We started at the Silver Lake Visitor Center. They showed a video of the eruption, and explained a lot of the signs leading up to it, as well as told about the devastation following it, as well as the immense changes in the landscape that resulted. They had a very nice boardwalk/trail through the wetlands surrounding Silver Lake.
The Mt St Helens Scenic Byway climbs up through the Cascade Mountains, and has several overlooks with incredible vistas--Elk Rock, Castle Lake, and Loowit Overlooks. We ended up at the Johnston Ridge Observatory. This was a very nicely organized National Park Center. They had a park ranger outside the Center giving a very detailed accounting of the lead up to, the eruption and the following activities of the the May, 1980 eruption. Inside, they had many interesting aspects of the eruption, and a very informative video. The video showed actual footage of the eruption. I am AMAZED at the POWER involved in a volcanic eruption. There were hundreds of earthquakes each day, leading up to the eruption. There was a huge bulge in the mountain, which finally exploded into a mud slide, when the whole side of the mountain slid down. Then there was the explosion blowing out the top. All the trees, landscape, houses etc was utterly destroyed.
Now, 40 years later, all the mountain sides are mostly covered again in pine trees. You can still see the side of the mountain that blew out, and the mud filled up the valley, but it is now all green, and the newly created lakes and streams are clear. It's hard to tell that such devastation occurred a scant 40 years ago.
Our last stop was a Coldwater Lake, a newly created lake. Peter was wiped out by this time, so I walked a short hike out to a viewing boardwalk. It was sunny and beautiful, with a view directly at one of the side mountains.
Silver Lake and Visitor Center Photos:
Johnston Ridge Observatory photos:
Coldwater Lake Photos:
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