Mt. Saint Helens - What Power in a Volcano!!!

Mt. St. Helens erupted big time on May 18, 1980. If you had been riding a motorcycle through the forest on that day you might have ended up like this metal art we saw alongside the road.

It had been 20 years since Joan and I last drove to Mt. Saint Helens.  The destruction we saw them was awe inspiring.  Old growth forests laid down like toothpicks all over the landscape.  Spirit Lake was full of debris.  Most of the timber and debris has decomposed but the landscape still looks more like the moon than earth. 

This was Billy and Paula's first time to see the volcanic destruction.  It still amazes me to see all the damage done in just a few hours by the volcano.

This map shows the destruction.  We were standing at the Johnston Ridge Observatory this time.  20 years ago Joan and I viewed the volcano from Windy Ridge.

Steve looks over the valley right in front of Mt. Saint Helens.  What you see in front of Mt. Saint Helens is a bare valley that was an old growth forest.The trees were at least 200 feet tall and they were blown about 16 miles away.  They say those trees were moving at around 500 miles.

Now you can see the crater and if you make this photo large you can see the details of the valley.

The valley is covered with 100 feet of pumice.

Here is a photo of the Mt. Saint Helens' cone.  This photo was on the wall of the visitor center.

Steve and Joan at Mt. Saint Helens.

We spent hours at Mt. Saint Helens before we drove back to the beautiful forests!