Mt. St. Helens... Geological Wonder and Seattle Sidetrip
It was Sunday, May 18, 1980. The family, with three small children under the age of five, sat down for a pancake breakfast when at about 9:05AM the phone rang. It was friends in Bellingham, living 220 miles north of our home in Longview which was 40 miles southwest and down river from Mt. St. Helens. They called to see if we were OK. They'd heard a large explosion that rattled their windows. Weeks prior we watched the mountain stir and its north face blacken and bulge. New terms like "Harmonic tremors," entered the lexicon. Washington's first woman governor, Dixy Lee Ray, had ordered an evacuation near the mountain. We took the kids to church after breakfast and I headed off to the local bowling alley where my high school students were having a community service fund raiser bowl-a-thon for the Muscular Dystrophy Assocation. By early afternoon there was a small concern about the mountain. My colleague and I decided we needed more film for our cameras to shoot pictures of the students and their activity. We went to the local Fred Meyer Store, Electronics Department, and saw the display televisions broadcasting by now footage of the Toutle River flooding and the famous shots of the house, mud and debris hitting the I-5 Bridge. As a recent transplant to the area I said, "Doesn't the Toutle flow into the Cowlitz River (which dissects Longview-Kelso?)" The Cowlitz with its extensive dikes flows into the Columbia River.
Returning to the bowling alley, we met several concerned parents who were, by then, taking their teens home. We ended the bowl-a-thon early that afternoon to return home and glue ourselves to our televisions. By then, there was reports of the sky turning dark in Eastern Washington, cities like Yakima, Moses Lake, and Ritzville where eventually up to 5 inches of ash and pumice fell. Later we would learn if the wind had been blowing southwesterly, our location in Longview just 40 miles away would have buried us in estimated 26 to 40 inches of ash. Enough to crush houses and likely leave us similar to the ancient victims of Italy's Pompei. The phones were out that day and locals stormed the grocery stores, gas stations or left town. Later that evening, we took the family west along the Columbia River flood plain to see the extent of the eruption that had a plume that completely consumed the spring sky.
School would be cancelled, as well as most other activities in the area. President Carter made a visit and there were rumors rampant in town about the 20,000 body bags in storage in the case of subsequent eruptions and floods. By May 22, or so, a neighbor had been monitoring the police channel and ran over to tell us we would soon hear a report about pending evacuation due to the "massive earthen, log and debris dam" that was formed when the north face of the mountain fell away into Spirit Lake with such force that the surrounding hills were later bare to the bedrock. We were later told to have our belongings and memorables packed by the door and be ready to evacuate within 20 minutes if the dam were to breach. Ironically, our evacauation signal would be the warning system for Portland General Electric's Trojan Nuclear Plant across the Columbia River in Rainier.
The following week we got up to an inch of ashfall in the volcano's second eruption. We were advised to stock up on surgical masks and ration water. We were to report any neighbor we saw trying to use water to wash their property or cars.
After an intense two week asylum with the three small kids, we decided to head north to Tacoma to stay with the grandparents. I'll never forget the sight of the one year old in her car seat with her face completely covered by that ash/surgical mask. I was relieved the ash didn't clog the car's carburator.
Later that October ,we finally got around to baptizing that one year old and as we exited the church, it was a fitting symbol to see the mountain had again erupted with this time, a whiter, steamier, ash plume.
The next summer I attended a few weeks of summer school in Ellensburg. I laughed when we were again hit with drops of ashfall from yet another subsequent eruption.
Seventeen years later, the youngest daughter would climb the moutain with her science club and slide down the snow and glacier of the south face on Hefty Bags. Here's a Pre-1980 view:
There are many stories about this mountain and active volcano. No trip to the Pacific Northwest would be complete without paying your respects to her.
There are several routes to best see the volcano:
1. Head to Castle Rock on I-5 and head east. It is about a 50 mile, scenic highway with five government sponsored visitor and learning centers along the way. A clear day is necessary and I would recommend best times during the months of May and September with less Minnie Winnie's to follow.
2. Head further south to Woodland and head east on HWY 503. Again, beautiful scenery, most untouched by the eruption with views of the south face of the mountain. Try spelunking with a good flashlight at the natural lava tubes, Ape Caves. Or continue this loop to Randle/Packwood where you can see the crater up close. For hiking and climbing, you'll need a permit. There are many hotels and motels that you can access.
3. Head to White Pass, Hwy 2 and drive to Randle, you can also drive south and stare the crater down. I like this view as you see the force of the first eruption as the mountain slid into the lake and washed over the surrounding hills.
Visit: www.visitmtsthelens.com or call the Cowlitz County Tourism Bureau at 360.577.31.37 for a free 32 page Visitors Guide.
We lived in the area for the next twenty years. A favorite family vacation destination was the Long Beach Peninsula. For years, we collected the volcanic pumice along the shore. The first eruption closed the shipping lanes of the Columbia and in later years it was a theory that the Long Beach Peninsula was flattened by a tsunami when there was a giant earthquake in the 18th century near Japan.
Today, whenever I hear about Mt. St. Helens in the news, it immediately gets my attention and harkens me back and reminds me of the power of mother nature. And here's a recent view of this wonder:
