As we began our visits to the Washington State National Parks, we also began our visits to several volcanoes in a chain that extend from southern British Columbia to northern California – Mount Baker, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens and into California are Mount Shasta and Mount Lassen (although we passed by these last two on the way up, we will revisit them with more time on our way home in the fall).  The first of our visits is Mount St. Helens – unique in that its most recent eruption was only 35 years ago!  In fact, the 35th anniversary of the eruption was May 18 of this year.

Mt. St. Helens on the right and Mt. Rainier in the distance on the left.

In March 1980, after 123 years of silence, Mount St. Helens resumed volcanic activity.  The initial signs were modest – traces of steam and ash wafted from a vent near the summit and small earthquakes rumbled underground.  On May 18 the mountain blew.  A 5.1 magnitude earthquake triggered a violent eruption and one of the world’s largest recorded landslides.  1,300 feet of mountaintop collapsed into the valley below and claimed 57 lives and devastated almost 150,000 acres of state, national and privately owned forests.

The Blast Zone had the appearance of a moonscape.  Few people thought anything could grow in this lifeless expanse.  However, within a month of the eruption, bracken fern 13 miles from the volcano had pushed its way from underground root systems up through six inches of ash.  Within a few years, it was joined by other vegetation including forests, although sparse and small.  August 26, 1982, Congress designated 110,000 acres around Mount St. Helens as Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument establishing a living laboratory to allow recovery to proceed naturally unaided by humans.  Within the boundaries of the NM there has been NO planting or human intervention (some grass seeding was done to reduce erosion).  What you see in the 2 pictures below is all Mother Nature’s work during the last 35 years – –

Within the Park boundaries, no re-seeding was done.

This is all Mother Nature’s doing.

It is truly hard to believe that existing root systems and wind, rain and animals moving seeds could recreate this environment.  Very interesting to see.

On the other hand – Weyerhaeuser, who was the largest private land owner within the blasted area, began replanting 18.4 million seedlings by hand in 1981 after scraping away the ash (this is on their land and NOT within the NM).  The species planted were those that had grown in the area before the eruption – Douglas-fir, noble fir, lodgepole pine and black cottonwood.  If you have ever wondered what a perfectly manicured forest would look like – here it is —

Just outside the Park boundaries Weyerhaeuser reseeded thousands of acres.

The picture is NOT out of focus – it looked this way in person!!  All we could figure, is that because all the trees are the same size and ‘perfect’ the branches line up in such a way that it makes the entire ‘forest’ look out of focus.  Very strange effect.

Needless to say, our adventure to Mount St. Helens was a very educational one;-)

The day was speeding by, and we needed to get Magic to a new spot for the next few days – so on to Mount Rainier.  Sometimes things can change 180 degrees and still be exactly the same.  How can that be?  Stay with me.  If you read the prior posting about our beautiful campground in Canyonville for the Tiffin rally and checked out the pictures – you saw the amply spaced spots with trees and shrubs between every spot, cement pads and nice picnic tables.  In short – very nicely appointed and manicured.  Well – here just outside Mount Rainier NP our spot could not be more different – BUT, it too is a large space with trees between every spot and Mother Nature all around.  Another A1 locale that we LOVE;-)

Magic in the pines at our spot just outside Mt. Rainier NP.

Really happy to be enjoying our new adventures and learning all our NP’s have to offer.  Check back in a couple of days to hear all about Mount Rainier;-)

Having fun – Elizabeth & Gary