This is for folks that hate dozers

[Wylie5]

Dose any body know

Few more.

Dose any body have some resent photos of the area and what it looks like.
Cheers Andrew.

 

[buckfever]

cann't believe nowone tryed to salvage any of that equipment. makes me sick to see all that equipment destroyed or left to rot.

 

[John C.]

Not a lot of value in machines that are packed full of ash and you got to spend $10,000 a mile for the road you have to build to get to them. What's still up there is going to stay up there.

I was up to Windy Ridge last weekend and will post some photos. I have to do some resizing first.

 

[John C.]

It has been thirty years since the big blast and though a few greenies want you to think it was better to let everything rot and that nature would be back at work in short order, these pictures show a different story.

 

[John C.]

The mountain has dust flying off it because the wind is blowing fierce. The lake is Spirit Lake. All the logs on the side are from the blast and what was floated when the lake filled back up. I've heard there is still a forest at the bottom of the lake still standing. I find that hard to believe when I see other parts of the blast zone. Here are some more photos.

 

[John C.]

The first photo in that series is the north end of Spirit lake with Mt. Rainier poking up over the ridge. The second photo is Mt. Adams which is almost directly east. Notice the areas that were hit directly by the blast and note how little vegetation has grown back.

Three more coming.

 

[John C.]

This next three photos were from a loop road that returns back to the town Randle a different way. As I recall these were about 6 miles from Windy Ridge. You can see the tree skeletons either laid over with the roots up. Snapped off at the ground level or cut off like a buzz saw hit them about twenty to fifty feet off the ground.

 

[John C.]

I have heard that the blast was so hot that it sterilized the soil of all organic matter. The last photo shows the pumice that covers everything. There is a lot of scrub in places where the water collects and percolated through. There are some odd stands of trees that you wouldn't think should be up there. Cottonwood and pine trees are all over even though the elevation we were at was about 4,000 feet. There was plenty of Noble fir up there but very little Douglas Fir, Cedar or Hemlock.

It was a real nice motorcycle ride up there and we saw plenty of road racers that apparently like a thrill. There are no guard rails up there at all to foul the view. You miss a corner and you will have some time to think about how much the stop is going to hurt.

I like this viewing spot of the mountain far better than the Johnson Ridge park. It takes more to get there but is well worth the trip.

 

[ConstSite]

Amazing photos! But wow, by looking at the tabs on the roof and the wood around the back, these sure look like the same guy.

- Chris

 

[akroadrunner]

There were at least 22 different logging operations in the devastated area. All had a full complement of equipment and trucks.

Well. There it is. Ross & Sons. Can't tell you how it made me feel to see those pics. The Link Belt was a 108 with Clark under carriage. The Manotowoc a 2300. There is also a TD 24 and a brand new TD 20 on this location, along with our 110 Tillman tower and Skagit yarder. The fire truck was never found. Went down the creek with all the water that was blasted out of the lake above. Our cutters were there. Tom Gadwa and Wally Bowers. Their pickup was blown across the hillside for an INCREDIBLE distance. I found parts from their pickup in August of 80 when ith started to show up in the ash as orange rust in the gray landscape.

 

[wvlogger]

Looks like it was a good machine at some point. Aint nothing but scrap steel now.

 

[Wylie5]

It has been thirty years since the big blast and though a few greenies want you to think it was better to let everything rot and that nature would be back at work in short order, these pictures show a different story.

Great photos, I would have thourght that after 30 years, That all that timber in the Spirit Lake might have rotted away by now, looking at the photo's it's looks like a pretty big area 100 ha plus in size, Could have the timber that is floating in Spirit Lake could it have been harversted or not.

Cheers Andrew.

 

[John C.]

I don't know for sure why it couldn't have been harvested but I think the biggest reason was for the subsidized education establishment to claim science and then submit their applications for grants to study the decay.

I'm quite sure the University of Washington has projects going on up their all the time paid for by our tax money.

 

[Wylie5]

I don't know for sure why it couldn't have been harvested but I think the biggest reason was for the subsidized education establishment to claim science and then submit their applications for grants to study the decay.

I'm quite sure the University of Washington has projects going on up their all the time paid for by our tax money.

If they are, they must have a sh-t load of data on papers on it by now. You never know what reserch can do these days, Hope they publish their findings thuo.

Cheers Andrew.

 

[52dodgeman]

Thanks to all who have posted these excellent photos, especially Contract Logger. I devour any information on Mt. St. Helens I come across and finding these photos and comments of what had been some of the logging operations on the mountain is the icing on the cake. I was at Johnson Ridge this July, my third visit to the mountain since 1983 and always enjoy seeing how she changes. Would love to get back in and see some of these old machines.

BTW, Are any of the members here on HEF members of the Antique Caterpillar Machinery Museum at Brooks, OR? I really want to join when I relocate to Oregon.

 

[pp13bnos]

Great pictures.

If we get some good weather towards the end of October, I'll head up there and take some more photos if anyone is interested.

 

[Lawless]

Figured I'd bump this. Defiantly cool pics!

 

[bvfdfire]

A few years ago, I worked with a building contractor here in east Tx, he had moved down here from the west coast. As we talked, he went on and told me why it was that he had ended up in east Tx, he was a Volunteer Fire Chief with one of the Volunteer Fire Departments there. I wish I had recorded our conversations. He talked about how the old man at Spirit Lake Lodge refused to leave, and all the issues they dealt with leading up to the blow! Very interesting conversations........

 

[Lawless]

A few years ago, I worked with a building contractor here in east Tx, he had moved down here from the west coast. As we talked, he went on and told me why it was that he had ended up in east Tx, he was a Volunteer Fire Chief with one of the Volunteer Fire Departments there. I wish I had recorded our conversations. He talked about how the old man at Spirit Lake Lodge refused to leave, and all the issues they dealt with leading up to the blow! Very interesting conversations........

I've been up there many times and the info centers and monuments show pics of that old man and tells his story. Very cool to see and learn all the old history.

 

[MotoMatt]

I was just out there last week, anybody have an idea what make and model this piece is?