A Beautiful Day at Mt. St. Helens
Thank you all for getting your children to school so early in the morning! After a long foggy bus ride full of challenging riddles, we emerged from the clouds to see a beautiful view of Mt St. Helens and the Toutle River valley. We were met in the parking lot of the Johnston Ridge Observatory by our two intrepid and knowledgeable guides. We immediately went to check out the view of the crater and the pumice plain below us.
Then we watched the movie that detailed the stages of the eruption, from the largest landslide in history, to the unbelievably powerful lateral blast, to pyroclastic flows of pumice and searing hot gases. Next, a ranger spoke about the different types of igneous rocks and Mr. M borrowed the igneous rock collection to discuss their color and crystal size. We learned that the high silica content in dacite rocks made Mt. St. Helens super explosive! As we walked around the observatory, we saw trees that had been ripped from the earth, trees blown down over 7 miles away, and the large hummocks spread throughout the valley.
We loaded on the bus to drive to Coldwater Lake and the Hummocks Trail. We were shocked to walk out onto the lake and find a 30 foot tall chunk of Mt. St. Helens sticking out in the middle of the lake. It's hard to imagine the power of the explosion that could fling an apartment building sized rock about 8 miles through the air! We also hiked on hummocks, huge chunks of the former top of Mt. St. Helens. Finally, we loaded on the bus and worked diligently to finish our journals.
It was an amazing day! Please keep an eye out for photos!
