I’m stopping at Mount St. Helens on my way to Seattle. No donuts today, but I did get a cinnamon bun to go at Camp 18 last night. I open the brown paper bag, and it is HUGE! It is definitely a 2-fister; I feel like I’m eating a hamburger! It is delicious...and will continue to be for several more meals...but they need to include some wet wipes!
If I ever return to Camp 18, their bread pudding is made from leftover cinnamon buns!
I plan to spend a couple of hours exploring the volcano which I remember erupting. When I arrive, I didn’t realize the complex is comprised of 3 different visitor’s center each with displays, movies, ranger talks, and trails. The first and third are an hour drive each way apart. There goes my 1/2 day of sightseeing in Seattle!
My first sight of Mount St. Helen in the distance.
Mount St. Helen is about 400,00 years old, and the last eruption...before the one I remember...was in 1857. Many people thought the mountain was dormant, but in geological term, the space between eruption and age is about 5 minutes in a 24 hr clock.
Here are some details leading up to the massive event in 1980...as best I remember:
March 20 - a 4.0 earthquake is recorded....largest quake in recent history
March 23 - multiple smaller quakes about 40/hour
March 27 - an ash plume erupts 4 miles high and a crater the size of a football field develops. Mandatory evacuation of residents, and all comply except 83 yr old, Harry Truman, who had lived on Spirit Lake for 50 years.
April 3 - continuous quakes w/ six 4.0 or greater
April 30 - north flank develops an unstable bulge growing 5 ft./day
By now, it had been seven weeks since the first major earthquake. Residents and businesses had been evacuated for weeks, but the people wanted the chance to return and secure belongings. The mountain was grumbling but nothing major happening.
May 12 - largest quake yet measuring 5.0
May 17 - property owners escorted by caravan. They had not been home since the ash plume on March 27, and they found everything covered in a fine gray gritty ash.
May 18 - morning quiet until 8:32 when a 5.1 earthquake directly below the bulging north slope caused the largest landslide in history. Material rushes towards Spirit Lake and the north branch of the Toutle River at 150 mph filling the 24 acre valley up to 600 ft deep in avalanche debris. A blast of super-heated air follows creating winds of 200 mph shearing trees off at their stumps. Trees within 8 miles are flattened and lying on the ground like pick-up sticks.
Resulting crater:
This is a COLOR picture of the landscape!
An example of a tree splintered from the blast.
Snow and ice melt and mix with lava, volcanic rocks and ash creating lahars or volcanic mudslides reaching all the way to the Columbia River about 50 miles away picking up the debris destroyed in the blast. The sludge reduces the channel from 40 ft to 15. Ships are stranded or cannot enter the river.
The water level of Spirit Lake rises 200 ft, and an outlet is clogged. Fear is the lake’s dam will break.
A 15 mile high ash plume erupts emitting lightening, and the sky darkens for 125 miles. This ash cloud would eventually circle the globe in only 2 weeks.
Rescue operations start 16 minutes after the explosion. Rescuers who have lived and hiked and camped in the area for years cannot recognize anything because the landmarks are destroyed and hundreds of square miles are reduced to a wasteland.
Eventually, 170 people rescued but 57 are dead or never found including Harry Truman.
This bridge was completely destroyed.
Ultimately, Mount St. Helens created a new landscape. People argued whether to let nature take its course and eventually heal itself or if man should intervene and offer nature some assistance.
The final decision is a compromise. The volcano and the immediate area will be left natural and becomes the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
Weyerhaeuser owned most of the affected forests and lost 3 logging camps, 22 crew buses, 30 log trucks, 39 railroad cars, 12 million board feet of lumber, 650 miles of roads, 19 bridges, and 16 miles of railroad. However, they begin a mass effort never before attempted to log and reclaim the destroyed trees. After the debris fields were declared stable, 600 logging trucks a day rumble along newly established roads. Finally, the company replant thousands of acres with 40 million saplings each by hand.
It has been a little over 39 years since the explosion. Most of the area is green covered in the replanted forests.
Animals have returned including elk which graze in the valley along the river.
However, the volcano and her violent display of May 18, 1980 still remain evident.
My 2-hr visit has become 6.5 hrs! I am pooped...again...and didn’t even find time for a nap! I was impressed w/ the number of people at each of the visitor’s centers especially the Johnson Observatory which is 5-miles from Mount St. Helens since it’s over a 2-hr trip alone from the main road.
Mount St. Helens and Spirit Lake today.
Makes me happy that people want to discover our nation’s history!
No comments:
Post a Comment