Thar She Blows

I recently read a blog from a friend who commented on the sheer destruction that the mountains surrounding the PNW would wreck, should they blow. I tend to take doomsayers with a grain of salt, so I initially laughed this post off. However, this weekend, we took a jaunt down to visit Mt. St. Helena's....and now I've come to realize that my friend might be on to something. At one point on our trip we were on an observation point that I could turn and see not only MSH, but also Adams and Rainier. That doesn't include Baker and Hood and a couple of other smaller volcanoes that provide a lovely ring of fire in my new homeland. And then, as you turn to view the visage of MSH, the evidence of her destruction still exists. 30 years later, the trees are still blown over from the blast, the path of the lava has cut out a swath where little exists and very few new things grow. MSH herself is awesome that she is a bear rock of a mountain unlike the others. Weyerhauser (sp?) has done an impressive job of re-forestation, but everywhere you look, it's an eye-opener that many were very, very, very lucky that MSH is incredibly remote to many people. The toll of 57 lives could have been a greater. And people, that lovely lady is still smokin' and belching. She was steaming smoke while we were there from her crater.

I kind of had this impression that MSH had gone back to being a dormant mountain--done with her bellyache and fire and no, I am quite wrong. Even as she sits there, you can _feel_ that this mountain isn't done with her business. She's not sleeping. She's just waiting. It is a very disconcerting experience. And when we look at the beauty of Rainier everyday, it's hard to believe that this mountain would cause far more destruction than MSH. Not only is Rainier bigger, but it's on a path that could take out Auburn, Lacey, Ft. Lewis and parts of Olympia. I'm not too sure about Microsoft either. The impact on life, commerce, military/government, geography and weather would be stunning. And the scary thing that is if you look at the probabilities, we could potentially see Rainier go in our lifetime. That's a bit of an eye opener. They are all impressive without a doubt, but those mountains are linked and none of them are quiet. I am also told that if you look at Yellowstone, it is a supervolcano quietly rumbling beneath the earth's surface that is well overdue to blow. Should Yellowstone go, the entire west coast will go with it and we will be plummeted into a new ice age.

If this is survival of the fittest, then I'll be one of the first to go. In the mean time, I am sure some of the striking beauty and mysterious engagement of these mountains is the silent menace that few of us consider. Denial is surely not a bad thing and a few extra "Our Father's" probably doesn't hurt either. :)