WASHINGTON STATE - At 5 AM Were At Home in Tallahassee - By 4 PM We Were On The Side of Mount Saint Helens

35 years ago this month - Mount Saint Helens erupted

Usually our trips are centered around Lulu's work - this time it is just us. We had a free airline ticket that was to expire at the end of the month.

For 33 years I taught Earth Science in Lansford - Pennsylvania. That included a good dose of earthquakes and volcanoes. In 1980 - a whole new set of lesson plans was created by Mount Saint Helens exploding near Vancouver - Washington. After teaching about it so many times - today I got the chance to walk the mountain and witness the destruction. It was 35 years ago this week that this mountain blew its top - spewing ash all over the world - knocking millions of giant trees over like splinters. The local topography was changed forever - covering a beautiful fishing resort Spirit Lake with hundreds of feet of mud.

We left Tallahassee at 5 AM - had a quick stopover at Atlanta to get on a full Boeing 767 to Seattle. In Seattle - we didn't have to wait for bags - we plopped into our rented gray Nissan Versa for the 100 mile trip down I-5 to the national park. It is a long 50 mile ride from the Interstate up a zig-zaggy 2 lane road to about 4000 feet above sea level to the visitor center. In the winter it is closed to visitors. Today the views of the mountain are magnificent. 

When Mount Saint Helens erupted in 1980 - it did three main things - 

1. A tremendous landslide - the largest ever recorded - fell out of the north side of the mountains. 

2. An ash cloud eruption sent millions of tons of rock into the air. The cloud literally circled the earth. 

3. Finally millions of tons of mud flowed north - covering Spirit Lake with mud up to 700 feet high. The mud ran into the river and headed toward the coast. 

Although the area was evacuated - a few stubborn people refused to go - including the famous fishing lodge owner - Harry Truman. He is buried under 200 feet of mud along with his pink Cadillac. 

The blast leveled million of giant trees - many over 200 feet tall and 8 feet white - snapped like tooth picks. There has been some replanting - but even after 35 years - most of the area lay desolate.

It is a national monument to the beauty and power of nature. Most of the time nature goes nice and slow - changing the earth every day - a little at a time. Every now and then - something like a hurricane or earthquake - a volcano comes along and diminishes man to just another creature on the planet. 

A $10 senior citizen national park pass was accepted to let you in the Johnston Ridge Museum at the top. At age 60 you can buy one - once and done. We both got in on my one pass. What a bargain.

We could not have had better weather up here. It reminds me of Tamaqua PA minus the sunshine :-) Everything is so green. It was 60 and foggy when we landed in Seattle - it got up to 75 and sunny in the afternoon. We saw a little of light rain off and on while climbing the mountain. 

We spent Wednesday night in a Comfort Inn at Vancouver WA. For the next few days we are traveling by the seats of our pants and iphones. Lulu shops online for hotel bargains and calls ahead. Sunday - our ship Norwegian Pearl sails for Alaska from Seattle. At the last minute the cruise line offered us a balcony suite for a few extra bucks - Lulu could not resist.

We saw red mountain laurels at the Mount Saint Helen visitors center

Volcanoes are always preceded by earthquakes. This is a seismograph

The mountain was behind us to the right

The ranger showed us pictures of the eruption

This is the north side - the landslide came out of that crater on the top. Spirit Lake was to the left here

The gray mud flowed out the opening toward us here and then to the right.

Trees as round as 8 feet were snapped off by the explosive blast

That mud and ash is 700 feet deep.

I am facing the crater from the Johnston Ridge Observatory. The blast owuld have killed me here.

Tree stumps remind you of tombstone - millions of them - many miles away.

These trees were planted after the blast - they look blurry - they aren't.

Mud flows west down the Toutle River toward the sea