July 31, 2016 11:02 am
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A pumice plain, located north of the Mount St. Helens crater, is covered with wild flowers, including the bright red prairie-fire (also called Indian paintbrush) and the purple prairie lupine. "Over time, the dense mats of prairie lupines and other plants are adding organic matter and nitrogen to the pumice deposits and are helping to pave the way for other plants to follow," according to Peter Frenzen, monument scientist with the USDA Forest Service Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
A forest ranger provides information to visitors at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, located five miles from the base of Mount St. Helens. It hosts interpretive displays that tell the biological, geological, and human stories of the volcano.
Johnston Ridge Observatory visitors can take a half-mile walk on the Eruption Trail and learn how the Mount St. Helens eruption shaped the surrounding landscape. Other longer trail hikes are also accessible. Visitors can expect to see views of the lava dome, crater, pumice plain and the landslide deposit.
On March 15, 1980, Mt. St. Helens began waking up after being asleep for more than 130 years.
Two months later, at 8:32 a.m., on May 18, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake triggered the volcano to blast 1,314 feet of rock from its top, destroying everything within its reach. The earthquake caused the north face of the mountain to collapse in an avalanche, followed by a lateral explosion which ripped through the mountainside.
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