Mt St Helens

I went for a quick day trip to Mt St Helens, as it’s under two hours each way to get there. Learning about the May 18 1980 eruption was fascinating. Photos show it took just a few seconds for half of the mountain volcano to break free and become the largest land slide in recorded history, releasing pressure and a pyroclastic flow that devastated the surrounding area. The mountain (why do I keep calling it that?) looks as though half of it is missing. The crater has slowly filled in with a new lava dome during subsequent 1989-91 and 2004-08 eruptions. The 2004 eruption built the lava dome at the rate of one dump-truck load per second. At that rate, it would take 100 years to build up all that blew away in 1980. AMAZING.