I know animals are usually ahead of the curve on leaving before a natural disaster. But, has anyone studdied the old topography compared to the new topography and looked for bottleneck and logjam ares were animal corpses may have accumulated? Is this still an area where there is activity from the BF? Has the wildlife returned? I don't know--just wondering.

Follow the vultures, any accumulation of dead critters should have them interested.

"Not me" to your first question. "I don't know" to your second question and a definite "Yes" to your third question. Elk were back on the mountain within a year of the blast. There were some animals (rodents and such) that were actually thought to have survived the blast. Denned up under the snow in ravines that were below the blast itself and were not subjected to the mudflows, these little critters felt nothing more than a relaxing vibration according to the wildlife bioligists. What has happened on the mountain has absolutely stunned many of the scientists who study this phenomenom. It is well worth looking up some of the studies. I developed a passion for Mt. Saint Helens since it was all the rage in the various timber industry monthlies for quite some time. The whole experience has been a 28 year classroom for the natural world scientists.

PBS did an excellent show called " 15 Years After" back in '96. If you can find it, watch it. Very enlightening.

Have fun, Norcal

I was in the area about a Month back, glorious area..

I know there has been a whole host of Reports within let's say a 25 Mile radius for example since the blast & there was a Guy on this Board who was doign a study on Sightiung Reports in what areas etc looking for patterns, for the next 5 Years after the blast..

Unfortunately i can't quite remember who it was or if he/she shared their findings though..

Couple of Pics of the area from last month..

These shots were taken looking West from the beautiful Forest Road 25 heading North.

Looks like alot of the scars are healing up pretty well. Mother nature is remarkable! Thanks for the pics B.O.

Technical question though, is a smudflow something that results when a smore acts badly?

hey bobby good early afternoon those are wonderful above new photos of mt saint helen are there still sightings footprints etc in that area resently. ty bill g

Was just there for the first time last month on the way to Rainier and I think Bobby orange even took some of the same shots we did. Went up to overlooking Spirit lake and you can clearly see the blast pattern with lined down trees. Pretty remarkable to see and the area is rebounding slowly but surely with alot of patchy ground vegetation that's pretty thick in some areas. Had a therm and did not see any ungulates but we were only up there for about an hour. Amazingly, the first critters back in after the blast were spiders parachuting in with their webs and wind. Here's a few pics taken with both me & Rgr Leiterman's cameras-

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It's pretty funny hearing some call St. Helens a natural disaster. I had to drive through the fall out when I moved back here 6 months after the blow up. My friends in Atlanta thought I was nuts coming back here. Everything was still a gray moonscape. Seems the disaster part was more for humans than for nature. A friend of mine, back around 2000, went to the lookout, and on the way, pulled over for a quick deer chase, just west of Kid Valley. His wife wanted some pics, and they got more than they bargained for. Some nice BF tracks that were twice the size of his feet, and he's 6' 4. St. Helens was just a blip on natures time line. Everything went along as usual out of the blast and fallout zones. What St. Helens looked like before the blast, took hundreds of thousands of years to build up to. Might take that again. The animals and plants come back.

As far as finding carasses, or BF bones, it's an interesting thought, but who's gonna dig in that sulfurized pumice to find em. Humans are still missing, and they aren't looking for them. Kid Valley is still BF central in that area. Nothing has changed but the skylline.

thanx 4 the info--one just doesn't know if we are not there?

Those are neat pics of Mount St. Helen's. I've always wanted to go there. The closest I got was to Mount Baker in Washington State. It was equally as beautiful in scenery. That's another volcano that is about to erupt someday.

Art,
This is to let you know that someone is trying to do as you suggest...sort of. This photograph gives a good idea of where we spend our time. Virtually every place within the volcanic monument has had roadway access at one time or another. Roads come and go, but even the old, unmaintained roads are still accessible by bicycle. The red circles are areas that are not currently accessible by motor vehicle. The roads are mostly washed out or closed off by gates or downed trees. I try to keep my eyes peeled and look for tracks or animal movement, but frankly, it is sort of overwhelming. You really have to be careful.

The left circle is the drainage for the south fork of the Toutle River. Amazing place, particularly as you ascend above 1000'. Very long views along that river bed. I don't think the wildlife in that area was ever much affected by the eruption. Huge sandbars and a lot of water and big canyons. Easily an all day ride from the town of Toutle and you won't see but a fraction.

The right circle is the Muddy/Smith River drainage. I think some of Bobby's photos are of this area from FS25. The fabled Ape Canyon is just to the north and west. We tend to ride up on the mountain using FS83 and descend the riverbeds, eventually meeting back up with FS25. Some of the roadway along the rivers is 3 inch+ rock; I ruined a set of wheels the first time down.

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I'd say so Bart, this one must have been at the same View Point/Lay by at the side of the Road, it's the same Picture except your River has more Water in it than mine...

