My Dad, myself and my cousin were down fishing in a bass tournament on Silver Lake in Cowlitz County, Washington the weekend that Mt St Helens decided to blow its top. I was 16 sixteen at the time. A member of the bass club was a photographer and shot the attached images that morning. I took a iPhone photo of the prints that have been in storage.
I remember a beautiful morning of fishing on the lake. All weekend long, we were hoping for some kind of activity, at least see a steam eruption (little did I know we would see a historic event).
My Dad had to make a run back to the lake resort and while we were motoring out of the lily pads, we looked up just as the eruption started (like you may have seen in the time lapse photos of the eruption).
Not knowing the outcome of the eruption, we headed back to the lake resort we were staying at. By time we got back to shore, many people were panicking, trying to get their boats out of the water and out of the area.
After watching the chaos for a while, we got word that the I-5 bridge over the Toutle River was closed. So instead of worrying about getting out of the area, my cool-headed dad took my cousin and myself over to a store on the lake, bought some cool beverages, and sat out in the lake and enjoyed the view.
After a couple of hours, the Toutle River bridge was reopened and we packed up and headed home.
Most people living in the Pacific Northwest at that time knows exactly where they were when Mt St Helens erupted. I feel blessed to have witnessed such an awesome force of nature first hand.
