Sand & Ash: St Helens lingers
There is a lot of neat science to learn about volcanoes. Your
vocabulary will gain some real important sounding stuff. I could
write a short volcano “Why” but let’s see which
way this leads.
1980, for me, was a personally memorable year. I am into the
sciences and really enjoy learning little bits of trivia that every
once in a while I get to drag out of the rusted synaptic post-its
inside a seldom animated gray matter. Speaking of gray matter, we
have weaved our way back on topic.
Out in the sand blown reaches of the south end our dunes make a
diverse ecosystem playground for the outdoorsman. Part is rolling
sand with strange tracks made by loud quads looking for a place to
wreck. Then in the other part the dunes are protected from the
assault of ORVs. Hunters, hikers and horseback riders can spend
time with nature without being battered by airborne machines. The
sands are covered in places with grasses, sagebrush and groves of
trees nestled around small ponds. All in all, the dunes offer
entertainment for a lot of folks. Stashing is my sport of choice.
The art is finding a spot that is cool. My attempt at art is okay
for the cool side given this cache is arriving in winter. How cool
is that. If the snow does its work the trails and tracks will be
buried under at least a few inches of the white crystals.
INFORMATION GATHERED FROM WIKIPEDIA.
Some random volcano info about our Lady of the Cascades, Mt St
Helens.
The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens , a
stratovolcano located in Washington State, in the United States,
was a major volcanic eruption. The eruption (which was a VEI 5
event) was the only significant one to occur in the contiguous 48
U.S. states since the 1915 eruption of Lassen Peak in
California
The eruption was preceded by a two-month series of earthquakes
and steam-venting episodes, caused by an injection of magma at
shallow depth below the volcano that created a huge bulge and a
fracture system on Mount St. Helens' north slope.
USGS scientists convinced the authorities to close Mount St.
Helens to the general public and to maintain the closure in spite
of pressure to re-open it; their work saved thousands of lives.
An earthquake at 8:32:17 a.m. PDT on Sunday, May 18, 1980,
caused the entire weakened north face to slide away, suddenly
exposing the partly molten, gas- and steam-rich rock in the volcano
to lower pressure. The rock responded by exploding a hot mix of
lava and pulverized older rock toward Spirit Lake so fast that it
overtook the avalanching north face.
An eruption column rose 80,000 feet (24,400 m) into the
atmosphere and deposited ash in 11 U.S. states. At the same time,
snow, ice and several entire glaciers on the volcano melted,
forming a series of large lahars (volcanic mudslides) that reached
as far as the Columbia River, nearly fifty miles (eighty
kilometers) to the southwest. Less severe outbursts continued into
the next day only to be followed by other large but not as
destructive eruptions later in 1980.
Fifty-seven people (including innkeeper Harry R. Truman and
geologist David A. Johnston) and thousands of animals were killed.
Hundreds of square miles were reduced to wasteland, causing over a
billion U.S. dollars in damage ($2.74 billion in 2007 dollars), and
Mount St. Helens was left with a crater on its north side. At the
time of the eruption, the summit of the volcano was owned by the
Burlington Northern Railroad, but afterward the land passed to the
United States Forest Service. The area was later preserved, as it
was, in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
Mount St. Helens from Monitor Ridge showing the cone of
devastation, the huge crater open to the north, the post-eruption
lava dome inside and Crater Glacier surrounding the lava dome. The
small photo on the left was taken from Spirit Lake before the
eruption and the small photo on the right was taken after the
eruption from approximately the same place. Spirit Lake can also be
seen in the larger image, as well as two other Cascade
volcanoes.
We lived through an eruption that made history. From the first
quakes in March on to the latest in an ever growing number of
events.
2005 to present
Mount St. Helens continues to experience low rates of seismicity,
low emissions of steam and volcanic gases, minor production of ash,
and the growth of a new lava dome inside the crater.
March 8, 2005
The Mount St. Helens volcano experienced a small explosive event,
with the resulting steam-and-ash plume reaching an altitude of
approximately 36,000 feet above sea level.
January 16, 2005
Explosive eruption that scattered ash and ballistics as large as 1
meter in the crater and ash eastward onto the volcano's east flank.
Mt St Helens has always been a part of my life. I was born not
far down river from where the Toutle enters the Cowlitz River. I
partied up the Toutle the night of graduation in1966 with one of my
best friends. In 1960 my family moved to Moses Lake to work on the
last 330 homes built for Larson Air Force Base which closed a few
years later. As it turned out, I had moved to Moses Lake only to be
strikingly reminded that the mountain made a lasting impression on
me, literally. On May 18th when my kids told me the mountain had
erupted I went to the parking lot of Grant County Fair Grounds on
my motorcycle and tried to see what was happening on the old girl.
Much to my dismay the strange looking storm that was approaching
was about to rock my world. I was struck by lightning from that
cloud… burned some of my hair off and scared me pretty good.
At that moment I did not believe that lightning never strikes
twice.
Back to the task at hand, geocaching. I didn’t walk too
far into the sand hills; there was a good deal of hunting and or
just shooting nearby. My hide is not listed as easy because it will
take some time picking out the signs that may be your clue. I hid a
3x4 inch lock n’ lock box painted camo. I don’t think
you can see it. So, once you come across the cache and sign the log
please take the time to replace it as you found it. One other thing
about this hide is I hid it some time ago so the signs might be a
little blown away or not. You might say evil or you might just say
that is cold.
This cache has room for small items of swag. Starter SWAG
consists of wooden nickels, US Money shrunken to match values
(fake), and dice. If I remembered there could be a FTF Certificate
to clutter your Geo space.