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MAY 18, 1980
- Thread starter Rudi
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I remember seeing pictures from the area quite a while after the eruption, I suppose when the area was consider “safe” to enter. Hard to imagine that kind of destruction. Now I suppose we’d fly surveillance drones over the area and have pictures in a day or two.
LVSteve
Member
Good thought. The stupid naked apes on this rock need putting back in their place from time to time.
I was getting ready for work when it blew. I didn’t know what happened at the time but a couple hours later Communications advised me to call my Sergeant. I responded and spent the next three days down in the Chehalis area manning roadblocks. After that the Game Wardens relieved us and we went home. Exciting times...
Dad heard it blow that morning while out in the pasture, 83 miles north of it as the crow flies. A kid in my class perished while camping with his Dad and brother about 4 miles away at a favorite campsite. He was the boy in the bed of the truck in that infamous photo. His mom visited our class afterwards, no idea how she managed to hold it together. 
Todd
Todd
I remember driving through central WA to visit a (would-be... sigh...) gf who was doing her degree at Gonzaga in Spokane. This was a couple of years later but there was ash everywhere. I kept a jar of it for several years. It's still active and dangerous, but we'll have more warning and the prediction is that it will blow upwards, not sideways.
What a terrible, ghastly pic.
Very eye opening for sure. We often think mankind is special until we see real power displayed in God's creation.
Best
Best
Bozz10mm
US Veteran
I remember it well. Hard to believe that was 45 years ago.
I see Mt. Saint Helens frequently — the bottom half that remains, that is — and marvel at the power it took to blow the top half of a mountain off...
Venom6
Member
Was a Portland police officer at the time. The ash in some areas of the city was ankle deep. We didn't know about possible health effects, so the brass had us on "static patrol" (parked at an intersection) wearing goggles, surgical masks, and our hats and yellow rain coats for a week or two.
As flagman1950 commented above, we think we and our achievements are pretty important and impressive, but when Ma Nature gets her dander up, we pale into utter insignificance. I've read a number of articles on the BBC website in the last year about the ongoing excavations at Pompeii. Must have been absolutely terrifying. One week a pleasant town of luxury villas; a week later, utterly destroyed, sparing neither rank nor station.
Dave Workman
Member
A couple of weeks, maybe 3-4 weeks, before the eruption, (mid to late April IIRC) I did a story in the old Fishing & Hunting News about the potential loss of wildlife and fish if the mountain erupted in a worst case scenario. Some people thought it was an attempt to insert a fishing/hunting publication into the story and I took some heat for that...right up to Sunday morning when the mountain blew up. The copy editor on the desk that morning cam running into the news room I think sometime after 8 or so and yelled "Dave, Mount St. Helens just blew up!"
About 20-30 minutes later, he was back yelling "Dave, Spirit Lake has been destroyed! Probably the one time in my career I wished I'd have been wrong.
Later on, my late Uncle, who was a ham operator, told me he heard the geologist, David Johnston's last broadcast, "Vancouver, this is it!" and then nothing. An all around bad day.
About 20-30 minutes later, he was back yelling "Dave, Spirit Lake has been destroyed! Probably the one time in my career I wished I'd have been wrong.
Later on, my late Uncle, who was a ham operator, told me he heard the geologist, David Johnston's last broadcast, "Vancouver, this is it!" and then nothing. An all around bad day.
hkcavalier
US Veteran
I was a wee lad up north of there at the time, in the Kirkland/Woodinville area. I just remember it was a very dusty day.
For many years in the 1980s you could get small capsules of ash from those $.25 turn-crank vending machines at grocery stores and what not. Little statues made from the ash were all over trinket stores in the PNW for a long time.
I've done the Loowit Trail that circumnavigates the mountain (about a 30 mile loop). Even today, the destruction on the south side is pretty total. There are a few small trees and shrubs that have sprouted, but it's more like a giant pumice stone gravel pit.
For many years in the 1980s you could get small capsules of ash from those $.25 turn-crank vending machines at grocery stores and what not. Little statues made from the ash were all over trinket stores in the PNW for a long time.
I've done the Loowit Trail that circumnavigates the mountain (about a 30 mile loop). Even today, the destruction on the south side is pretty total. There are a few small trees and shrubs that have sprouted, but it's more like a giant pumice stone gravel pit.
