Mount Saint Helen's anniversary.

[PNWguy]

I was 12 and will never forget that day. Was in Clarkia, ID at a motocross race with my cousin when we saw the massive black cloud come over the mountains.

The next few days of ash raining down and the uncertainty of how it would affect people, animals, and equipment was enlightening.

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[308]

Found this in a storage bin

 

[2A2Dend]

Growing up as a child, I spent a lot of time there camping with grand parents.
Cougar Lake was THE BEST in the world (my small world) for Tadpoles and Bullfrogs.
There must have been BAZILLIONS. LOL!!

 

[Wayne]

I remember going to work that night and the shift supervisor opening the meeting with telling us that two of our coworkers had been up there camping and had not been heard from. They did not make it. Their names were Al Handy and Clyde Croft, worked at West coast grocery.

 

[clearconscience]

I wasn't born yet but still have a tremendous amount of awe and respect for that mountain and mother nature.

My Dad had a friend who was in a plane during some kind of surveying when it blew.
My Dad still has aerial view photos of the eruption.
Pretty amazing

 

[Mikej]

I lived in the Salt Lake Valley, Ut. What I remember the most was two sunsets. The normal set, and then as the sun went further below the horizon the sky to the north would light up deep red/orange. Wifey was here In PDX and talks about what it was like here.

 

[OutwardHound]

I was living in the Yakima area, north of Naches up highway 410. We were on the outer edge of the ash cloud. We got several inches of ash, like very fine, grey talcum powder. And yes, the sunsets were awesome for days afterwards. I got in there that next summer, sort of illegally I guess. I cannot find the words to describe the devestation but even then, flowers and grasses were growing back.

 

[Stomper]

Me and my childhood buddy were riding our BMX's eastbound on the north sidewalk of the Holgate Blvd overpass crossing (the not very old) I-205 highway when I looked to my left and saw the mushroom cloud starting to rise from the mountain.... we sat there for hours just watching the mushroom cloud rise further and further into the sky.

One of the most surreal days of my life, along with seeing the Hale-Bopp Comet, and experiencing a couple earthquakes.

 

[RVTECH]

I was backpacking with a girlfriend in the Three Sisters Wilderness area of Oregon.
I remember waking up to the sound of several sharp 'booming' sounds off in the distance. A few seconds later I heard several more.
I began to think what it might be - it was not gunshots (too far out in the woods, no hunting season and it really didn't sound like gunshots).
It did sound vaguely like blasting but it was Sunday and I couldn't imagine the Forest Service working on a Sunday - and again the odd number and quick repetition ruled that out.
It wasn't until later that day when we packed up and hiked out and had to stop by her mom and dads house and when they met us at the door they immediately told us what happened and we sat down and watched it on TV!

 

[OutwardHound]

Yes blasting, my first thought exactly. Then I thought thunder. My father-in-law and I were going to wade/hike fish down this nice little canyon but cancelled thinking a storm might be brewing up. That canyon would be the last place to be in a flash flood situation. A storm was brewing all right just not the kind we thought.

 

[JRuby]

That was the day Harry Truman became part of the mountain and a footnote in history.

 

[WoodsPlinker]

I still have a cube of ash around here somewhere. Can't say as I remember the eruption much. I remember playing at spirit lake though.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I was under a duce& 1\2 at a National Guard motor pool in Ocala, Florida. Didn't know about it till a few days later....