Day 32 - Mt. St. Helens in Washington

 Our first view of Mt. St. Helens - about 1:30pm - had a cloud over it. We checked out the visitors center, watched two orientation movies and hiked one of the trails at the top of the visitors center to get a different view of the mountain. The eruption happened on May 12, 1980 and blew out the whole side of the mountain, sending rock and debris at 700 mph - 14 miles into the valley below. It totally destroyed the forest and blew away thousands of up to 8 foot diameter trees like pick up sticks.

These trees and thousands like them were chopped off  within
10 minutes after the eruption

Donna with Mt. St. Helens in the background

Donna - Isn't she a deer??

Skull replacement in progress