MOUNT ST. HELENS NATIONAL VOLCANIC MONUMENT (WA)

At 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted, shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter Scale, the north face of this tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive rock debris avalanche. In a few moments this slab of rock and ice slammed into Spirit Lake, crossed a ridge 1,300 feet high, and roared 14-miles down the Toutle River.

The avalanche rapidly released pressurized gases within the volcano. A tremendous lateral explosion ripped through the avalanche and developed into a turbulent, stone-filled wind that swept over ridges and toppled trees. Nearly 150 square miles of forest was blown over or left dead and standing. - U.S. Forest Service website

MONDAY - Today we have positioned ourselves directly on the Toutle River in Harry Gardner County Park, just 26-miles from the center of that eruption over 46-years ago.

This park, like everything else within a 150-mile radius, was destroyed and buried under volcanic ash.

Tomorrow we have reserved the entire day to explore everything related to Mount St. Helens.

TUESDAY - Today we are going to be traveling as far as we can go up Washington State Route 504 (Spirit Lake Highway) to the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center.

The road passed this point used to go 8-miles further to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, but shortly after 9 p.m. on Sunday, May 14, 2023, debris slid 2,000 feet, burying SR 504 beneath rock, mud, ice, and water and causing major damage to the Spirit Lake Outlet Bridge. The road is scheduled to reopen in 2027.

Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

MOUNT ST. HELENS
NATIONAL VOLCANIC MONUMENT

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Hey Barry, we found Sasquatch for you! He's hanging out (and BTW waiting for you to visit)
at the family owned and operated North Fork Survivors (Mount St. Helens Museum).
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Our next stop was at an overlook for the Toutle River Sediment Retention Structure.
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A naturally occuring log jam occured here during the eruption,
so the ACOE began adding more landfill to stop the destruction occuring downstream.
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Still today they were there doing work to maintain the dam.
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With all the sediment trapped upstream from the dam this is what the "riverbed" looks like.
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Hoffstadt Creek Bridge is the longest and tallest of 14-bridges on the Spirit Lake Highway.
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Built in 1992 and standing 370' tall, it's part of the new highway to access the Volcano.
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The Forest Learning Center is owned and operated by The Weyerhaeuser Company, which
owns 10-million acres of timberland in the U.S. and manages 14-million more in Canada.
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Outside of the Forest Learning Center there was a wonderful view of the valley below.
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There was a lot of smoke in the air from the wildfires in eastern Washington and Oregon.
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From 1980-82 Weyerhaeuser salvaged 21,000 acres of downed trees from the eruption
which produced 850-million board feet of lumber, enough to build 85,000 3-bedroom homes.
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The Forest Learning Center did a good job of balancing self promotion with educating the public how a "managed forest" can out produce a "natural forest" and still be perpetually reproductive.
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We finally made it inside of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
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Unfortunately the smoke was so thick it was impossible to see much of anything.
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The back patio deck of the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center
is where you usually capture those iconic photographs of Mount St. Helens.
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Today we saw this. That bump on the mountain in the center of the photo is Mount St. Helens
and that peak on the right hand side is Washington's second highest peak, Mt. Adams.

At least our lack of photos didn't come from a lack of trying this time!

WEDNESDAY - Tomorrow we are wrapping up our 55-day long visit to Washington state and crossing the Columbia River back into Oregon.

Before we leave we'll have to get some laundry done and pick up a few grocery items. Also, while we have electricity, we're going to cook up a bunch of meals and put them in the freezer.

Meals that take a lot of time cooking, like mashed potatoes and my chili recipes. This way we'll save on our propane usage and the need to refill when there's nowhere around to do so.

Even more importantly is the fact that our 3-burner propane stove top isn't operating properly. You have to continuously hold in the ignite button to keep the burner lit. When you let go the flame goes out? The oven is working perfectly, so it's not a propane supply issue.

We were fortunate enough to score an appointment with our favorite Airstream repair shop in Alabama and will be stopping in for a visit on our way back to Florida in November.

It's forecast to be in the upper 90°F this afternoon, so Tricia took her walk early today.

TRICIA'S MORNING WALK

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At the edge of the campground is a well worn trail down to the South Fork of the Toutle River.
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There is a bench there for watching the sunset.
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The river is still a few more yards away.
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There was a brood of baby ducks following mama around on the river...
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...while other birds just flew on by overhead.
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Access down to the river was fairly simple...
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...and it looks as if the locals have fun building little swimming pools in the water.
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Tomorrow we leave here for the land of waterfalls! Are you ready Maudie?

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