Day 5: Mt. St. Helens

Early in the morning we headed to the National Volcanic Monument, Mt. St. Helens. The Visitor Center, which is about 76km away from the volcano, offers an exhibition about the last eruption of Mt. St. Helens in the 80s.

You can't see the volcano itself first, it's hidden behind the mountain ranges that you have to navigate along endlessly. The journey took more than an hour, always with the knowledge 'We have to go all the way back', because this route is a dead end.

Our goal was the Johnston Ridge Observatory, which offers the best panorama. We had absolutely beautiful weather, so the pictures turned out great :)

On site, the park rangers at the viewpoint explain what happened on May 18, 1980. We have added before/after pictures for you ;) The rocks flew up to 10 miles, were tens of feet high, and had a speed of about 300 mi/h.