Erupting In Southern Washington...

 

Mount St. Helens…  Mom remembers just where she was when she saw Mount St. Helens erupting.  Do you?

I had no idea about volcanoes until we went to Mount St. Helens.  It’s a National Monument, you know.  If I didn’t know what happened there, I would have thought that it was just another flattish mountain off in the distance.  We got up early in the morning and began the 50-mile drive up the mountain.  It took all day. 

We kept stopping at centers and overlooks and first we saw nothing but tall trees.  As we got higher and higher, Phaedra and I started to see smaller trees and more dirt.  We also saw hundreds and hundreds of dead stumps sticking out from fields of flowers.  Mom calls it rebirth of the land.  I call it a great place to chase little ground squirrels and find voles.  There are lots of little creatures living there now.

Did you know that Mount St. Helens blew off her north face, laterally (I just found out that means sideways.), on May 18, 1980?  That was 30 years ago.  At 8:31 am PDT, Mount St. Helens was 9,677 feet high.  At 8:32 am, Mount St. Helens was 8,363 feet!  It blew off 1314 feet!  It blew 80,000 feet in the air.  Temperatures of the blast reached 600*.  It traveled at 300 miles per hour!  When that happened, it started a huge mudslide that traveled across Spirit Lake and raised the floor of that lake 295 feet higher. (The gas and heat from the eruption actually melted snow and several glaciers, which caused the mudslides.)   

Most of the debris, though, traveled down the Toutle River 13 miles at 155 miles per hour.  It filled the valley with rocks and debris up to 600 feet deep. There were waves that were 600 feet high!  I sure wouldn’t want to “Hang Ten” on one of those!

It was really interesting that the area on the way to the top where we drove had trees that were pretty tall.  Most of this land was private logging land, and it was replanted within three years.  Guess how many trees?  Whatever you think, you haven’t imagined enough.  The number is 18,400,000.  That all happened in just 3 years.  Can you imagine?

Up at the top and close to Mount St. Helens things have been left alone so that what happens is natural.  This is the National Monument.  At first I thought it was odd leaving it natural, but so much has been learned about how the earth forms and how it heals itself, I guess it is a good thing. 

Phaedra and I were amazed at seeing the trees still lying on the hillside.  Whatever way the blast came from, the trees are lying that way.  Sometimes, on the same hill, the trees are lying in different patterns.  Papa said it is just like when you play Pick-Up-Sticks and let the sticks fall down.  I don’t know what he is talking about since I don’t let sticks fall down.  I pick them up to be thrown.  These sticks were too big for me to carry, though, as you can imagine.  Mom agreed with him, though, so I guess they know what they are talking about on this.

We went over to the south side of Mount St. Helens, too.  That is the side that didn’t blow its top.  Instead, mud flowed down that side and exposed an ancient lava canyon.  All of us hiked along the canyon and Muddy River with its waterfalls.  I lead the way, of course, and had to show everyone which way to go. 

The south side doesn’t have many blown down trees, either.  That’s because the mountain blew laterally.  Remember what I learned about that?  It blew out sideways – the other side, that is.  So this side wasn’t flattened like the other one was.

One day, we decided to go swimming in the Lewis River, which is really beautiful.  There are so many parks where people put in boats and go swimming.  Phae and I were so excited that we couldn’t wait to get in the car.  Mom got up late, again, so we didn’t get away until about 10:00.  Every park that we went to was full.  There were boats lined up along the roads waiting for someone to leave.  We must have driven 40 miles along the river stopping at parks along the way.  No one would let us in.  One man said the parks were full by 8:00.  Fat chance Mom will ever get anywhere that early now that she’s retired! 

There’s nothing like going to the lake and not getting in.  Who ever heard of that, anyway?  The closest we got to the water was when we drove across a one-lane bridge and saw thousands of boats on both sides of the lake.  People were everywhere, too.  Just like a swimming pool, I guess.  Plus, it was 96* outside.  That’s hot for anywhere, but especially for Washington!  When we got back, Phae and I got to run under the hose.  That works for us!  I don’t think Mom and Papa liked it when we shook water all over them, though.  I don’t know why – it was cool!  They’re just spoilsports!

The last morning Mama finally got up early and Papa and she hiked into a lava cave for a ways.  This is a wild cave so there were no lights anywhere.  They were the first people to arrive at the cave and were kind of nervous going down alone with no one knowing they were there.  They dressed warmly – I wondered why since it was going to be 95* again, but it is always 42* in the cave, day and night.  We couldn’t go with them.  I would have liked to find salamanders or other things that live down there, but they said it was too dangerous for us.  They weren’t gone too long.  I don’t think they like wild caves too much.  I guess that’s another story that has something to do with them going on a 2 hour cave hike which lasted 4 hours because their guide couldn’t find the way out.  Maybe that’s why they didn’t go to far into the cave.  When they were almost out, they met up with a couple of families and one of the kids said to papa, “Hi Cave Man!”  Papa laughed out loud.  I don’t think he looks that old, do you?  Sometimes he acts like a cave man, though, when he growls at me and chases me around the camper.

I liked Mount St. Helen’s.   It was sad to hear about all the people and animals and trees that died in the eruption.  I’m glad I wasn’t there, but it is good to remember.

It is great to see how the area has come back, too.  Still, I don’t know if I could live near Mount St. Helens now because it is still active!  I can run fast, but not fast enough to get away from a volcano going off!

So long from Zoe, the Beautiful!