Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is 96 miles south of Seattle, Washington, and 50 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon. Mount St. Helens is 45 miles west of Mount Adams, in the western part of the Cascade Range. These "sister and brother" volcanic mountains are approximately 50 miles from Mount Rainier. Mount Hood, the nearest major volcanic peak in Oregon, is 60 miles southeast of Mount St. Helens.

Mount St. Helens takes its English name from the British diplomat Lord St Helens, a friend of explorer George Vancouver who made a survey of the area in the late 18th century. The volcano is located in the Cascade Range and is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire that includes over 160 active volcanoes. This volcano is well known for its ash explosions and pyroclastic flows.

Mount St. Helens is most notorious for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 a.m. PDT, the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. A massive debris avalanche triggered by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale caused an eruption that reduced the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9,677 feet to 8,365 feet, replacing it with a 1 mile wide horseshoe-shaped crater. The debris avalanche was up to 0.7 cubic miles in volume. The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was created to preserve the volcano and allow for its aftermath to be scientifically studied. Prior to the 1980 eruption, Mount St. Helens was the fifth-highest peak in Washington.

As with most other volcanoes in the Cascade Range, Mount St. Helens is a large eruptive cone consisting of lava rock interlayered with ash, pumice, and other deposits. The mountain includes layers of basalt and andesite through which several domes of dacite lava have erupted. The largest of the dacite domes formed the previous summit, and off its northern flank sat the smaller Goat Rocks dome. Both were destroyed in the 1980 eruption.

The full impact of the 1980 lateral blast and 33 years of natural recovery is seen on the drive through miles of standing-dead and blown-down forests.

In less than 10 minutes from the blast, the avalanche swept 14 miles down the South Coldwater and North Toutle River Valleys.

Evidences of destruction and recovery abound, along with amazing views of Mount St. Helens from Johnston Ridge - elevation 4,314 feet.

Below: View of the lava dome and growing glacier from a visitor center overlooking the crater. A Monument Pass (wrist band) was required to be purchased at the visitor center, and must be worn while on Johnston Ridge.

Below: Each Stump tells the tale of the blast. Within 90 seconds, the debris-filled blast struck this forested hillside, pulverizing ancient trees. The nearly 500-mile per hour blast shattered and toppled trees, snapping some into the valley shown below. The blast stripped their bark and branches, carrying them miles away. The mangled stumps are all that remains of the 150-foot-tall trees, testimony to the blast's incredible power.

Below: A squirrel on one of the tree stumps

Flowers were blooming once again on Mount Saint Helens.

Karen, Lee, and Ilse looked back up at Johnston Ridge from the trail they hiked. There are tiny people at the top of the trail in the photo below on the right.

The two RV Gypsies took a break along the trail and enjoyed the view from the well-placed bench.

Below: The Crater and Lava Dome at Mount Saint Helens. Suddenly some rocks fell into the Lava Dome which caused steam to rise up into the air. (no steam in the left photo).

Panorama views of Mount St. Helens

Coldwater Lake Recreation Area

The water was so clear that the rocks did not look like they were under water, but they were.

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