Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It is located 96 miles (154 km) south of Seattle and 53 miles (85 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon. The mountain is part of the Cascade Range and was known as Louwala-Clough which means "smoking or fire mountain" in the language of the local Native Americans, the Klickitats. It was named for British diplomat Lord St Helens who was a friend of George Vancouver, an explorer who made a survey of the area in the late 18th century. This volcano is well known for its ash explosions and pyroclastic flows.
It is most famous for the catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980 at 8:32am. That eruption was the most deadly and economically destructive volcanic eruption in the history of the United States. (The largest eruption in US history was remote Mount Katmai, in 1912, in Alaska). Fifty-seven people were killed and 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways and 185 miles (300 km) of highway were destroyed. The eruption caused a massive debris avalanche, reducing its summit from 9,677 feet (2,950 m) to 8,364 feet (2,550 m) in elevation and replacing it with a mile-wide (1.5 km-wide) horseshoe-shaped crater (see geology section or 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens for more detail). The debris avalanche from the 1980 eruption was up to 0.7 cubic miles (2.3 km3) in volume, making it the largest in recorded history.
Like most other volcanoes in the Cascade Range, Mount St. Helens is a great cone of rubble consisting of lava rock interlayered with ash, pumice and other deposits. The mountain includes layers of basalt and andesite through which several domes of dacite lava have erupted. The largest of the dacite domes formed the previous summit; another formed Goat Rocks dome on the northern flank. These were destroyed in the eruption of 1980.
Mount St. Helens is a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire which includes over 160 active volcanoes.
In 1982, the President and Congress created the 110,000-acre National Volcanic Monument for research, recreation, and education. Inside the Monument, the environment is left to respond naturally to the disturbance.
Numerous viewpoints and miles of trails have been created for you to explore by car and foot. During the summer Forest Interpreters lead a wide range of activities, from short walks to amphitheater presentations, to help you understand and enjoy this area. Discover the wonder of winter at Mount St. Helens, where many cross-country ski and snowmobile trails have been created for you.
Each year thousands of climbers make the journey to the crater rim. Permits are required above 4,800 feet year-round.
You can now travel on the east, south and west sides of the mountain. On the west side of the mountain, State Road 504 allows access to five Visitor Centers.
* The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Visitor Center at Silver Lake is located at mile post 5 on highway 504. This visitor center shows the eruption on May 18, 1980, and talks about volcanoes in general.
* The County owned Visitor Center at Hoffstadt Bluffs is located at milepost 27. This visitor center has a unique gift shop offering merchandise hand crafted from Mount St. Helens ash and a variety of other unique items from around the area.
* The Forest Learning Center, located at milepost 33.5, is operated by Weyerhaeuser in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. This Visitor Center leads you through the steps that were taken to salvage the downed lumber and reforest the area. It is possible to take a look through telescopes mounted at the top of their interpretive trail and have the chance to see any elk that may be in the vicinity.
* The Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center is located at milepost 43. This Visitor Center is operated by the Forest Service and is used as an educational guide showing how change come about after an eruption. There is a short trail, "Winds of Change" that is self-guided and shows what happened on May 18, 1980.
* Johnston Ridge Visitor Center is opened in May, 1997. This is the closest Visitor Center to Mount St. Helens and you can look into the Crater and see the dome.
* In April 1996 Congress passed the Omnibus Rescissions and Appropriation Act (PL 104-134) establishing the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. This law authorized the Forest Service to test collecting, retaining, and reinvesting new admission and user fees at up to 50 selected demonstration areas around the country. Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was selected as one of 10 pilot areas in the Pacific Northwest Region.
Take time to explore and discover the power and the drama of this volcano.
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