Pacific Northwest Backroad Adventures

What were you doing the day Mt. St. Helens blew it’s top?

I realize that anybody under the age of 28 wasn’t even born so this question does not apply to you.

I was 16 at the time. I was with my dad and cousin Frank at a bass fishing tournament with the Evergreen Bass Club on Silver Lake in Cowlitz County (only about 30 miles West of Mt. St. Helens). It was a beautiful clear sunny morning (much like it is this morning as I’m writing this). All weekend, we were hoping to see a puff of steam or a small ash plume, but all was quiet. I has witnessed several before on my frequent trips to Kelso.

Sometime around 8:30 AM, my dad had to head back to the resort to use the facilities. So he powered up the motor and we were heading back to the resort and he pointed at the mountain and when I looked up, we watched the initial blast and then Mt St Helens disappeared (just like the footage you always see of the initial eruption and landslide).

So we continued heading back to the resort. When we arrived, a lot of people were freaking out that they were going to die. My dad just calmly observed the chaos and decided to wait a little while until all the drama died down. Eventually word got to us about the I-5 bridge over the Toutle River was closed. That’s when my dad made the decision that we were staying for a while longer.

So what did we do, we motored the boat over to a store on the lake where one could dock a boat, he went inside the store and bought a case of beer, and we motored the boat into the middle of the lake and watched the ash plume (obviously this is nothing I would recommend doing today - time were different then).

After a few hours, we eventually got word that the Toutle River bridge was open again, and that’s when we loaded the boat on the trailer and headed home.

We never got any ash on us. I think most of it ended up in eastern Washington. The sky got dark (because it blocked out the morning sun) and the coolest part was all the lightening in the ash cloud. We never heard the explosion from our location. I’m not sure if that was because the motor idling or not.

This experience is something that I’ll never forget. I feel very lucky to be in the right spot at the right time to actually witness history and see the actual initial explosion and landslide occur.

What were you doing that day?

Once the area is snow free, here is an idea for a historical area to explore.

When you think of deadly disasters in Washington state, the first thought to come to mind is the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens where over 60 people died. Believe it or not, this was not the highest loss of life natural distaster in Washington states history.

The worst disaster occurred 97 years ago on March 1, 1910. On that winter day, an avalanche came down Windy Mountain near Stevens Pass and swept two Great Northern trains off their tracks and claimed 96 lives. Only 18 people survived the disaster. This little publicized incident is known as “Wellington Disaster” (named after the nearby town of Wellington, Washington, GPS Coordinates 47°44′58″N, 121°07′10″W ).

The existing railroad grade has since been converted into a hiking trail known as the Iron Goat Trail allowing Northwest explorers to visit the area.

There are many information resources regarding this disaster, including The Wellington Avalanche, HistoryLink.org, Evening Magazine and The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche to name a few.

Let me know if you’ve been there in the past or get the opportunity to check the area out.