Mt. St. Helens Power Trip

Darcy Mitchum was just 10 and living in the nearby small town of Toutle that Sunday morning, but she will never forget the day the mountain blew up. Neither will anyone else who lived through the eruption of the Mt. St. Helens volcano 15 years ago next month.

“There was a blue-black cloud that was above us and behind us like a giant umbrella,” Mitchum told a hushed group of parents and children who were touring the still-devastated area.

A tour of Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is a first-rate lesson in the power of nature to destroy and also to heal itself. My family was awed by the sight and heartened to see that the animals have returned and that trees are once again beginning to grow.

Even though Mt. St. Helens had begun shooting steam and ash into the sky several months before, no one was really prepared for what happened on May 18, 1980.

An earthquake rocked the mountain first, triggering a huge avalanche down its side that buried everything in its path. A 12-mile ash cloud shot into the air, eventually circling the globe. Floods of water and debris rushed down streams and rivers, washing away homes, cars and bridges, including the one Darcy crossed to school every day.

“It didn’t blow up but it blew out the side,” Mitchum said. “One of my uncles outran the avalanche (in his car). It got so hot that vinyl was peeling in the vehicle.”

Five million tons of ash spewed into the sky, blanketing neighborhoods hundreds of miles away to the north and east. People had to shovel it like snow.

Scientists had been watching Mt. St. Helens carefully for two months after it began to stir and most of the area had been evacuated. Earthquakes were occurring deep under the mountain and molten rock was being squeezed up like glue in a tube. Scientists could see a huge bulge on the north face growing rapidly--at the rate of five feet a day.

Native American legends had long ago warned of the dangers. The Yakima people had named the mountain Lawalitetlah, or Fire Mountain. Native Americans had seen the mountain erupt many times over the centuries, but it had been quiet since the 1850s.

Yet no one was prepared for the magnitude of what happened in 1980. Spirit Lake, a pristine lake at the foot of the mountain, was completely buried by the avalanche. Thirty-six people and thousands of animals died. The blast leveled 230 square miles of forest. Damage totaled $1.5 billion. The beautiful land in the blast zone--a mecca for campers, hikers and fishermen--suddenly looked as barren as the moon, complete with craters.

Today, scientists continue to study the volcanic landscape and to monitor its natural recovery. A new Forest Learning Center, just 10 miles down the highway from the monument’s Coldwater Ridge visitor center, concentrates on the vast reforestation efforts to help speed the recovery through hands-on exhibits. Darcy Mitchum now works there as an assistant director. “This is another piece of the story,” she said. (The center will open in May 18.) The entire area has become an important source of information about volcanoes for both scientists and tourists. It’s just a few hours’ drive from Portland and Seattle and, in my book, a must-see on any tour of the Pacific Northwest.

Getting to the Mt. St. Helens monument involves driving on long, winding roads, so it is important to plan the trip carefully. (For information about the monument, call 206-750-3900.)

Two good books to introduce the family to the area’s history are “Fire Mountain” by William Boly ($9.95, Cathco) and “Discovering Northwest Volcanoes” ($3.95, Cathco), an activity book for kids. (Call 206-274-2125 to order either.)

Start your visit at the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center and the kids will feel like they’ve arrived on another planet. Dead trees are strewn around like giant toothpicks. There are mounds of rock and mud called hummocks everywhere. To get a close-up look, take the quarter-mile trail marked Winds of Change. Check to see if interpreters are giving talks along the trail or in the visitor center.

Hardier hikers might want to head to the east side of the volcano to Windy Ridge. Take the Truman Trail to the closest point to the lava dome inside the volcano’s crater. The one-mile Harmony Trail provides the only legal way to get to Spirit Lake.

Look for the animals. Scientists were surprised at first at how much wildlife survived the volcano: gophers who live underground, frogs who burrowed deep in the lakes. Birds began flying back as soon as the ash settled.

If the children are up for caving, go to Ape Cave, one of the longest continuous lava tubes in the country. The lower cave, rangers say, is relatively easy, just three-quarters of a mile. But the adventurers in the group may enjoy the upper cave more. It’s twice as long and requires clamoring over big rocks. Wear long pants and sturdy shoes.

Our gang opted for heading to the shore of Coldwater Lake, which has been restocked with mountain trout. There’s even an educational discovery area, where the kids can try their luck balancing on logs.

Taking the Kids appears weekly.