Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. ~Mark Twain
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Mt. St. Helens
Mount St. Helens erupted at 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980. Shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, the north face of this tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive rock debris avalanche. Nearly 230 square miles of forest was blown down or buried beneath volcanic deposits. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind, turning day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments. In 1982, the President and Congress created the 110,000-acre National Volcanic Monument for research, recreation, and education. Inside the Monument, the environment is left to respond naturally to the disturbance.(Source: http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/)
It's amazing to see how much natural recovery has taken place. We were especially lucky to see many summer wildflowers blooming. The several rest stop/information centers along the route we took through the monument each offered a different perspective, and were all quite informative. One highlight was viewing, from far above, the herd of elk that has returned to the area. Click HERE for photos of Mt. St. Helens.
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
okay. I know I'm technologically challenged, but how did you take the Elk pix? Unbelievable devastation and beauty in one spot! ghl
There is a very low-tech solution. We just put the camera lens up to the telescope lens and clicked. Neither of us thought it would work but lo and behold.
Mount St. Helens erupted at 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980. Shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, the north face of this tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive rock debris avalanche. Nearly 230 square miles of forest was blown down or buried beneath volcanic deposits. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind, turning day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments. In 1982, the President and Congress created the 110,000-acre National Volcanic Monument for research, recreation, and education. Inside the Monument, the environment is left to respond naturally to the disturbance. (Source: http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/)
3 comments:
okay. I know I'm technologically challenged, but how did you take the Elk pix? Unbelievable devastation and beauty in one spot! ghl
There is a very low-tech solution. We just put the camera lens up to the telescope lens and clicked. Neither of us thought it would work but lo and behold.
It sounds like a problem solved! I've been in that mode during the last few days!!
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