Hi Chris,

At the time you were at MSH the regrowth hadn't even started and it was very much like a moonscape. I recall flying over it in July 1982 in a commercial jet liner and wondering what would happen if it suddenly came to life at that moment. I was truly impressed when I saw the forest laid over like a pile of tooth picks.

I have the movie St. Helens which stars Art Carney as Harry Truman. I'm not sure how much of it is truthful. I was mentioning to Don that if the part about David Johnston having a girlfriend he met at Cougar was true, I wonder where she is today and what happened to her after he died. The story about people driving very fast down the mountain I know is true.

My friend, Adventure Woman, who went there recently said the old cars and tractors and such are still there. They were left as they were so one could gather points of reference in the blast zone. She said when she was at the Coldwater Station she did think about what could happen if the mountain took a sudden turn and a blast came towards her. It would take about one minute or less to be incinerated. Kind of sobering.

Petra