Mount Saint Helens
On
May 18, 1980, the north slope of Mount St. Helens in Washington state violently
exploded killing 57 people who were on or around the mountain. The
eruption destroyed millions of acres of forests virtually sterilizing the
surrounding landscape. To this day, only a few mountain type plants have
just begun to grow back. Click
HERE for a summary of the May 18, 1980 event.
When the north slope collapsed, some 1,300 feet of the mountain went with it. Lahars, or mud flows, caused by flash melting of ice and snow flooded the Toutle River causing devastation down stream.
Below are photos of the St. Helens region taken 23 years later.
 North Fork of the Toutle River looking east southeast. |
 Layers of rocks and ash line the Toutle River |
 A distant view of the Toutle River with St. Helens |
 View of Toutle River looking west. |
 St. Helens looking east southeast. |
 Mountain wildflowers were in full bloom. |
 Toutle River valley shows large amounts of gray ash. |
 Mt. St. Helens from the Johnson Ridge Observatory |
 The infamous lava dome. |
 Remnants of large pines fallen by the 1980 blast. |
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The monument dedicated to those who died in the 1980 eruption. Perhaps the two most famous are Harry R. Truman who refused to leave his home at Spirit Lake and David A. Johnston who transmitted a partial message to Vancouver as the eruption took his life.
