eruption. In the first few years after the eruption, 18 million seedlings were planted … all by hand. Types of trees were chosen and planted in specific areas based on terrain, elevation, water availability, etc … Western Red Cedar, Grand Fir, Hemlock, Douglas Fir, Red Alder, and Noble Fir.
Around another bend in the road, this was my next view of the mountain below. The clouds are lifting. I’m still looking at the west side of the mountain, but I’m seeing more and more of it as the clouds lift.
Finally, after that long drive, I arrived at Johnston Ridge Observatory. I parked the big white truck and followed the sidewalk around a couple of turns … the final turn brought me to this view (below) … the volcano and the crater, in perfect view.
Here’s a view below of the entrance to the Observatory gift shop, etc, but who cares about that when the mountain is out in full force?!
I walked directly to the edge of the observation platform and just stood there for a long time. Keep in mind that 1/3 of the volume of the mountain is gone … the top HALF of the height of the mountain is gone.
Even Little Towhee was mesmerized (above). Usually she cheeps and chippers about something, but she was completely silent here. As was I.
The photo above shows the top of the new lava dome, with its three steam/lava outlets. There’s a three-peak outlet on the left, then the highest outlet in the middle of the photo, then another outlet on the right side of the photo. The outlets continue to steam and gas, and continue to produce lava that builds the dome. One of these days … one of these days … no one knows when … this volcano will erupt again.
Photos below show some of the land right in front of the volcano, to the north of the volcano. The hills on the left were there before, but all of the lower flat land is new, blown out from the mountain from the eruption, and the new land goes on for many, many miles more to the north.
There’s a lake, or part of a lake, in the photo above … it’s Spirit Lake … the NEW Spirit Lake. Because of the massive amount of ash and pumice and dirt and debris blown out of the mountain, the old Spirit Lake was filled completely. The bottom of this new Spirit Lake is higher, higher than the TOP of the old Spirit Lake. The lake has risen by about 200 feet such that the bottom of this new lake is actually higher than the TOP of the old lake. And this new lake, even 41 years later, still has millions of huge tree trunks floating in it, trees that were smashed and torn and blown onto the water during the eruption. Those trees aren’t rotting, even after 41 years. If you use Google Earth and go to Spirit Lake in Washington, you’ll find this lake to the north of Mount St. Helens, and you’ll see a grey area in the northeastern part of the lake … that’s not grey dirt … that’s millions of huge dead trees still floating there, so blasted full of pumice and ash that they aren’t rotting.
Info from the internet says … the volcanic eruption blocked the outlet of new, larger Spirit Lake. The rising water in the new lake threatened to breach the new natural ash/dirt dam at the outlet and cause catastrophic flooding downstream, even more than was already happening, even more damage than wiping out roads and farms and bridges and closing Interstate Highway 5 (52 miles downriver). In November 1982, the US Army Corps of Engineers finished construction of a huge pumping system and pumped 80,700 gallons of water out of the new Spirit Lake, then pumped it across the landslide/dam, and into the new Toutle River channel, rapidly enlarging the Toutle River, but in effect reducing the chance of catastrophic damage had the landslide/dam burst. That 80,700 gallons was NOT pumped just one time, it was not pumped once a month, or even every week, or every day … not even every hour … they pumped more than 80,000 gallons of water out of the new Spirit Lake every minute in order to save all of us who lived downstream. Three years later (three years!) they stopped pumping because the US ACE had completed a tunnel which now automatically diverts water from the new lake.
In my three days here, but especially this third day, I was stunned and amazed by the earth and its power. And yet I’m also amazed and so thankful for what some humans did, and are still doing, to reduce the risk of catastrophic damage to the rest of us.
This was a spectacular day for me. I wish my friends had been here with me. But, if they had been, then I wouldn’t have been alone. Maybe when one looks directly into even just a portion of the full power of the earth, one needs to be alone.
They say there are 1,500 volcanoes around the world … but only 500 have erupted in the entire recorded history of humankind. I saw Mount St. Helens blow in 1980, although I was south of her when she blew in 1980. She blew towards the north, as she has the last 3 or 4 times that she has erupted. So when I saw her erupt in 1980, I was sort of “behind” her, behind the eruption. But today, I stood right in front of her, and looked into a crater that will likely erupt again and, when it does, it will likely erupt directly towards where I stood today.
As mentioned, I stood there a long time, just looking and thinking and feeling and wondering. In the end, I sincerely wished her my very best.
