Scenes from area around Mount Saint Helens

Wildflowers have sprung up among the dead trees

(Photo taken at Johnston Ridge Observatory)

There are thousands of tree stumps like this one and many fallen trees on the hills surrounding St. Helens (Photo taken at Johnston Ridge Observatory)

This pickup is located in the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center and it's covered in hardened lava

Broken trees - Looking down unto the Toutle River Valley

The gray swath of land on the left of this photo, is the hardened lava flow that came from Mount St. Helens.

View looking into the valley. I was about 5,000 feet above the valley and you can see the clouds at the top of the photo. Way below in the valley were herds of elk grazing. They could barely be seen with the naked eye and appeared more like dots on the landscape. Binoculars were located at two sites where you could see way below in the valley. It was remarkable to see this large herd grazing peacefully amid the debris-filled Toutle River valley.

Here is an excerpt from an information plaque placed along the walkway overlooking this valley.

"Today, elk graze, mate and roam atop what was once the sides
and summit of Mount St. Helens. During the erruption on May 18, 1980, this
earth swept down the Toutle River filling the valley bottom to depths of 150
feet.

In the spring of 1981, 10,000 tons of grass and clover seeds
were spread over this gray landscape. This helped to stabalize the eroding
deposits and prevent flooding of downstream communities. Attracted by the
highly nutritious young plants, elk from nearby forests moved in."