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| 2004.11.20 - Back to St Helens | ||
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After Checking the charts the night before and noticing increased
activity, and the Forest Service Webcam showing increased amounts of
steam, I got up early, made another check of the cam to verify that it
was clear (you can see the glow at night), and headed
out to Mt St Helens...
This is becoming almost a weekly event! :-) It was pretty chilly on the way down... As soon as I got there, though, and the sun started coming up... I KNEW I had made a good choice... it was awesome! |
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I also FINALLY caught the Ash and steam plume... which is what I've wanted
to see - and photograph - all along!
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The Sun joined the show, and it was a good one! | |
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On the way out, I ran across an Elk herd... they were ambling about,
enjoying the tall grass on the upper slopes before the snows come and
cover it all. There's so much food in the Toutle Valley, that these elk don't migrate anymore -- they used to before the blast, but now stay in the rich fields that now blanket the Toutle... which brings into question... is migrating an instinctive event, or a learned one? |
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It was pretty impressive to watch these majestic animals in
near complete silence... you could hear them snort and
grunt, but other than that, it was silent. My last glimpse of them were on the spur, which provided a good view of the twisted and torn Toutle Valley floor, which still shows the destruction caused by the eruption 24 years ago. |
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In the last two weeks since I'd been there, the snow returned to the Hofstadt Bluffs and Pass... | |
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The snow-covered trees added that finishing touch to the view! The last look back at the mountain was worth the look! |
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