Mount Saint Helens, N.V.M., WA

16 Oct 1998

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Volcanos are an important part of the history of the earth. Volcanos are part of the rock cycle that we learned about at Museum of the Rockies, recycling rock and creating new, fertile soil.

For us, volcanoes also help create a geologic record of the history of earth. Mt. St. Helens erupted in May, 1980, creating an ash cloud that covered thousands of square miles of ground inches thick. This ash often kills plants and animals, and covers them in ash-mud. Today, we find som of the best fossils in ash layers, like those at Flourissant Fossil Beds, N.M.

There is only one word that is fitting for the scene at Mt. St. Helens, "Awesome."

Links: (See below for resources you can buy online)

• Mt. St. Helens eruption
• USGS monitoring
• the 'Unofficial' guide to Mt. St. Helens

We drove inside the blast zone. It is amazing. Almost twenty years later, the devastation is still visible. The Native Americans that lived in the area a hundred years ago call Mt. St. Helens "Keeper of the Fire."

This canyon was filled with miles of mud that came from the side of the mountain as it blew apart.

Spirit Lake. A calm reverence came across dad and Amanda as we looked from the highest view point down on Spirit Lake. This view is of the south shore, which used to be hundreds of feed further south. Harry Truman (not the former president, we have learned) had a cabin on the shore, and there was a small village/camp there, which is now covered in tens of feet of mud. Earlier, we went for a walk on a trail down to the east shore of Spirit lake, right through the dead trees. The lake was still covered with floating logs. It seems like almost a third of the lake is still covered with dead logs. It was peaceful, but a bit strange.

Great TV News Stories 1 - Volcano! The Eruption of Mt. St. Helens

Many days the weather has kept us from going outside. It was raining day we had planned to see Mt. St. Helens, so we decided to stay inside and wait for a clear day to see better.

We still had plenty to do though. We had schoolwork that we call "basics." Amanda was doing her piano lessons.

Dad and Harrison worked on the web pages

And at night we played a game of Monopoly, the National Parks version.

Mr. Avery writes:

Dear Mr. Reiser: Just an update for you on your Mount Saint Helens history. The Harry Truman that lived in a cabin on Spirit Lake was NOT the former president. The Harry Truman I knew from my years spent at the Longview YMCA's Camp Loowit on the southeastern shores of Spirit Lake was an eccentric old fire-ball who always had a story to tell. On that May Sunday in 1980, I watched from my front yard as a part of my childhood and my family history was pulverized in a cataclysmic explosion. Although he had been warned time and again to leave the mountain, Harry was a stubborn old man, who would have felt dead living anywhere else save his beloved Spirit Lake under the shadow of the Fire Goddess. As it was, the Fire Goddess came for him on that clear Sunday and in so doing, took away a man whom had been a guide through my childhood. Hope this casts a bit of light on your travels and adds a personal touch in your continuous learning with your family.

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Great TV News Stories 1 - Volcano! The Eruption of Mt. St. Helens

We watched this great video the night before we went to the the volcano. You wouldn't believe how much ash there was!