Mount St Helens

Vancouver! Vancouver!

The call went out in May 1980 from a USGS volcano watcher as Mt St Helens erupted -- after a few months of ominous signs.  The once symmetrical, snow topped mountain became a living picture of VOLCAN -- the god of volcanoes!

The largest landslide in history, a huge lateral blast, and hours of flow, cloud, ash, and tremors.  Mountain lost, trees blown down for miles, a river smothered, new lakes made, lives lost.  Then quiet and a new landscape to contemplate.  Monochromatic; lifeless; arid.  But in the ensuing years bits of life have sprung up and brush and small trees appear.  Salamanders are thriving.  Small water pockets beckon ducks.  And every now and then the mountain rumbles and magma oozes up in the caldera.  The glacier grows.

A bit of steam can be seen -- mostly it is drab, dusty, and sobering.
The glacier is almost BLACK because it is so full of rocks and dust.

Coldwater Lake formed by a debris pile.  Some shrub beginning to grow back.

One area in the "hummocks" has become a wetlands as small pools of water collect and creeks meander.
The area is full of salamanders & birds.  

Looking back from the Toutle River -- the north facing side was completely blown away.
The missing mountain now is the hummocks and piles of debris.  

The Toutle River today -- about 150 feet HIGHER than the old river bed.  That is a lot of debris!