Mt. St. Helen's & Spirit Lake
before her 1980 temper tantrum.
Bob and I both had ties to Mt. St. Helen’s
area – my Uncle Don Anderson had built the bridge that spanned the river of Spirit Lake Highway leading to the then majestic mountain: we camped along the
riverside that summer he was building it. Bob’s family had moved to Toutle and
spent time camping and motorcycling at Spirit Lake Campground, and frolicking
on the flanks of the mountain.
The Hargand Motor Brigade - 6 'cycles. Toutle, WA. Bob's siblings - Bonnie, Merry & Rosie: Bob & Ralph didn't have one because they were bachelors living in Cathlamet at this time. Not a very clear picture, but it’s the best I have given the film of those days.
Bob and I spent every other weekend of our dating time and married years, driving
to Spirit Lake, or enjoying the scenic beauty of the mountain; and her forested
backroads. We usually went on these drives in the ‘56 Ford … but occasionally,
Bob would borrow his Dad’s full-dressed Harley Hog because I liked
motorcycling and Bob was an excellent driver: I knew I could trust my life
to Bob’s protective love and capable muscular build ;-)
The red-white '56 Ford Bob had when we met in 1974.
Bob Sr's Harley. We always borrowed it in 1974. Not a very clear picture, but it’s the best I have given the film of those days. Bob loved driving that thing; I loved being on it, with my arms around Bob ;-)
Those were fun times.
Mt. St. Helen's - 1979
I remember the day we drove out Kid Valley and visited with Harry at the Lodge, Bob's friend. I didn't recognize the significance of that friendship at the time - I just knew Bob wanted to introduce me to people who were important to him. I was happy about that. It wasn't until much later that I would realize who Harry was ... and how that friendship played into the tapestry of Bob's life.
I remember clearly the time we drove up to
the mountain in the winter time. I was pregnant and had to pee, so I told Bob
to find a restroom facility; quick … Bob said, “Okay, but you’re gonna have to
go underground”. I wasn’t keen on that – but I had to go! The restroom was
under snowpack, which meant I had to enter a green metal lidded-manhole type of
laddered tube to access the facility (how I got my fat little body safely down/up
that tube still mystifies me). It was lighted. I made Bob stand at the top
of the tube and talk to me so I didn’t feel claustrophobic – he did; he stood
up there in the freezing weather, talking to me nonstop and smoking cigarettes
until I climbed back up that ladder: Bob was a good man; he loved me. He knew I
hated heights … and I was unnerved being underground. I know it sounds like
a sci-fi screenplay, but that was a real experience. It was never repeated.
That time was not a fun time.
Stacey had her 1st out-of-house
diaper change on the blacktop at the base of Mt. St. Helen’s flanks :-D
There was a blacktop road that would take us right up to the flanks of the mountain where hiking trails would wind right up to the peak. It was very beautiful, serene, and magical.
I remember watching the 1980’s news flashes leading
up to the disastrous and destructive explosion.
Mt. St. Helen's - bulging & venting before the major eruption. 1980
I remember standing in our livingroom in
Cathlamet on May 18th, 1980 – the morning of the explosive eruption
– with a cup of coffee in my hands watching the news … and felt an
earthquake tremor (caused by the explosion) so strong it jolted me, and
I dropped my cup; shattering it on the floor. Cathlamet is at least 2 hours
driving time from Mt. St. Helen’s – that’s how strong the earthquake
tremors were.
Distance from Cathlamet to Mt.
St. Helen's. We always drove up to the Mountain via Toutle access ... and
it's a long drive, either way.
Bob was working. Down Longbeach way; Durrah
& Martin Logging Co., Inc., had secured a logging contract in that area
then, I believe. It was a long drive to work and back home every day.
I remember before the explosion day, Bob
telling me, “Harry (Harry Truman) won’t leave the mountain, Val. That
mountain is part of Harry – he’ll die there. His wife is buried there; he won’t
leave.” Bob knew Harry personally - he'd known Harry almost all his adult life up to that point; Bob and his high school/young adult friends spent many, many hours talking with Harry at his Lodge and store. Bob liked Harry and said, "He's an okay guy - kinda rough around the edges, but he's alright, Val." I don't remember much about Harry; I was a shy teenager back then. But if he was okay with Bob ... he was okay with me.
When I felt that jolting tremor and heard the
news caster saying the mountain had erupted … I knew Harry was no more. He had
died with his beloved mountain and his wife. I knew the news of Harry’s death
would be a blow to Bob, even though he’d been expecting it.
And I was caught up in the moment of the explosive
eruption, the excitement of the historic happening, the weird thrill of real
and present danger, and the changing excited misinformation being fed to the news
broadcasters that had one newscaster (after realizing he’d given misleading
feed to the public based on ever changing excitable moments) barking to his
gopher while flinging papers at him, “Get ahold of someone who knows what the
hell is going on!”
May 18th, 1980 was a madhouse day.
In more ways than one.
Mt. St. Helen's Eruption. May 18th, 1980
Mt. St. Helen's ash cloud went around the world. May 18th, 1980. We woke up, May 19th - Alex's 10th Birthday, to see ash floating down around our home: fallout from the continuing eruption.
When it was safe enough to open for public
access (meaning logging), Bob’s bosses’ outfit was one of the first group of loggers
to get in there to log the fallen timber. Bob even smuggled Alex into the Red Zone one day when he went to work on the machinery. I wasn't keen on that idea, but Alex was Bob's son, not mine: I had little say. They talked and laughed about that caper until the talking and laughter died in December of 2018. It took Bob YEARS to talk me into going back into that region - it was freaky the way it looked like a lunar landscape and had NO sounds at all. No insect chatter, chitter, or buzzing. No bird song, trilling, or chirps. No elk bellows or snorts, no bear grunts. Nothing. It was eerily creepy. I didn't like the feel of it.
Mt. St. Helen's fell hills of
timber like pick-up-sticks for miles, and miles, and miles …. 1980
Mt. St. Helen's May 18th, 1980 Eruption aftermath – ¾’s of her top was blown away, Spirit Lake was physically and forcefully MOVED to another location; and parts of the Spirit Lake Highway was reconstructed and rebuilt THOUSANDS OF FEET higher than the original highway - atop the 1980 mud-flow and lava plains.
Mt. St. Helen’s is still active today. The surrounding landscape is pretty much all new ground now (old landmarks don't exist anymore), and still dangerous ground to be on, in that area – people go there anyway: we
did, even as recent as 2018; before an unknown illness blew our life
together apart … and I recently revisited those haunts on a solo daytrip in 2019
– and the region still creeps me out. I basically went just to prove to myself that I could do it.
I live in the PNW.
I live roughly 1½ hours from Mt. St. Helen’s …
We always drove up to the Mountain via Toutle access ... and
it's a long drive, either way. Mt. St. Helen’s erupted, but she didn’t
move – she’s right where she’s always been: right where Yeshua created her to
BE, despite scientists who think they know better …
Since moving to Longview 24 years ago, I was
struck with environmental asthma that nearly killed me until my lungs
acclimated to the environment – even so, an ashy burp into the atmosphere can
seriously affect me, personally; so, I keep up to date on her temper tantrums
;-)
I’m 63 years old this year – considered “elderly”
and “fragile” by political stumpers who don’t know me and have no idea
whatsoever what I have had to overcome to make it TO 63 years of age.
I’ve been living dangerously all my life.
Covid-19 doesn’t scare me - I trust Elohei.
And if covid-19 here to stay … people will learn
to live with it; just like they do a host of other illness, and unpredictable
volcanoes.
