August 1 we took a road trip to Mount St. Helen's, Washington. It was about an hour's drive from I-5, with several interpretive centers along the way, featuring different aspects of the mountain's history and explaining the science behind the volcano's magnificent eruption back in 1980. I remember the event, but as I was not living in BC at the time, I don't think I realized just how incredible it really was. The personal accounts of people who witnessed or survived the eruption were fascinating to read, and the video footage was spectacular. One of the big stories of the event was that of Harry Truman, a resident who had lived all his life at the foot of the mountain and refused to leave when the evacuation order was given. He made the international news at the time and his story is now legend.
The Komo 4 news car is now parked outside one of the interpretive centers, as a monument to the eruption. It is still covered in the ash that blackened the skies of Washington after the blast.
Amazingly enough, due to the wonders of physics, the people closest to the blast heard nothing. I found it humourous that "a Canadian town" doesn't appear to have a name. I guess if it's not Vancouver, it's too small to acknowledge.
At the highest point of the highway, we got a good view of the summit of the volcano. In this photo, our interpreter is getting us to reconstruct the original peak with our hands, to show how much of the mountain was blown away during the blast.
No comments:
Post a Comment