Mount St. Helens, getting scolded...and Bigfoot!

[pdedse]

After lunch, nothing really planned, so it seemed like a great afternoon for a ride, but I wanted something off my local beaten paths. Somebody had mentioned going to Mount St. Helens recently and I thought I hadn't been there in awhile.

I got on the road by 2:45 and snailed across the 205 bridge from OR into Washington. Then up the never delightful I-5 towards WA 504 east which would take me to St. Helens.

In the "I did not see that coming" department--I exited I-5 at Kelso, WA just to check my map to see how far away my turn-off was. I went through an intersection and realized I was already entering the on-ramp back onto the hiway so I pulled over on the very wide shoulder. I was looking at the map when I sensed a car pull up next to me..."here we go" I thought to myself, "another CB1100 admirer". The guy's female passenger had the window already rolled down and I was preparing my "Thanks! It's actually not a rebuild, it's a 2017 Honday CB1100" line that I've used many times before.

The 30 something guy leans over practically on top of his passenger and at first his words don't register. They don't sound complimentary at all. "What!?" I say and then I hear "...you picked the sh*tt*est parking spot you possibly could have chosen...blah-blah-blah...and I ride...I mean all over!...blah-blah"...he waits for a second, I guess for me to respond...and I simply say "aaaaalllllright!" and flip my lid closed and go about my business and then he realizes he's in the way of traffic and speeds off. Huh! First thought was that I was pretty confident I could have picked a much worse spot than I did...couldn't believe he was actually scolding me!! Then I looked at where I was and my bike was nearly 3 meters away from the painted line, I was practically against the guard-rail. A person would have had to have gone out of his way to hit me. I was dumbfounded...but whatcha gonna do?!? Venting...feels good.

On with the trip!

Mount St. Helens blew May 18, 1980. I was a sophomore in high school and clearly remember the two month build up to the eruption. Does anyone remember [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_R._Truman]Harry Truman, the old man who lived by Spirit Lake and who refused to evacuate despite numerous pleas from authorities and family? Quite the story back then. I like to think that had I been him, I wouldn't have left either, but rather "go down with the ship" after living a fairly full life of 83 years.

I passed through the town of Toutle and enjoyed the Spirit Lake Hiway (504) practically all to myself--the advantage of going late in the day in the middle of the week. The eruption sent debris down the valley from east to west, where many of the 57 people lost their lives.





My first close-up sighting of Helens, still 25 miles away


The Hoffstadt Bridge



From the Elk Rock Viewpoint



Coldwater Lake




Signs said that the Johnston Ridge Observatory was closed, but I was happy to see that the road there was still open.
I had been here two times before...once back in 2001 or 02, can't remember exactly. And then again in 2008...so it had been some time. It's always impressive to see just how much of this volcano blew.

[Tev62]

Great pictures pdedse, I didn't realise so much had blown off the top of that thing. As for your encounter, it's at times like that you think up the witty answer you should of made, just as they drive off.

[pdedse]

Just a few more...hard to limit!


Downed trees from over 40 years ago


I'm told it's possible to hike to the top ridge...another day:


On the way out...I think they missed a spot


So once again as I pull over, up comes this big burley dude, and of course, he start's asking about the bike, what year, if it's a rebuild, yadda-yadda...


Got back home around 930pm...some 240 miles, 100 of those on hiway 504...today, not much traffic...a very good riding day.





Still can't believe he scolded me!

Great pictures pdedse, I didn't realise so much had blown off the top of that thing. As for your encounter, it's at times like that you think up the witty answer you should of made, just as they drive off.

Yep! Something like this came to my mind:




But then this might have happened...

[Tev62]

Yes, I would of gone with the suggestion about sleeping with his wife, the jerk store is too open for a comeback! You look in the window of the car as he talks away at you and you smile at his passenger and say "Oh hi, good to see you again. Did that, that thing, clear itself up in the end"?

[Cormanus]

Thank you for that report and pictures. I remember Mt St Helen’s blowing up. As Tev says, it took a fair bit off the top, didn’t it?

[Rocky_imp]

Nice the story and great pics

[peterbaron]

Pdedse, great journey, story and pics !!

[the Ferret]

Great pics as usual. The area appears to have recovered well. May 18, 1980 I turned 30. That was a long time ago lol

[GoldOxide_imp]

Dang - that Canadian quarter will do it every time.

I enjoyed the story pdedse.

I remember when Helens blew 'er top. It was a big deal back then. I remember the dark, myopic video capture during that time by some hiker. Seemed grim. I can't imagine what a modern day video would look like and how many people will stick around to take it if Helens awoke again.

[pdedse]

Thank you for that report and pictures. I remember Mt St Helen’s blowing up. As Tev says, it took a fair bit off the top, didn’t it?

It's eye-opening to see the before / after photos while you're there looking at what's left. As always, photos fail to capture the magnitude of what we see in person.

I wanted to get an idea of just how much blew in this lateral explosion and found the [url=https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mount-st-helens/1980-cataclysmic-eruption?qt-science_support_page_related_con=2#qt-science_support_page_related_con]USGS site which has some cool photos.

From the site: "The total avalanche volume is about 2.5 km3 (3.3 billion cubic yards), equivalent to 1 million Olympic swimming pools." 3.3 billion cubic yards... for comparison, 12 million cubic yards of concrete were used to build the Grand Coulee Dam and 4.3 million to build the Hoover Dam. If my math is right, the material that blew from Helens is equal to the amount of concrete used to build both dams more than 202 times.

They never found ol' Harry Truman...the Net says he's buried under 150 feet of debris and ash...that his death would have been within a second of the heat shock that reached him shortly after the explosion. I'll always remember news folks interviewing him weeks before the eruption, his seemingly crazy defiance and insistence that the volcano blast wouldn't overtake him. Then one Sunday morning, it did.

Anyway, thanks for the comments...I'm nearly recovered from my roadside parking encounter. Had I replied unkindly to the gentlemen trying to give me advice, the situation likely would have blown up in my face, road rage averted.

Great pics as usual. The area appears to have recovered well. May 18, 1980 I turned 30. That was a long time ago lol

Wait, I just re-read that...so Helens blew the day of your birthday?!?

I was going to add from 2004-08 Helens "re-awoke" with a number of smaller eruptions. It's biggest was on my son's birthday on March 8, 2008. We could see the ash plume rising in the sky from Gresham, OR as we were driving to a restaurant to celebrate his b-day.