Inside the crater

On a hike inside Mt. St. Helens with the smoking lava dome in the background ~ September 1990.......

North Blast Zone

This is a color photo on a summer day in September 1990.......

Bowling Valley

This was the most dangerous section of the hike, through the narrow valley into the crater. The wind knocked unstable pebbles loose which in turn knocked larger rock from the nearly verticle walls above the valley floor. Boulders would suddenly fall from the surounding hills. Large boulders always rolled to the bottom of the narrow v-shaped valley, where the trail is. ....

Lava Dome

In the distance is the steaming lava dome, the only place I've ever been where color is completely missing, everything is gray. The dome is a 200' pile of large unstable rock. Climbing on it is interesting because the rock is so loose, you can see into the dome 10-15 feet. There are places on the domes surface where a hiker can bounce like a trampoline. The air smells more like sulpher at the top of the dome.....

Summertime on the South Rim

Looking North, the crater of Mt. St. Helens in the summer of 1990. In the distance Mt Rainier, Spirit Lake and Mt. Adams and tiny hikers on the far right for scale........

South

Looking South, in the distance Mt Hood and the little bumps of the Oregon Casvades. In the foreground are 1980 debris flows which were stopped in many places by the tree line.......