Mount St. Helens Washington

The Traveling Locavores needed sustenance before the 50 plus mile drive to see Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington. So we stopped for breakfast at Elmer’s Restaurant in nearby Tigard OR.

Glimpse of a snow capped mountain from a car with side view mirror visible on our way to Mount St. Helens Washington

First glimpse of Mount St. Helens Washington from the highway

Breakfast at Elmer’s Restaurant

An off-white oval plate topped with a cheesy omelet, biscuit and home fries at a restaurant

Steve and I shared the Crabacado Omelet at Elmer’s Restaurant near Portland OR

We had passed Elmer’s Restaurant many times and each time the parking lot was crowded. So we figured a place that popular must be doing something right. We were seated right away began perusing the extensive breakfast menu.

A plate at a diner topped with an omelet, hash brown potatoes, sour cream, butter in a cup and a biscuit.

That huge plate of food is just half of the Crabacado Omelet. Steve’s half is in the background!

We noticed the orders that were being served to patrons and the portions looked enormous. Since Steve and I both thought the Crabacado Omelet sounded yummy, we decided we would share it. The omelets were fluffy and delicious, amply filled with lots of sweet, 100% real Northwest Dungeness crab, Daily’s® smokehouse bacon, fresh avocado, Swiss cheese, tomato, classic Hollandaise sauce and fresh-snipped chives. The accompaniment of crispy hash browns topped with a dollop of tangy sour cream and flakey buttermilk biscuits rounded out the plate.

A woman eating a cheese omelet with the cheese stretching from plate to fork.

The delicious Crabacado Omelet in all its cheesy goodness

As you can see by my photos, half a portion was more than enough. We waddled out of Elmer’s Restaurant fully sated and anxious to see Mount St. Helens Washington! So we let our GPS guide us to our destination.

The crater created when Mt. St. Helens last erupted is now in view

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano which is located 52 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon and 98 miles south of Seattle.

It stands 8,363-feet high, though prior to its eruption in 1980, it had an elevation of 9,677-feet.

Long bridge over land with mountains in the distance en route to Mount St. Helens Washington

Beautiful bridge in Toutle WA en route to Mount St. Helens Washington

We were living in Mt. Laurel, NJ when Mount St. Helens erupted. I can remember that a few days, or possibly weeks, after there was ash in the air in our neighborhood, thousands of miles from Washington.

Eruption Sunday, May 18, 1980

A snow capped mountain looking through evergreen trees is Mount St. Helens Washington

Mount St. Helens through the evergreens

It was at 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980 that Mount St. Helens erupted. Shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, the north face of this tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive rock debris avalanche. It only took a few moments before this slab of rock and ice slammed into Spirit Lake, crossed a ridge 1,300 feet high, and roared 14 miles down the Toutle River. Fifty seven people were killed.

A great inland tsunami occurred when the top of Mount St. Helens plummeted into Spirit Lake, throwing water 860 feet above lake level. A ground-hugging hot surge sped across valleys and ridges, killing people and nearly all other life as it leveled 234 square miles of forest.

Snow capped volcanic mountain and mountain range at Mount St. Helens Washington

Mount St. Helens is beautiful and calm while dormant

Pressurized gases within the volcano were rapidly released by the avalanche. Then an enormous lateral explosion tore through the avalanche and developed into a turbulent, stone filled wind that swept over mountain ridges and toppled trees. Almost 150 square miles of forest was blown over or left dead but still standing.

Simultaneously a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet into the sky and drifted downwind. This turned day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. Wet, cement like slurries of mud and rock scoured all sides of the volcano, while searing flows of pumice poured from the crater. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but it only took moments for Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape to be dramatically changed forever. A vast, scorched landscape laid where there was once the lush forested slopes of Mount St. Helens.

Landscape changed forever

Layers of mountains and a river at Mount St. Helens Washington

The path of the Toutle River was altered when Mount St. Helens last erupted in 1980

A vast, gray landscape lay where once the forested slopes of Mount St. Helens grew. 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.

Some plants and animals survived and rose out of the ash. Colonizing plants caught hold of the earth, birds and animals found a niche in a different forest on the slopes of the volcano.

Snow capped mountain range at Mount St. Helens Washington

Snow capped Cascade mountain range including Mount St. Helens

For six more years the volcano continued to erupt. At first the eruptions were violent and then began quietly building a lava dome. Thick pasty lava oozed out, piling on layer upon layer like pancakes in a messy stack. By the end of the eruptions in 1986 the lave dome had reached 920 feet high.

Some interesting facts

Over 230 square miles of forest was decimated in minutes.
Mount St. Helens has had many eruptions.
The blast killed United States Geological Survey volcanology scientist David Johnston.
3,600 years ago Native Americans abandoned their hunting grounds at the volcano.
The eruption in 1980 left a crater approximately 1 mile wide and 2 miles long.
The modern name, Mount St. Helens, was given to the volcanic peak in 1792 by explorer Captain George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy. He named it to honor a fellow countryman Alleyne Fitzherbert, who held the title of Baron St. Helens.

Eruptive history

Brown tree branches in from to a snow capped volcanic mountain that is Mount St. Helens Washington

The crater of Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens Washington eruptive history began about 40,000 years ago with dacitic volcanism, which continued on and off until about 2,500 years ago.

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

A beige and stone sign welcoming you to Mount St. Helens Washington

Welcome to Mount St. Helens Volcanic National Monument

A black elk sculpture in the woods at Mt. St. Helens National Monument

We spied this sculpture of an elk hiding in the bushes at the Mount St. Helens National Monument

We stopped at the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument so that we could buy a souvenir magnet to add to our ever growing collection. But we found were incredible views of the volcano, lovely landscaping and sculptures, educational facilities and yes, the gift shop.

Gray sculpture of a man bent over planting trees at Mount St. Helens Washington

Tree Planter sculpture at Mount St. Helens National Monument

Our favorite sculpture there was of the Tree Planter. This bronze statue is of a guy with a shovel bent over in his backbreaking labor. It honors those who reseeded the Weyerhaeuser’s property with more that 18 million trees. Hidden behind the Mount St. Helens Forest Learning Center is this statue of a man wearing rubber boots and a baseball cap. Over his hunched back is a bag full of rough sticks. He’s leaning over where he’s dug the blade of his shovel into the ground. Guys like these were heroes of sorts because they hand planted each and every one of those 18 million new trees. And thankfully the cycle of life could begin anew!