Johnston Ridge Observatory

Drive: Johnston Ridge Observatory to Mt St. Helens Science and Learning Center; WA

I thought they would open at 10 am so hung out in the parking lot of the Johnston Observatory until that time. Then when I got to the learning center, I learn they are closed for a camp.

Mount St. Helens Volcano, Johnston Observatory, Washington, USA

Taken from the Johnston Ridge Observatory in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. In the video you can see views of the crater, lava dome, pumice plain, and landslide deposits. The observatory is located on the site where volcanologist David A. Johnston had his camp and was killed, on the morning eruption of May 18, 1980. Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is about 100 miles south from Seattle and 50 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon. The mountain takes its name from the British diplomat Lord St Helens, friend of explorer George Vancouver who surveyed the area in the 18th century. The volcano is famous for erupting on May 18, 1980 and has been active ever since. The eruption is the deadliest and most destructive volcanic event in U.S.history; 57 people lost there lives, not to mention the huge economic destruction of the entire region.

In the Path of Destruction: Eyewitness Chronicles of Mount St. Helens Book Trailer

Richard Waitt frames the most extraordinary geologic event of our times. ‘In the Path of Destruction’ is among the most gripping and thoroughly compelling books I have read in years.--Robert Michael Pyle, author of “Wintergreen,” “Where Bigfoot Walks,” and “Mariposa Road “

May 18, 2015 marks the 35th anniversary of Earth’s largest terrestrial landslide in historical times--a result of a restless volcano and a uniquely violent eruption. The top of Mount St. Helens plowed into Spirit Lake, throwing water 860 feet above lake level, a great inland tsunami. A ground-hugging hot surge sped across valleys and ridges, killing dozens of people and nearly all other life as it leveled 234 square miles of forest. An extraordinary natural phenomenon--a vast cloud--rose 19 miles and mushroomed, plunging much of Washington into ashen blackness darker than night as it spread across the state.
Part of a team studying volcanoes in the Cascades, Richard Waitt was one of the first United States Geological Survey researchers to arrive following the mountain’s early rumblings. Not long after the devastating events he met a couple who had barely outraced a searing ash cloud. Listening to their story, he realized that people who were even fleetingly in or just outside the eruption-leveled forest observed processes that a geologist later scrutinizing deposits couldn’t know. He began interviewing other witnesses and eventually collected hundreds, often making repeated visits to gather additional details, correct errors, and resolve discrepancies.
Two that Waitt spoke with were Jim Scymanky and Mike Hubbard. Scymanky, about twelve miles northwest, was logging a north slope above Hoffstadt Creek. “Rocks zinged through the woods, bouncing off trees, then the tops of trees snapped off...it got hot right away, then scorching hot and impossible to breathe…I was being cremated, the pain unbearable.” Mike Hubbard was farther out--sixteen miles northwest near Green River. “I was on my knees, my back to the hot wind. It blew me along, lifting my rear so I was up on my hands...It was hot but I didn’t feel burned--until I felt my ears curl.”
At first Waitt sought only to document the eruption’s natural processes, but these descriptions and remarkable personal experiences seemed inextricably intertwined. “Observations are valid to science only if place and time are known, and those elements were clarified by details of the adventure stories,” says Waitt. “Only together did they make a powerful and readable science story.” A meticulous scientist with a Ph.D. in geological sciences from the University of Washington and intimate knowledge of Mount St. Helens, he is uniquely qualified to merge an accurate chronicle of events with the related science. Waitt has studied, written and spoken on geological processes--especially those related to volcanoes and the Pacific Northwest--for decades. He has collaborated on and/or appeared in programs for the Discovery Channel, PBS-NOVA, National Geographic Channel, and the History Channel.

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

At 8:32 am. on May 18, 1980, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook Mount St. Helens, triggering a massive explosion. Fifty-seven people were killed that day. The largest landslide in recorded history swept through the Toutle River Valley, choking rivers and lakes with mud, ash and shattered timber. In 1982, the United States Congress established the 110,000 acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument to preserve a portion of the blast zone for scientists, educators and visitors. Just an hour+ drive from Castle Rock, Washington. Something to see.

MT ST HELENS WEST SIDE ATTRACTIONS

An Accessible Adventure to the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. John will show you exactly how accessible these major scenic sights are in this national monument, built shortly after the May 18, 1980 eruption.

Mount St. Helens: May 18, 1980

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USGS scientists recount their experiences before, during and after the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Loss of their colleague David A. Johnston and 56 others in the eruption cast a pall over one of the most dramatic geologic moments in American history.

Mt. St. Helens 2015, Castle Rock to Castle Lake viewpoint

Go Pro dash cam view driving 504 Spirit Lake Memorial Hwy from I5 to Castle Lake viewpoint.

1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens

In 1980, a major volcanic eruption occurred at Mount St. Helens, a volcano located in state of Washington, in the United States. The eruption (which was a level 5 event) was the only significant one to occur in the contiguous 48 U.S. states since the 1915 eruption of Lassen Peak in California. The eruption was preceded by a two-month series of earthquakes and steam-venting episodes, caused by an injection of magma at shallow depth below the volcano that created a huge bulge and a fracture system on the mountain's north slope.
Prior to the eruption, USGS scientists convinced local authorities to close Mount St. Helens to the general public and to maintain the closure in spite of local pressure to re-open it; their work saved thousands of lives. An earthquake at 8:32:17 a.m. PDT (UTC−7) on Sunday, May 18, 1980, caused the entire weakened north face to slide away, suddenly exposing the partly molten, gas- and steam-rich rock in the volcano to lower pressure. The rock responded by exploding a hot mix of lava and pulverized older rock toward Spirit Lake so fast that it overtook the avalanching north face.


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