Hello there, Mt. Saint Helens. A little over 30 years ago, you blew your top off. We can't see that now because of the clouds. But we know it's not there. We first stopped at the visitors center, which is actually a really nice place, giving an overview of the volcanic history of the earth as well as a day-by-day history of the eruption. There was also an art show which featured this guy. We actually picked up a couple of his prints. Why? I'm not sure. His name was Jacques Drapeau. He's a retired railroad engineer. Smartz found a penny press. And got to work. Driving up to Mt Saint Helens is sort of going backwards in time. Firstly, the road itself is new (after a point), having been built specifically to bring people to the blast site. This is a sediment dam, created to filter the ash from the water. Along the way there's a waterfall. People were swimming. Lucky them. This is a huge bridge built after the eruption in 1980. After crossing the bridge you are in the blast zone. Everything from here to the mountain was flattened. Everything. This was one of the main avenues for debris/mud/ash. You can still see the ash. Most of the debris is buried. Here's a lovely pan-o-rama! On a far off hill, you can see that some trees were knocked over, some were killed but remained standing and some new ones are growing. Way down in the valley, you could se elk grazing. This valley, looking away from Mt. Saint Helens. The cloud cover was still blocking our view. Here, you can see a debris pile. Dead trees. This is Castle Lake. It was created by the eruption. Less clouds, but still. The road twisted a bit, revealing several waterfalls. And some white water below it. You can really see how the blast just knocked trees over. Yet, some trees were able to remain standing. There's a little hut on top of that rock! The animals at Mt. Saint Helens are very intelligent. Move it, clouds! The flows of melted ice, debris, etc., created canyons. Even at marked public viewpoints, dead trees liter the ground. 57 people died in the blast. Harry Truman owned a lodge on the shores of Silver Lake. He refused to leave and died where he lived for 50 years. Due to the changing land after the blast, the lake rose 200 feet, covering where Truman's lodge once stood. This is Silver Lake. It's amazing to think that the The clouds are lifting a bit and you can now see the crater. Here's a closer shot of the lake. And there's Mt. Adams! A couple of hikers were at the top of Adams when Saint Helens erupted. After a few minutes, they felt the heatwave from the blast. It temporarily raised the temperature 30 - 40 degrees. Finally, the clouds have lifted! This is the crater. It is still active. Here, you can a little smoke still escaping from the vents. I wasn't sure at first if that's what it was. But yes, it's still letting off a bit of smoke. I was impressed, but as it was getting late, we had to leave. We shall return another time to check out the eastern side of the volcano (we were on the western and northern sides. This is a bathroom. It looks like an artillery bunker. On our way out, we stopped just outside the blast zone to take a shot of the very ashy river. Dead trees still liter the ground. They will soon decay, but the ash will be here for a very long time. Thanks for following along!

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