The mountain

[spimike]

Hi all not long after my first spring in Washington my wife and I headed out on a glorious sunday for Mt Saint Helens, I had never been up on the toutle or the mountain and really never thought i would. Our first stop was a weyerhaeuser fire truck with a tree growing threw it exactly where it landed after the mud flow. That was very impressive and we were still thirty miles from the mountain! I have heard some of the trucks from camp baker and 12 road camp have been found in the columbia river and at the mouth of the columbia to the ocean. Any how our next stop was the ash dam on the toutle. At this point you start to realize how big this was and start seeing the ash which is still there and moving everyday. And theres the mountain at least whats left. Our next stop was at the overlook where you can take a helicopter and go see the mountain in action which i assure you it still is, and if you look down theres camp baker nothing left on top of the ash but below that you could have an rb auction for days im sure. The overlook is one of my favorite places. It was at the overlook when the magnitude of this event finally settled on me, I have seen extremely destructive forest fires but the mountain took out miles and miles of forest, land and people.It makes you feel pretty small. On this trip we couldnt go much farther due to snow. Weyco has done a herculean effort to restore their timber and you can see active logging sides just a mere thirty something years later. what impressed me the most was the size of the destruction and weyco investing a HUGE amount of time and money to get back to work. Ive heard storys of upwards of 600 loads a day headed to longview after the blast. After being up there I thanked the big guy that it happened on a sunday limiting the lives lost. If it would have been one day later the death toll would have been thousands. And i found a new hero Harry Truman he was mt st helens and the mountain was him. If you get the chance to go visit the mountain i urge you to do it, beautiful country. As a side note i watched on tv 12 roads camp trucks piled up on each other at 7 years old. Ive carried that image in my mind for years when you see where it happened its so much bigger than tv. Oh by the way we had a earthquake in Amboy yesterday hopefully she will stay asleep a bit longer.

[slurrydog]

Thanks for sharing this.
I was up there for my first visit two summers ago. I always wanted to go up there but never was able to until the company I worked for got the contract to resurface the parking lot at Johnson Ridge and at Coldwater.It really is something to see, I was very impressed. I wish I could have gone up there every year since 1980 to see how far things have progressed.
I also saw the truck you are talking about, just crazy.
My dad built a lot of logging roads up there back in the 50s that are all gone now.
I am going to try to take my family up there this summer it is a really cool experience.
Dave

[Muleskinner]

Was in the Oregon National Guard when she blew and made a few flights over the area a few days afterwards. Complete devastation and lifeless area. Al the land marks and lakes not to mention the river and cricks were full of liquid ash headed down stream. Really a sobering flight. Nothing but gray as far as you could see. Made a total of four flights and that was enough for me.

[spimike]

Slurry dog and william thanks for your replys its nice to know people can see it 30 years later and still be there. And william your service is to be commended, I know quite a few loggers that worked the salvage one thing the largest single clearcut in one day with not a chain saw in sight.

[shovellogger]

When the mud flow finally stopped it came within 10 feet of almost losing our home remeber like it was yezterday.

[slurrydog]

10 feet from you house, wow that was close.
I heard the blast that Sunday morning, and I live in Cottage Grove Or 20 miles south of Eugene.
We watched all the news reports for days, we had a lot of relatives that lived in the Yacholt area, that is where my dad was raised. In fact I remember my dad was trying to talk my mom into moving back to Yacholt right before May 18th, and I remember watching the news that night and mom saying to dad " so do you still want to move back". Kind of made me laugh a little.
There were also a lot of loggers that went up from my area to help with the salvage, and I remember them talking about how hared it was on the equipment and air filters.
Dave

[spimike]

your right Dave eveything was hard on equipment on that job, the worst were Siller and Erickson with their cranes flying up there, turbine engines dont enjoy dust alot. One thing for sure if nothing else loggers adapt modify invent improvise or get the hell out of way.

[slurrydog]

That is one reason I have a lot of respect for loggers.
Dave