Sunday Morning
May 18th, 1980 8:32:17 am. The last of approximately 10,000 localized earthquakes, this one at 5.1, caused the largest landslide in recorded history as the 500 foot bulge in the north face of majestic Mount Saint Helens gave way and was blown toward beautiful Spirit Lake at a speed approximated between 110 and 155mph.
The ash plume reached 80,000 feet and came down across eleven states and parts of Canada choking engines and creating blizzard like conditions on the east side of Washington. Spirit Lake emptied and washed up on a cliff face and when it came back down it was at an elevation 200 feet higher and the massive old growth trees that were splintered from the land washed back down the mountainside with the lake and still float in her today.
That was 35 years ago. I was first here in 1990 and was stunned to see that not much had appeared to change, but trees take time to grow and the herds have come back. No rock, antler, car, branch, nothing is allowed to be removed as the mountain recovers. Someday, barring another catastrophic event she might just return to her former glory.
Sunday Morning
May 18th, 1980 8:32:17 am. The last of approximately 10,000 localized earthquakes, this one at 5.1, caused the largest landslide in recorded history as the 500 foot bulge in the north face of majestic Mount Saint Helens gave way and was blown toward beautiful Spirit Lake at a speed approximated between 110 and 155mph.
The ash plume reached 80,000 feet and came down across eleven states and parts of Canada choking engines and creating blizzard like conditions on the east side of Washington. Spirit Lake emptied and washed up on a cliff face and when it came back down it was at an elevation 200 feet higher and the massive old growth trees that were splintered from the land washed back down the mountainside with the lake and still float in her today.
That was 35 years ago. I was first here in 1990 and was stunned to see that not much had appeared to change, but trees take time to grow and the herds have come back. No rock, antler, car, branch, nothing is allowed to be removed as the mountain recovers. Someday, barring another catastrophic event she might just return to her former glory.