Glynn863
Member
Some HS friends had transferred out to McCord AFB with their USAF dad. They were camping on another mountain close by when it happened. They had to walk out on foot because the falling ash made it too difficult to drive. They also said they had almost camped on Mt. St. Helens, as they had before, but then decided to try a new camping spot. One of those life-changing decisions.
Photog
Member
I was studying journalism at the University of Arizona when the eruption occurred. A fellow student lived in the area. I will never forget the look on her face when the news was reporting it. She left that day, and did not return before the end of the semester, which was only a week or so away. Always wondered if her relatives made it out okay. Still think about her to this day.
We were living in Tacoma at the time it went off. May 18 is my wife's birthday so we'll never forget the date. 
After things quieted down they opened up the airspace. I was able to take my wife over the crater so she could get some shots.
After things quieted down they opened up the airspace. I was able to take my wife over the crater so she could get some shots.
ajgunner
Member
I was floating the Deschutes river in central Oregon the day it blew. We had not heard it but on the drive home when we saw the HWY 84 shoulders covered with parked cars taking pictures, we quickly figured it out.
I lived about 60 miles SW as the crow flies. I was in HS at the time. I just remember several weeks later when the wind shifted and we got the ash fallout. I made a tidy sum by cleaning gutters on houses. Once the house gutters were cleaned and driveways hosed off, we could access fire hydrants and hoses for street and street gutter cleaning. Probably paid for my most of my reloading gear with my earnings. I had a shiny new hungry Redhawk to keep fed.
This past fall my son backpacked the area. He belly crawled to the lip of the rim and shot some pretty decent pics and video.
I lived about 60 miles SW as the crow flies. I was in HS at the time. I just remember several weeks later when the wind shifted and we got the ash fallout. I made a tidy sum by cleaning gutters on houses. Once the house gutters were cleaned and driveways hosed off, we could access fire hydrants and hoses for street and street gutter cleaning. Probably paid for my most of my reloading gear with my earnings. I had a shiny new hungry Redhawk to keep fed.
This past fall my son backpacked the area. He belly crawled to the lip of the rim and shot some pretty decent pics and video.
I was playing hooky from school that week, so I could go fishing with my family. We were fishing on the Crooked River in central Oregon. We had no television at the time, and we listened to cassettes in the truck, so it was actually late on the 19th that we found out about it. Got plenty of ash, even in Prineville. It wasn't ankle deep, but it did put down a layer of ash over everything. Years later, my first ride on my motorcycle was to the mountain. My brother and his buddies actually climbed to the rim once and got some good pictures. An amazing display of Nature's power.
For those of us still living near an active volcano, as most of the Cascades are, it was a reminder of what could happen someday. Mt Hood and Mt Rainier, being closer to large populations than St. Helens, have the potential to be much worse.
True story, around 2010 or so I was talking to a guy at work, and he told me that he wanted to start a business with his brother, but his brother wouldn't move out here from Oklahoma. Why? "Because you live where the mountains just explode!" My buddy said, "Happened once in 200 years. Meanwhile the tornados try to erase OK every year."
I've said it before, every location has it's perks and drawbacks. You tend to get used to the drawbacks and not play them up. Volcanoes in the PNW, tornadoes in the heartland, hurricanes down south and blizzards in Buffalo. Truly, I'm more worried about a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake than any volcano. Plus, the scientists get to study an active volcano without having to go to Iceland or some south seas island.
For those of us still living near an active volcano, as most of the Cascades are, it was a reminder of what could happen someday. Mt Hood and Mt Rainier, being closer to large populations than St. Helens, have the potential to be much worse.
True story, around 2010 or so I was talking to a guy at work, and he told me that he wanted to start a business with his brother, but his brother wouldn't move out here from Oklahoma. Why? "Because you live where the mountains just explode!" My buddy said, "Happened once in 200 years. Meanwhile the tornados try to erase OK every year."
I've said it before, every location has it's perks and drawbacks. You tend to get used to the drawbacks and not play them up. Volcanoes in the PNW, tornadoes in the heartland, hurricanes down south and blizzards in Buffalo. Truly, I'm more worried about a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake than any volcano. Plus, the scientists get to study an active volcano without having to go to Iceland or some south seas island.
