Mount St. Helens
3029 Spirit Lake Hwy
Castle Rock, WA, 98611
Castle Rock, WA, 98611
At 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, 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. Nearly 230 square miles of forest was blown down or buried beneath volcanic deposits. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind, turning day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments.
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.
Located 5 miles east of Castle Rock on the shores of Silver Lake, the Visitor Center introduces visitors to Mount St. Helens' history and to the powerful events that took place on May 18, 1980. Take a walk on the 1 mile Silver Lake Wetlands Trail and discover how this lake was formed by a previous eruption and how the aquatic life continues to change Silver Lake today! Visitors can enjoy distant views of Mount St. Helens, and Silver Lake while identifying native plants, birds, and other wildlife.
This attraction is located about
83.0
miles from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
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. Nearly 230 square miles of forest was blown down or buried beneath volcanic deposits. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind, turning day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments.
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.
Located 5 miles east of Castle Rock on the shores of Silver Lake, the Visitor Center introduces visitors to Mount St. Helens' history and to the powerful events that took place on May 18, 1980. Take a walk on the 1 mile Silver Lake Wetlands Trail and discover how this lake was formed by a previous eruption and how the aquatic life continues to change Silver Lake today! Visitors can enjoy distant views of Mount St. Helens, and Silver Lake while identifying native plants, birds, and other wildlife.
| Price | : | $3.00 - $3.00 |
| Duration | : | about 3 hours |
| Hours | : | Open Daily, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Closed New Years, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. |
| Features | : | Free Parking Handicapped Accessible |
| Phone | : | 360-274-0962 |
| Website | : | http://www.mountsthelens.com/ |
