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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Sep 13, 2008
Description:
The Columbia River takes a jog to the south to run through Portland. Why the radical turn? Some geologists think it is just going with the flow of the land it flows over. As that part of the continent shifted north, the river just went with it.
Going with the flow of the river presented a problem for the SeaRey. Congested airspace effectively blocked a leisurely river cruise to the south and east. The alternative was flight over a highly urbanized area. That was way too scary for me!
An alternate way was to follow the Lewis River towards Mt. St. Helens. Die crashing into someone’s house or into a volcano? Why not go out in a most spectacular way! And, it was only a little out of the way.
Lake Yale offered a great place to stop and contemplate the angry mountains. The top of Mt. St. Helens was covered with clouds. Or was that volcanic steam?
Mt. St. Helens is just one of the great Cascade volcanoes. They stretch from Mount Garibaldi in British Columbia to Mount Lassen in northern California. They are all fueled by the remnants of an old crustal plate (the Farallon plate) being consumed in an oceanic trench off the west coast. As it gets shoved under the continent, trapped steam in the sinking rocks get hot enough to melt surround rock and rise up as molten lava (from about 60 miles underground). When the plate is gone, the Cascade volcanoes will be forevermore dormant.
Dormancy is not in our future. On this day there was a “Temporary Flight Restriction” in effect at the mountain due to “volcanic activity.”
Date Taken:
Sep 13, 2008
Place Taken:
Yale Lake, WA
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
48_Not_So_Hot_Water.jpg - Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZTBC0000h">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZTBC0000m">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZTBC0000s">
Category:
329, Taking Peli Home
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Dan Nickens - Sep 13,2008
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Oh to have been in a SeaRey sitting on this lake on the morning of May 18, 1980! Two geologists were overhead in a light airplane that day. They actually observed snow rapidly melting from a bulging Mount St. Helens. As scientists they recognized the significance of the rapid escape of steam from the underlying magma.<br /><br />As they watched in wonder the slope over the bulge began to quiver. “It’s going to blow!” was an immediate certainty. Would you circle in your little airplane and watch the event of a lifetime, or would you flee in fear for your life?<br /><br />Was there professional detachment in that cockpit as the mountain seemed to blur in its shaking? How about when the entire northern slope slide away and a huge fracture split the mountain in half?<br /><br />The geologists, with their pilot, were right over the top of the mountain when it blew. They were spared a violent death when the first blast was sideways towards the north. The ash cloud blew up beside their Cessna. “If it had blown upwards, we’d be in orbit now,” the pilot might have said (he didn’t).<br /><br />The geologists took the classic pictures showing little jets of steam that blossomed into a mushroom cloud with the energy of 21,000 atomic bombs! These fortuitous spectators watched a cloud of ash and rock blast out at 600 mph, up to 65,000’ high and 30 miles in diameter, taking with it the top 1300’ of the mountain.<br /><br />In Keith’s own words: 'noticed landsliding of rock and ice debris <br /> in-ward into the crater... the south-facing wall <br /> of the north side of the main crater was especially <br /> active. Within a matter of seconds, perhaps 15 seconds, <br /> the whole north side of the summit crater began to <br /> move instantaneously. ... The nature of movement<br /> was eerie.... The entire mass began to ripple and <br /> churn up, without moving laterally. Then the entire <br /> north side of the summit began sliding to the north <br /> along a deep-seated slide plane. I (Keith Stoffel) <br /> was amazed and excited with the realization that<br /> we were watching this landslide of unbelievable <br /> proportions. ... We took pictures of this slide <br /> sequence occurring, but before we could snap off <br /> more than a few pictures, a huge explosion blasted <br /> out of the detachment plane. We neither felt nor <br /> heard a thing, even though we were just east of the <br /> summit at this time.'<br /><br />When the eruption started, geologists Keith and Dorothy Stoffel were only 500’ above the peak in their chartered Cessna 182. The billowing cloud, flashing with lightening and red with molten rock rushed up to engulf them. The pilot, Bruce Judson, instinctively put the little Cessna into a 200 mph dive to try and escape the racing cloud. Keith yelled to the pilot to turn southward to escape. By diving steeply and turning they just barely escaped earth’s magnificent fury.<br /><br />It was Dorothy’s first flight in a little airplane. On the 25th anniversary of the blast, Dorothy and Bruce gave interviews that can be seen at: <a href="http://www.king5.com/news/specials/volcano/stories/NW_051805helens_survivorsLJ.264d02786.html">http://www.king5.com/news/specials/volcano/stories/NW_051805<br>helens_survivorsLJ.264d02786.html</a><br /><br />Dorothy doesn’t say if she still goes flying.<br /><br />Some time later Bruce was flying a group from the Yakima Indian Nation to view the mountain. A burst of steam erupted and he immediately turned to fly away. The elder explained that the gods were telling him to stay away from the mountain. I think he finally got the message.<br /><br />
| | Attachments:
Flyers'' Tale - the Interviews
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