Mount St. Helens National Monument, WA

Published on August 21, 2021 | in Blog, National Monument By Christopher Maitland |

Mount St. Helens National Monument, WA

August 21, 2021

The most destructive volcanic explosion in modern American history—On May 18, 1980 at 8:32 a.m., a magnitude 5.1 earthquake triggered one of the world’s largest recorded landslides, followed by one of the most powerful volcanic blasts in the history of North America.

That morning, twenty-three square miles of the mountain blasted sideways at 650 m.p.h. The temperature reached 660 degrees Fahrenheit as it choked life around it. A flow of rock fragment, hot gases and super-heated steam raced down the mountain at 200 miles per hour, devastating everything in its path. An ash cloud billowed 80,000 feet into the sky, circling the entire earth. Fifty-seven people lost their lives.

Even now, decades after an eruption that impacted nearly all of the Pacific Northwest, Mount St. Helens is ranked as the most famously unstable mountain in North America.

The geology here is fascinating, of course, but so is the quieter spectacle of forests and meadows gradually reclaiming the mountain’s scorched slopes. Must-sees include Johnston Ridge Observatory, Loowit Viewpoint, Castle Lake Viewpoint, and Elk Rock Viewpoint.

Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center at Seaquest State Park (July 2021 closed for renovations)

3029 Spirit Lake Hwy, Castle Rock, WA 98611

$5 admission fee

https://parks.state.wa.us/245/Mount-St-Helens

Mt St Helens Forest Learning Center (Closed due to COVID July 2021)

17000 Spirit Lake Hwy, Toutle, WA 98649

Free admission

https://www.weyerhaeuser.com/company/values/citizenship/mount-st-helens/visit/

Elk Rock Viewpoint (46.2946799, -122.3415928)

Castle Lake Viewpoint (46.2966992, -122.2993540)

Loowit Viewpoint (46.2769236, -122.2296166)

Wild Flowers

Mount St. Helens Science and Learning Center (Closed due to COVID July 2021)

19000 Spirit Lake Hwy, Toutle, WA 98649

http://www.mshslc.org/

Johnston Ridge Observatory (Closed due to COVID July 2021)

24000 Spirit Lake Hwy, Toutle, WA 98649

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/giffordpinchot/recarea/?recid=31562

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About Christopher Maitland

Cooking (and eating) great food is my passion. I am a self-taught home cook on a culinary journey where I am constantly discovering new tastes from recipes whilst teaching myself to cook and most recently bake. I created foodiemadesimple.com blog, after encouragement from my friend and web master Jerald, as a means to document and share all my culinary experiences and recipes with everyone. I strive to constantly create great food, simply and provide pleasant memories for friends and family who benefit from this culinary endeavor. Well in early 2017 my wife and I decided to sell our sticks and bricks house and rent one in a neighborhood we thought we wanted to move to to determine if we wanted to purchase a fixer-uper, remodel and make it our own. Several months later my wife said I don’t to set up another house just to pack it up and move again. What do you think about getting an RV and then when we decide where to buy we will have a place to stay while we remodel the new house and not have rent and a mortgage. I thought this was a brilliant idea and thus began the process of looking for the right RV. I found the right RV after months and months of research and looking, a 2018 Open Range Roamer 371MBH. This model has a mid-bunk that I use would use as an office with a door that will shut, wife requirement so she will not have to listen to me on the phone. Then the next challenge my current truck a GMC 2500HD will not tow the new 5er. So a truck shopping I went. Problem solved a 2017 RAM 3500HD Laramie 4X4 Dully with a Cummins Diesel. So bought the truck and 5er, put the house on the market and stated the task of downsizing from a 3600 sqft house to a 410 soft 5er and 2 10X15 climate controlled storage units. The house sold in November 2017 and after running foodiemadesimple.com for 3 1/2 years, Jerald and I decided to start rvcookingmadesimple.com where I will take what I created in a rather large 200 sqft kitchen in my sticks and bricks and recreate it in an RV kitchen breaking it down and making it simple. I hope you enjoy.

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