As part of the national forest service, the mountain, Spirit Lake and the surrounding forest was the site of year-round recreational activities. In the summer there was boating, swimming, and camping, while in the winter there was skiing.

On the shores of Spirit Lake there were six camps: a Boy Scout camp, a Girl Scout camp, two YMCA camps, Harmony Fall Lodge camp, and another camp open to the general public.

There were also a number of lodges including Spirit Lake Lodge and Mount Saint Helens Lodge. Before 1980, the level of Spirit Lake remained stable at an elevation of about 3,200 feet.

Then, at 8:32 on the morning of the 18^th day of May, 1980, Mount Saint Helens erupted and in just a matter of moments, everything was destroyed; nothing survived except the lake and the mountain, but even these were changed forever.

Mount Saint Helens continues to be the continents most notorious volcano from the 1980 eruption plus the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of this country: 57 people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were all destroyed.

Further, a massive debris avalanche triggered by an 5.1 earthquake (measured on the Richter scale) resulted in an eruption that reduced the elevation of the mountain by 1314 feet and leaving a 1.2 by 1.8 mile wide horseshoe shaped crater. The debris avalanche was up to 0.7 cubic miles in volume.

The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was created to preserve the volcano and allow for its aftermath to be scientifically studied.

On the ridge where an observation post was previously located, the Johnston Observatory was built, and named after the last man who was at the observation post.

Up at daybreak, take a shower, begin driving and in a short ways to the west arrive at the Bridge of the Gods, pay my dollar toll to cross into Washington, turn east on SR14, drive to Stevenson and stop for breakfast.

After my meal, I continue east on SH 14, then turn north on NF-30 following the Wind river and travel thirty mile to where it intersects with NF-90.

Here, I stop at the McClellan Viewpoint to read the information board. This viewpoint is on the southeast side of the volcano and fairly close to it but the volcano is not visible from here.

From the McClellan Viewpoint I drive west on NF-90 and in about two miles come to the intersection of NF-25. After passing the Eagle Cliff store, I turn north on NF-25, drive past a picnic area and travel up NF-25 in the forest on the east side of the volcano looking for more viewpoint.

Soon, I come to a sign stating Muddy River Viewpoint where I pull over at a picnic area and find my first good view of the volcano.

I drive on and then find an even better viewpoint, one which has a view of the north side of the mountain showing the area missing from the blast.

What a clear sky during the drive on this forest road route and get some great shots of the volcano.

Driving north on NF-25 brings me to my next intersection, where I turn west on NF-99 and travel only a few miles before I enter the blast zone. ¹

The route now shows clear evidence of the devestation caused by the eruption as everywhere the forest is devoid of trees. Soon, I arrive at Bear Meadow and stop briefly for more photos.

Bear Meadow, eleven miles northeast of Mount Saint Helens, is the location where Gary Rosenquist and friends camped on the night before the eruption. At eight twenty-seven the next morning, he took what proved to be the last pre-eruption photograph of the mountain. Then, he took 22 photographs of the colossal landslide, unprecedented lateral blast and eruption before fleeing for his life.

I continue west on NF-99, coming closer and closer to the volcano, stopping often for photos as the roadway winds back and forth through the treebare forest.

Suddenly, I catch a fleeting glimpse of blue water which happend so fast that I have to turn around and return to the view to confirm what I had seen. Yes, it is my very first glimpse of Spirit Lake. I grab my camera to record this moment as I know this will prove to be a photo that I will want to return to examine again, even one that I could share.

Sitting down, I contemplate about what lies before me. The nearby mountain steep is now green with new growth and even a few scattered trees, but most of the mountain surrounding Spirit Lake is still gray and remains mostly treebare.

I know that plant and animal life is tenacious and in most disasters, will return back to a condition similar to before the diaster in just a few decades, but the devastation here from the volcanic eruption seems to be persisting, even longer that I would have imagined it to have.

These gray areas, totally forested before 18 May 1980, lie in the direct lateral blast zone from the volcano. It has been thirty-three years and almost two months since the eruption and still, the mountain looks barely recovered.

Then, using my camera, I zoom in on the water surface and in a total stupor, cannot believe what I am seeing. A large part of the visible surface of the water is still covered with a bog of floating trees left there from the eruption. Methinks, my mind is just not able to grasp the immensity of devastation that occurred here.

I gather my things, return to the jammer and while thinking deeply about the things I have just seen, continue along the roadway towards the next viewpoint.

As I come closer to the volcano, I am seeing up close how much devastation did actually happen. Everything was leveled to the ground in the blast zone, even on the seemingly protected back sides of ridges.

The pyroclastic flows of gas, ash and pumices rolled over the ridges and leveled everything, nothing could hide for the liquid like flows.

Spirit Lake is remembered by many when it was a beautiful lake of crystal clear, icy water, one that had snow covered Mount Saint Helens towering above and which had boat docks, campgrounds, lodges, log cabins, mountain climbing bivouacs, ranger station, scout camps and snowplay areas, all nestled among old growth firs lining the twelve mile lake shoreline. Yes, it was a place many people considered a paradise, who came to enjoy the simplicity, solace and solitude that could be found in the surrounding forest, mountain, waters and wilderness.

In 1985, in order to maintain a safe level of Spirit lake and prevent a breach of the new volcanic ash dam and a resulting catastrophic flooding of Toutle river valley, a 8465 foot gravity-feed tunnel was cut through Harrys ridge and has since been used to maintain the water level of Spirit Lake at about 3,400 feet.

Then, in just a matter of moments, the May 18^th eruption destroyed everything forever. The landslide from the eruption plunged into Spirit Lake, raising the lake′s surface two hundred feet and submerged the camps, cabins, lodges, in fact, all manmade structures; nothing survived except the lake and the mountain, but even these were changed forever.

From this viewpoint, I begin to see the growing lava dome inside the volcano′s crater, currently at 7000 feet elevation. From what I learned at the Johnston Observatory, the cone has grown over a thousand feet from small eruptions in the years following to the explosion.

Returning to the jammer, I continue on NF-99

After fueling the jammer, I begin the 52 mile drive on SH 504 up the North Fork of the Toutle river towards the observatory arriving at nine this morning, an hour before the visitors center opens, so, I wait in the jammer and work on my journal.

The top of the ridge is covered in clouds severely limiting the visibility and the rain continues coming down outside. When I finally walk into the visitors center, I ask about the junior ranger program. The ranger hands me the booklet and I begin reading the questions.

To find the answers, I examine display after display in the center and in doing so, learn so much about geology, the eruption, the current monitoring of the volcano and the newest glacier on the continent, called the Crater Glacier which has grown around the lava dome inside the crater. All along, I keep an eye on the volcano hoping for the cloud cover to lift.

At three p.m., I take my junior ranger booklet to the ranger desk to be graded and the ranger tells me that I have done well and then he asks me if I want to say the pledge. When I answer "yes," he begins, "Repeat after me: I promise to..."

Soon after, I go outside and eventually, the clouds do lift enough to take this photo. I suspect that this is as good as it gets today.

The observatory is located near the site where vulcanologist David A. Johnston's camp was on the morning of May 18, 1980. The observatory was opened in 1997.

Exhibits in the observatory focus on the eyewitness accounts of the explosion, the geologic history of the volcano, and the science of monitoring volcanic activity.

There are ranger guided programs and two movies available at the center. Also, from the observatory, there is a half-mile trail which provides expansive views of the crater, landslide deposit, lava dome, and pumice plain.

After learning all that I did as a junior ranger, upon leaving the observatory, I see many things that I did not notice on the drive coming into the park this morning.