Hiking
through the Ape caves with some friends, we camped next to Mount St. Helens
since they are in close proximity. I haven’t been back to this volcano since I
was young. It was 10 years after the large explosive eruption of 1980, that
killed 57 people (mostly from inhaling the hot ash) who were either unaware of
what was about to happen, or they underestimated the effects it would have—this
episode took off approximately 1,000 feet off the mountain. Years later I would
watch a documentary on this event that generated massive mudflows, caused massive
floods from rivers and streams due to the snow melting off the volcano, created
a huge landslide, destroyed the surrounding forest and sent a large ash cloud
across several states—it was a major disaster that affected a lot of people
near and far. The volcano had erupted before, but it was a lot tamer, so when
it did erupt in 1980, there must have been a lot of pent up gasses for the amount
of pressure it had to cause that type of violent explosion.
This
is still an active volcano that is now being watched and researched, but
researchers don’t see signs that it will erupt anytime soon. There are
constantly smaller earthquakes that happen around this volcano, as it’s on top
of the subduction zone, and although lava flows exploded in 2004, mostly only
semi-solid lava came pouring out of it. At this time, I feel safe camping in
its proximity because in the past there have been warning signs, and in the
future if something like this were to occur again, I think everyone will be
much more prepared for it.
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Great post, i must be an amazing experience camping there. This must be of constant concern to the inhabitant of the land
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