Could you imagine, you're out hiking, and witness the neighboring mountain exploding ?

[Pluvious]

Talk about a memory searing lifetime moment…

Link to tweet

[Thunderbeast]

1. I live in Portland...Witnessed the eruption

These are some photos I have not seen before. The view from the climber on Mt. Adam's is wonderful.

The geologists told people to "STAY FAR AWAY!"

Many people said "WE HAVE RIGHTS!...CAIN'T KEEP US OFF OF PUBLIC LAND!"

While a handful of the 56 who died in the calamity were geologists, most were curious sightseers. ALL were warned.

The blast WAS much larger than even most geologists expected.

As a 28 year-old, the eruption was a reminder that "We are not in charge".

Earth Bats Last.

[oregonjen]

4. I remember Harry Truman who refused to evacuate.

We watched tv that Sunday morning in awe. “Where were you when the mountain blew?”

[wnylib]

13. Harry Truman??

[oregonjen]

16. Yes, same name, different person

https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2020/05/harry-r-truman-still-believed-in-love-as-mount-st-helens-eruption-loomed-refused-to-leave-the-mountain-that-gave-him-everything.html?outputType=amp

[central scrutinizer]

2. I was planting trees in the Mt. Hood National Forest

We heard the blast and the Forest Service radios went wild. I had planted the year before on the flanks of Mt. St. Helens while it was spouting steam and ash. Then the year after the blast we started replanting the blast zone. Some of the ground was covered in a thick layer of pumice pebbles. About as weightless as popcorn.

[Duppers]

5. Wow.

That gave you pause, did it not?

[central scrutinizer]

17. One replanting unit

Had an incinerated car sitting on the landing pointing towards the mountain. It was fenced off with chain link and signs designating it as a historical artifact. The occupants must have died instantly.

[Aristus]

3. I was forty miles away from the mountain when it erupted.

Funny thing is: the wind was blowing the other way. So the first I heard about it was when a bunch of Army helicopters from Fort Lewis roared overhead, and a kid from the next campsite over ran in to say that the mountain had erupted.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Twitter replies:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Pluvious]

21. Great selection Rhiannon ! Thanks for sharing (nt)

[mommymarine2003]

7. We lived in Pullman, WA at the time and had a brand new baby.

My mother-in-law was visiting from Spokane to help with the baby. We had plans to go to the Renaissance Fair in Moscow, ID as it was a beautiful day. However off to the west was a black horizon, and I remember being angry that the weatherman had predicted the weather wrong since obviously a storm was coming. A few hours later it was raining ash. It was dark as night outside, and we wondered if we would see the sun the next day. We really had no idea how long the sky would remain dark. There was absolutely no mention of the eruption on the news, so we had no warning. This caused the State of Washington to revamp their emergency system. I also collected many baby food jars filled with ash.

Now we live in the Portland, OR area. We live on a butte (an extinct cinder cone). We can see Mt. St. Helen's and Mt. Adams to the north and Mt. Hood to the east. I don't expect to see any of these erupt in my lifetime. Once is enough.

[wnylib]

14. No mention of the eruption?

For several days (weeks?) the US Geology Service was warning that it was going to blow.

[mommymarine2003]

18. There was no mention on TV.

We had the TV on all morning. We were well aware of the impending eruption, but on that day, we did not get any notice on TV from the stations in eastern Washington. It was not until the sky was "raining" ash before we realized what had happened. Pullman is a little less than 300 miles from Mt. St. Helens. We could not see the eruption or hear it. People were stuck all over the place in Eastern Washington because the ash clogged their cars.

[wnylib]

19. Wow. Wonder who dropped the ball on that.

There should have been immediate notice of the hazard from falling ash. I guess some people might have figured out what was going on because of the attention given to Mt. St. Helen before it erupted, but a lot of people might not have anticipated or recognized the effects of the eruption.

[mommymarine2003]

20. I just updated my previous post to you.

It really was an eye-opener on how bad the emergency broadcast system was. Of course, it was years before the Internet, too. Washington State University closed down for a week. I worked for the WSU Athletic Dept. at the time. The ash in the football turf turned hard like cement, so the whole field had to be redone the next season after players slipped or were hurt. We had to wear masks when we went outdoors. My daughter was 12 days old, and I worried what it would do to her lungs. It was definitely a time in my life that I will never forget.

Mt. St. Helens erupted again and my father happened to be flying to Seattle at that time. He got a great picture from the airplane. People semi-panicked with the second eruption, so we all rushed to the store to get bread, milk, and other supplies. That time there was just a bit of ash but we were afraid it was going to be like the first eruption.

[progressoid]

23. My sister was in Walla Walla and they too were surprised by it.

Many people couldn't get their cars to run because the air filters would clog up.

[Permanut]

8. Sunday morning about 8:30..

The mountain blew, as we kind of expected. Washington governor Dixie Lee Ray established a "red zone" around the mountain, and all who perished we're inside that zone.

The giant black cloud continued all that day, cl.early visible from Portland

[MissB]

9. I was just a kid, spending time at my grandparents' house in Chewelah, WA

(Not far from Spokane)

We heard a boom.

Eventually we got a lot of ash all over the ground. Car air filters would clog, and my grandparents definitely didn’t have a modern car, so I remember us hanging out at their house for longer than originally planned.

[hydrolastic]

10. Watched it from the roof of our house in Seattle

Ballard actually. I was 17 and supposed to be prepping the roof for the roofers. My dad is so cheap he would not pay to have it removed when we could do it for free. Thing is Seattle is at least half a state away from mt st helens and I could not see the mt without the eruption. But when it went it was huge!!!

[Hekate]

11. Thank you all for sharing your memories

[FuzzyRabbit]

12. When the mountain blew, if flooded the Cowlitz River and the Toutle River with boiling water.

The Toutle was one of the best and most popular summer run steelhead rivers in western Washington.

On Tuesday after the eruption I was working the fishing tackle counter at a Seattle sporting goods store. That afternoon the phone rang and an old sounding man asked "What is the fishing like on the Toutle River?

I didn't want to insult him in case he had not heard about the eruption, and I was also aware that it might be a prank call. So I merely said "I heard the river is a little out of shape."

He thanked me and hung up.

[montanacowboy]

15. Was in Montana when it happened

we had that volcanic dust deep in the streets forever.

[electric_blue68]

22. Well. That's..... Terrifying!!!! I do remember hearing about it, seeing the photos later.

Last edited Fri May 19, 2023, 02:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Some serious memories here.


Speaking of volcanoes on my second trip (1980) to part of the Navajo & Hopi Nations; this time by Greyline, vs by car w a friend first visit - our driver/guide took us back to Flagstaff AZ partly by an older road which I've only found on one map without a designation that goes closer to all these little-ish old cinder cones! 😮


ETA:
Looking at Google Maps (vs other maps I'd seen) has some potential roads we took - plus
a Cinder Hills Kennel.

[Aristus]

24. IIRC, the eruption caused the largest landslide in recorded history.

n/t