Well it sort of is. I was fishing with my friends on the lake the Sunday she erupted, May 18, 1980. As I can’t wear a mask or even pull my shirt over my nose, I coughed for 6 months afterwards. And the carburetor on my Ford Courier needed to be replaced. I didn’t even look at the date as it’s burned in my mind forever. Just a beautiful 1 ounce silver bar that was issued shortly (a few years) after the eruption. It’s a beautiful site to see, the destruction that occurred was devastating but could have been worse. If you ever get to that area, it’s worth it to go see this. They probably have a park and campground at the base of it now. After all, it’s been quiet for over 40 years. I still have some ash from its eruption.
Just Monday my wife was flipping through the Samsung+ station offerings on the tube and one of the channels is just hours of droned(?) HD nature footage from various scenic places and that night was a recent shoot/scan of the Mt. St. Helens area. They don't really hype where they're at, so I just said 'wow, Mt. St. Helens, that looks really nice now' and my wife asked how I recognized it, and I just said from memory and then pulled up the before and after shots. Still kind of stunned at how much of the mountain just looks 'gone'.
I have a friend that was working with a crew on the mountain that day. From the story he tells he was half way down when it blew and the only one who made it off the mountain of the crew.
The ash cloud had been around the earth a few times now. The first few weeks there were very nice sunsets.
The top 1500 feet of it was pulverized into ash instantly. By the time I got out boat off of the lake and hooked up to the truck I had 5” of ash on the vehicle. Leaving we passed the National Guard coking in to close the area down. I used my CB and found out what was going on so I rode through the camping area with my loudspeaker announcing to get out of the area. Two guys were sitting around a campfire with coats pulled up over their heads. They told me to be quiet as I was distributing the peace. About 20 minutes later the National Guard was there and all you did was get out taking nothing with you.
The side facing the mountain was stripped clean. Every tree was knocked down and nothing lived. He was lucky to get out. I remember hearing that it broke windows in Vancouver British Columbia. That’s where the sound wave landed, about 175 miles north of the mountain.
That lake had some elderly gentleman who lived in a shack/house as I recall who refused to leave. He was killed in the blast.
It was in some of the documentaries that have been produced...he was a regular on the news and morning shows in early-1980.
Over 50 people were killed. I think his name was Harry Truman but I’m not sure. Over 200 square miles of forests were also destroyed in minutes.
Yes, Harry Truman . I was watching some of the footage from USGS and news awhile ago, simply incredible the force and destruction. When I was stationed at Ft. Lewis in the early 80's many of the units would still go down there at times to clean up and help our neighbors
I was 6. We were in the San Juan Islands that day. I remember hearing the boom. It's about 160 miles away. My dad thought it was sonic boom, maybe from a plane. Found out it was the mountain that evening.
