Along the north fork of the Toutle River, stands of young alder trees are shooting up from the gray soil. Alder makes good firewood, especially for char-broiling beefsteaks, but these particular trees are good for another reason: They hide the scars left 10 years ago by the colossal eruption of Mt. St. Helens.
It was through the bed of this river that Mt. St. Helens on May 18, 1980, belched unimaginable tons of hot mud and debris at speeds up to 670 miles an hour. Some places, including Spirit Lake, were buried under 150 feet of debris. The careening wall of mud and rock uprooted trees, smashed bridges and wiped out homes and work camps. It scoured and undercut the river banks and eventually blocked the shipping channels in the Columbia River, miles downstream.
Less than 10 minutes after the eruption, a plume of ash rose 13.6 miles into the air, carrying 520 million tons of ash across the United States. In many towns in eastern Washington, day turned to night as the ash rained down upon them.
Fifty-seven people died.
And when the dust settled weeks later, the top 1,300 feet of the mountain was gone. The once-pristine forest and lakes on the northern flanks of the mountain, about 100 miles south of Seattle, looked like a desert. Some experts said it would be years before anything grew back.
You know the story: Nature heals. It was not long before tiny leaves broke through the gray ash. It was not long before animals returned in tentative numbers, not long before the muddy waters began to clear and new lakes created new shorelines and new vistas.
Certainly one can still see millions of downed trees, and from such vantage points as Windy Ridge, one gaze upon a bleak, gouged and denuded land. Your children and their children`s children never will see the slopes of Mt. St. Helens as they were at 8:32 a.m. on May 18, 1980, green and serene. It takes at least 120 years, with natural seeding, to develop a mature forest. Mt. St. Helens` will take a half century longer, the experts say.
A surprising recovery
But the recovery has moved forward faster than many people expected.
The elk are back in number, fish are seen in the lakes, grasses are turning once-bleak deserts of ash into prairies, trees are beginning to make shade.
”About 90 percent of the animals have come back,” said Rich Ray, a park interpretive specialist, ”but the whole makeup of the area is different. Species dominate now that wouldn`t have before.
”A sizable number of plant species are back, too, about 70 percent. But we`re not looking at a forest environment, of course.” The forest will come later.
Nature is not the only thing that has risen from the ashes. Curiosity has driven millions of tourists to the volcano that shook the Northwest, begetting new facilities dedicated to volcano-viewing and volcano-understanding.
Two years after the eruption, the federal government created the Mt. St. Helens National Monument, protecting it from commercial development. Some land was purchased, some donated. The Burlington Northern Railway, which owned the summit of Mt. St. Helens before the eruption, donated it to the forest service after it was vaporized.
More than 100 trails have been constructed, as well as several roads and bridges. A visitors` center was built, and more tourist-oriented facilities are in the offing.
For now, the best ground vantage point is at Windy Ridge, at the end of Forest Service Road 99 on the eastern flank of Mt. St. Helens. Though it is open only from late May to late October, Windy Ridge is the monument`s most popular site, getting almost twice the number of visitors as the visitors`
center.
A view of the crater
At Windy Ridge, the forest service has constructed an amphitheater, sand ladders and boardwalks for visitors, who have an unobstructed view of the open crater and the lava dome rising within it. Thousands of downed trees, scattered about like giant pick-up sticks, are visible, as is the new Spirit Lake, whose surface is 300 feet above the former one. Six interpretative programs are held daily in summertime.
Several other turnoffs on Forest Service 99 also offer good views. At Cascade Viewpoint, six miles before Windy Ridge, you can see not one but three volcanoes: Mt. St. Helens, of course, plus Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood. Park officials hope to have Forest Service 99 open to this point for the 10th anniversary of the eruption May 18.
Of course, the best view of the mountain any time, if weather permits, is from the air. Scenic tours by helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft are available from a number of locales around the mountain.
At the forest service`s visitor center at Silver Lake, about five miles east of the Castle Rock exit of Interstate Highway 5, an excellent overview of the eruption and its effects is presented.
Pre-eruption days
A film and slide show provide sylvan flashbacks to the pre-eruption days, when Spirit Lake nestled in a forest of mature evergreens under the almost-perfect cone of snow-capped Mt. St. Helens.
At the very start of the eruption, the film shows the whole face of the mountain slide away, followed by the first vertical plume of smoke and ash.
Two large models of the mountain help visitors trace the paths of the blast area, the rock and mud flows. Though the mountain is 30 miles away, you can see it from the center on good days, its reflection shimmering in Silver Lake.
As the eruption occurred on the north flank of the volcano, the south side was little affected.
Visitors in coming years will have even better views. A 22-mile, $118-million highway is being built to take visitors to the summit of Johnston Ridge for a head-on view of the crater. Called the Spirit Lake Highway, the road will continue from the present end of Washington Highway 504, near the debris dam. Part of the road, to Coldwater Ridge, may be open by fall of 1992 or spring of 1993, said Ray, the interpretative specialist, with the entire highway ready by 1994.
Meanwhile, the business of tourism is still going strong along the major roads near the mountain. Thirteen miles from I-5 stands the A-frame house that was inundated by five feet of hot mud 8 1/2 hours after the eruption. The new home, just three days from completion when the mud flow struck, became a tourist attraction and still is one. The inside has been dug out, but the land level is still five feet higher everywhere around it.
Time heals and memories fade. Just as surely as the ash-souvenir business will tail off over the years, so again will Mt. St. Helens regain its serene visage.
In 100 years, or 200 years, stately evergreens will once again shade the mountain creeks and visitors will once again sail upon a sublime Spirit Lake. But some day in the future, a rumble will be heard, and the cycle will begin anew. One should not forget that the summit of Mt. St. Helens, blown away 10 years ago, was only 350 years old.
Ashes to ashes.
