Force of Nature
Today we cruised on up the river and right past our final destination of Portland, OR to land in Rainier, OR. Now Rainier is not much of a town with a few small local businesses but nothing fancy, it may be just a little larger than Stevenson, but somehow less exciting. The excursion of the day was a trip up to Mt. St. Helens, and despite having been there before (when I was under 10) I went along to have a look.
On the trip up to the mountain we enjoyed a narrated bus drive and video educating us about the mountain’s history and the fateful eruption on May 18, 1980. For those of you who don’t know, Mt. St. Helens is actually an active volcano with
it’s last major eruption in 1980, but smaller eruptions as recent as 2008. The video showed us how ill prepared many people near the mountain were despite the warning signs being given off. For a couple of months before the major eruption a bulge developed on the mountain where lava was applying pressure on the rock, and ash rose from the peak as well. Despite this, people wanted to be closer to the mountain in order to see a volcanic eruption first hand.
When the volcano did erupt it wreaked havoc on the forest and river valley below. It started with a landslide that flooded Spirit lake at the foot of the mountain as well as raising the level of the Toutle river by several hundred feet. Not only did it cause destruction among the waterways but was able to wipe out 150 ft trees in seconds. In less than 10 minutes what used to be hundreds of square miles of forest were now barren and covered in ash, and debris. Speaking of ash a cloud of ash shot up and spread across eastern Washington even effecting cities such as Yakima and Spokane hundreds of miles away. It is truly amazing to see the power of nature at work.
Other than the Mt. St. Helens trip it was a relatively uneventful day. We had a piano and bass duet on board providing musical entertainment for the evening and tomorrow we will be arriving in Astoria, OR where I hope to continue my quest for local brews at a couple of different brew pubs. Stay tuned for more tomorrow.