Beautiful pictures, I am living in the wrong part of the country.

I second that Shef!!

Beauty of pictures probablly don't match the actual veiw. I know it doesn;t when I go down by the Ohio /River in the hills of Adams co.

Agreed 100%..

The word " breathtaking " gets banded around far too easily in my opinion but being a City Boy, out there in the PNW for the first time in my life, for me it truly was breathtaking..

Hi

Being a city boy myself i have to agree Breathtaking is the word to describe the PNW, I got to spend 1 1/2 yrs in Colorado at the foot of Norad and the Rocky's, Every time i went up into the mountains i was just floored at how big and beautiful it was, What really get's me is that wear i stationed is just a tiny part of the of it all. Nice pictures guys ~

Peace
Tim

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Taken from the north side of the mountain, at Johnston Ridge Observatory.

Posts like this kind of make me sad. My every day is a photo opp. Today was really cool as there was left over smoke from an industrial burn flowing down a river canyon beneath an inversion. Reminded me of the fog coming up the canyons off the ocean over on the north coast. Add to it was the full moon still hanging in the western sky as the sun was starting to light up the mountains. There are days (many of them) when I just have to stop and revel in the beauty.

Of course it's not all just fun and games. An hour and a half into my day I bent a hard line and broke a hose. Nothing like that satisfying feel of hot hydraulic oil running down your arm and saturating your sleeves. And a missed day of income.

Wouldn't trade it for the world.

Great pictures guys.

Yep, guaranteed that's the same pull-off. I flew into Portland from San Jose that day and Leiterman, who drove up from NorCal, grabbed me to head back to my 07 sighting location and he wanted to do a little sightseeing on the way there. In retrospect, I'm glad he did as it was cool to see the St Helens area. Bobby-I think you told me you were there the following weekend if I remember correctly.

As awesome as this Mt. St. Helens area is, I must say that Rainier beats it in beauty. I'll post a few shots we took from that trip in Sep. when I get home today for those that haven't seen them on my FB. It's not only magical to look at, but surrounded by what I think are arguable the coolest trees aside from Redwoods---bluish-green-needled "noble firs."

Here's some shots of Rainier.....does get any more beautiful then this-

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great shots bart!!!!!!!

Those are some great shots. That area is God's country. I read an report on I believe Bigfoot Encounters.com that days after the May 80' eruption, the national guard was called in to help with clean up and securing the area from people in case of another eruption. The forest dept. had reps there as well and supposedly the person that filed the report knew a forest dept. employee that was working alongside the guard. He said his forest dept. friend had to told him that the guard had piled up dead animals in groups of species that were killed in the blast. For example , one pile had deer , one pile had black bear, etc.... Well his friend said that there was one pile that was covered by a tarp but had some sort of animals under it. He got closer to it and got a good look and said he saw clearly that these were bigfoot creatures! I think he said there were about 20 to 30 individuals! One of the commanding officers saw him and told him to get away from there. He said they were loaded on a truck and taken to and undisclosed location. He also said that the men were gathered together and told not to tell anyone what they had seen or they would get in big trouble. That's it , has anybody else read this report?

I don't know whose website this is, but here's a (the same as above) Mt St Helens eruption report/story.

Sasquatch Research and Reporting

I also remember reading years ago on the web about a National Guard helicopter pilot that was doing rescue operations and reported seeing several Bigfoots trudging through an ash field right after the eruption. As I recall, the report was detailed, it described several creature of various sizes, and some of them looked in rough shape.

I’ve googled and googled, but I can’t find this story.


I don't know who's website that is, not do I how relyable the stories are.

Bart and Bobby, next time you get this way definately go try the Wonderland trail on Rainier......to this day it is one of my favorite haunts of any hill in the Cascades.

Well, I'd love to see the links to this story sort of like the famous Burned Bigfoot of Battle Mountain Nevada story website, seems like maybe the government conspiracy thread is multiplying like rabbits!

Yeah Bart, i was there 2 days before ( or was it the day before ?? ) the Seahawks V Bears Game, back in Mid/End of September..

& i'm with you, Rainier for me is top Dog, there's something very special about the Mountain itself & the surrounding Forests it & i couldn't help but feel in awe of it, it's very powerful..

At least one definate thing came out of my trip, i now know 100% what i'm doing & where i'm going on future Vacations...

A couple more of my Pics if you don't mind, my favourites..

Taken from FR 25 driving North towards Rainier..

Views are overlooking the GPNF with Mount Hood in the distance & then some closer up Pictures of " The Mountain "..

I've heard of this story as well, from a number of different researchers, I guess it was just too early for cellphone cameras and all. Seriously, it would be a plausable senario though if there was a population of them there.

I've got to say, i've read these Stories myself previously about the Choppers, MT St Helens & BF but i've been searching for the past 36 or so hours & i can't find a damn thing on it anymore..