Loowit - Celebrating 46 Years Since its Facelift

[AlanLichty]

Lots of reminders on last night's local news about yesterday being the 46th anniversary of the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption so I decided to grab a shot of the old volcano for the occasion. Not much going on in the way of clouds except for the ones lurking near the stubby peak so I didn't wait around for the sunset and just shot it with evening light. Loowit was the name of the mountain to the Cowlitz tribe that was living in the area when Lewis and Clark passed through.

I never saw the mountain before it blew its top off and often wonder what this view would have looked like when it was 2000' taller.

C&C always welcome.

 

[ProCaliberTraveler]

I still have a bottle of ash that I collected there in my childhood. It would have been fascinating to watch the eruption from this vantage point.

 

[AlanLichty]

I still have a bottle of ash that I collected there in my childhood. It would have been fascinating to watch the eruption from this vantage point.

Thanks Michael - my understanding is that this would have been a great view when the eruption first started but really messy once the ash fall shifted around with the winds. Apparently there were inches of the stuff on just about everything in the area I live.

 

[John Holbrook]

A very beautiful image!

 

[AlanLichty]

A very beautiful image!

Thanks John - there are lots of evenings where clouds obscure my view of the mountain but last night wasn't one of them

 

[JimFox]

Hey Alan... wow... 46 years ago. Yikes! I was stationed at Fort Lewis when Mt St Helens blew it's top. I worked on Helicopters, and all of our helicopters were grounded due to the ash that was essentially like sand and would tear up an aircrafts engine in no time.

At that time I would have seen Mt St Helens, though I don't think I even took photos of it. I spent more of my free time around Mt Rainier or going up to Seattle and riding on the ferries up there between the islands. I should have thought to take a photo of it, as the warning of an impending erruption was in the news all the time. But the Army kept me pretty busy, and while I did have free time, it wasn't always that free with guard duty, etc on top of the normal work or performing maintenance on our OH-58 Kiowas. When we weren't busy with them we would help out the guys working on the Huey's and Cobra's.

 

[AlanLichty]

Hey Alan... wow... 46 years ago. Yikes! I was stationed at Fort Lewis when Mt St Helens blew it's top. I worked on Helicopters, and all of our helicopters were grounded due to the ash that was essentially like sand and would tear up an aircrafts engine in no time.

At that time I would have seen Mt St Helens, though I don't think I even took photos of it. I spent more of my free time around Mt Rainier or going up to Seattle and riding on the ferries up there between the islands. I should have thought to take a photo of it, as the warning of an impending erruption was in the news all the time. But the Army kept me pretty busy, and while I did have free time, it wasn't always that free with guard duty, etc on top of the normal work or performing maintenance on our OH-58 Kiowas. When we weren't busy with them we would help out the guys working on the Huey's and Cobra's.

Thanks Jim - do you feel old now? While I would have loved to have a seat in the sky to watch the eruption I am not at all sorry I missed out on the ash the volcano left behind.

 

[JimFox]

Thanks Jim - do you feel old now? While I would have loved to have a seat in the sky to watch the eruption I am not at all sorry I missed out on the ash the volcano left behind.

I wasn't feeling old at all today until I did comment... so you are correct, thinking that I was out having a blast in the Army 46 years ago is just insane.... it doesn't compute. Maybe it will set in when I stop backpacking up 13,000 foot passes, but for now, it doesn't compute.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

That’s a pretty good view of mt st Helens from your place.

 

[MonikaC]

I was living in Eugene at the time, getting ready to go to work. My boyfriend & another friend were getting ready to go on a bike ride. Then there was this big BOOM, sort of like a sonic boom, but definitely different. It felt like a giant had stood up & hit its head on the ceiling. After a few seconds, we all looked at each other and said, "Mt St Helens!" We had been signed up for a bike tour circumnavigating Mt St Helens shortly thereafter, a tour which was, of course, canceled.

It was a very symmetrical mountain.

 

[AlanLichty]

That’s a pretty good view of mt st Helens from your place.

Thanks Jameel - there are a lot of days where I get no view of the mountain at all with clouds and haze but last night was one of the better days for that. The mountain is about 40 miles away so a telephoto lens and a bit of cropping makes it look a lot closer than it really is....

 

[AlanLichty]

I was living in Eugene at the time, getting ready to go to work. My boyfriend & another friend were getting ready to go on a bike ride. Then there was this big BOOM, sort of like a sonic boom, but definitely different. It felt like a giant had stood up & hit its head on the ceiling. After a few seconds, we all looked at each other and said, "Mt St Helens!" We had been signed up for a bike tour circumnavigating Mt St Helens shortly thereafter, a tour which was, of course, canceled.

It was a very symmetrical mountain.

Thanks Monika - interesting you heard it so clearly as many in the Portland/Vancouver area didn't hear a thing but couldn't miss the event once they looked in the direction of the mountain. Circumnavigating St. Helens on a bicycle these days is an awfully long trip since the only round trip would take you up to WA 12 to Randle and then drop down NF25 towards NF90 along the Lewis River. The Forest Service keeps threatening to rebuilt WA504 across the blast zone to connect up with Windy Ridge but there has been quite a bit of resistance to doing that. There are a lot of ongoing study areas along the foot of the blast zone debris that would get upended with a rebuilt road.