These pictures were all taken between September 8th and 9th, 1998.
Click on any of the pictures to get the original Kodak DC260 images.

Millions of trees were pulled up by their roots and blown over from the initial blast.	Hillside dotted with young vegetation.

Ridge within the blast zone.	A new river winds it's way down from the mountainside.

Visiting Mt. St. Helens on such a gray day only helped to emphasize the bleakness of the landscape.	But 20 years later, some trees are starting to grow back naturally. No replanting will be done within the blast zone so we can study how an ecosystem like this restarts itself.

The first new plants to grow within the zone were those started from seeds blown in on the wind.	New grasses and wildflowers are thriving.

A hummock mound (piece of the mountain which slid off and landed here several miles away from the mountain).	In the middle of the Pacific Northwest Cascade moutnain range, it reminds one more of a desert.	One of the larger new lakes which formed after the May 18th, 1980 eruption.

Animal life too is returning (albiet here to see if anyone at the rest stop will feed him).	A planting of Noble Fir just outside the blast zone.

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