Newberry Volcano was once like Mt. Mazama, a towering volcano. But it too collapsed on to itself forming a depression. Two lakes fromed, Paulina and East Lakes separated by obsidian and basaltic flows. A climb up Paulina Peak will give you spectacular views of Newberry and all its attractions such as the lava flows, domes, flows of obsidian, and Central Pumice Cone which some believe is the former peak of the volcano before it collapsed on itself. Some of the most recent activity is Big Obsidian Flow which erupted about 1400 years ago. On the most northern section of the caldera wall is The Fissure, which is a 29 mile long rift zone that erupted basaltic lava flows about 6,100 years ago. Newberry, like Mazama, has erupted numerous different types of lavas. Some lava flows have reached as far as Bend. New cinder cones, domes, lava flows, and pyroclastic flows can erupt anyway inside the central depression or on the slopes and rim of the caldera wall. If the northwest rift one (The Fissure), were to erupt, it could pour out lava flows on to HWY 97 that could reach as far as Bend

I discovered that Lassen is just a peak on a much larger old volcano. Resurgent tome? Maidu was the first. Then came Tehema. Now lassen is a littlepeak on the great flanks of these much older volcanoes. Yes, it will erupt again!!!

This is the last one I will do today, Rob. So don't worry, I will let you catch up. I don't want to steal all of the Cascade Volcanoes *laughs* Mt. Bachelor a basaltic composite cone, located a few miles south from Broken Top, is mostly known for good skiing and wonderful views from the summit. Not much is known about Bachelor except that it erupted more than 6,900 years ago. If it were to erupt again the cone would grow larger and it may become one of the larger volcanoes in the state. There could also be a potential problem with mudflows effecting the north side of the ski resort.

I almost forgot...I got half of the film developed from my trip to Arizona last Janurary and my trip to the Cascades this past May. I have some excellent shots, especially of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainer, and the town of Orting which I know you are all dying to see, *laughs*. How do you upload pictures again? I forgot *kicks herself*

Send your photos to me and I will FTP them to spring for you. Then you can post them as you wish, Julie! Meanwhile I await John's assisting me with the login and password to Geo's space there. *sigh*

Hi all The next one I am doing is Mt Baker in the northern part of Washington State. Mount Baker is a snow capped stratovolcano with Sherman crater nestling between the main summit and another peak. Baker experienced a dramatic increase in thermal activity during March 1975 and varied activity since then. The volcano erupted in 1843 badly polluting major fish carrying rivers, which impressed the local Indians. It has had pyroclastic flows, lahars, tephra fall and lava flows in the last 10,000 years. Future hazards, include pyroclastic flows and lahars, with possible lava flows emerging on the flanks of the volcano. Rob

I am just waiting for someone to do the Oregon Cascade I got to see from Shasta. That was unique in my experience! Great work, Rob and Julie. Volcanoes are wonderful and magnificent and swesome all at the same time!

I think someone should lock me out of my own topic because I can't control myself. *lauhging* I just luv volcanoes a little too much! Okay, firstly, there is two other features within Lassen Volcanic National Park that you should take note of. Chaos Crags is a massive dacite plug. Its eruptions were very violent. Pumice and ash would hurl itself down Manzanita Creek in giant avalanches. Chaos Crage probably formed about 1000 to 1200 years ago whihch isn't very long ago at all (in geologic sense). Then there is Cinder Cone which is a a 600 foot tall almost perfectly symmetirical cinder cone. Its last eruption was actually in 1850-1851 where it ejected fragmental material. But its youngest lava flows are about 150 years old. Cinder Cone's beautiful orange coloring attracts people who make the trek to the top. Lassen can also be climbed too. I climbed it 2 years ago. It was fun, but very tiring in the 90. F heat. There was only a little snow at the top when I went. The very top goes down into this lava canyon that is really cool. And if it isn't too hazy out, you can see some great views of Mt. Shasta and some of the other Cascade Volcanoes.

Mt. Shasta, a 14,161 foot complex strato-volcano, is often seen with lenticular clouds swirling over the summit. This mysterous volcano has quite an interesting geologic history. One thing to notice is that Shasta isn't as eroded as Rainer and Hood. This is because the percipitation near Mt. Shasta area is much less and because its lava flows have been very large over the past few thousands of years. Some time about 300,000 years ago Shasta was a very large single volcano, but the north side of the volcano collapsed in one of the biggest avalanches ever. This eruption was probably very simalar to the way Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980. The last eruption of Mt. Shasta was in 1786. Pyroclastic flows and mudflows came roaring down the east side. One of the mud flows went 12 miles up Mud Creek. Black Butte, a very imressive looking dacite plug dome on Shastina's western base, was built about the same time as Shastina which was about 9,500 years ago. The most youngest part of Shasta is the present cone called Hotlum Cone. Most activity has been coming from Hotlum Cone for the last 9,000 years. Furture eruptions have simalar consequences as like Rainer. The towns of Weed and Mt. Shasta are built on ancient pyroclastic deposits. And McCloud is built on ancient mud flow deposits. I don't know if either of these 3 towns have a warning system like Orting has, but they definatly need it if they don't. Eruptions in the future will probably cause pyroclastic flows and mud flows that could definatly come in the direction of the three towns that lay right in the path of Shasta's fury. One should also worry about snow melt, which could rush down the Sacramento River and threaten Shasta Lake and Shasta Dam.

Okay, okay, I'll stop stealing all the volcanoes! *kicks herself*

Hi all For a volcano of it's size, Mount Adams in WA is surprisingly inaccessible except if you are prepared to walk long distances and be gone for a few days. The volcano is east of Mount St Helens and is a stratocone comprising of mainly andesitic lavas. At 12276 feet and with a bulk only exceeded by Rainier, Adams has had a surprisingly quiet life, with very few pyroclastic flows, mudflows and tephra falls as opposed to its much more aggressive neighbours. For the most part activity seems to have consisted of quite andesitic lava flows and the odd cinder cone, and the book, "Fire Mountains of the West" S.L Harris suggests that this will remain the case for future eruptions. Rob

Julie, I had such great shots of Chaos crags and other places you mentioned... on my old hard drive. Alas they are gone,but I can see precisely what you arre talking about and, having read it in my Roadside Geology for Northern California, I know exactly what you are talking about. Honey, you are doing splendid work here. Steal all of the volcanoes. Rob can add his touches to what you have written.Since each one seems to have its own book-length manual availavle, I doubt you will run out of things to say about the Cascades!

Andesitic flows... Lassen is where I grabed a piece if for my collection -outside of the park, of course! I do have the most ancient chunk of an a'a flow (vesicles are all deformed instead of being perfectly round. I found it in the stream bed where I found the crinoids and geodes. If this is what I think it is - the volcanoes which were there before the Applachians formed - it is very old rock, indeed! It is brown instead of black and tumbled into a baking potato form. I'll photograph it for you and post it.

Hi all I shall do Jefferson today. I think Jefferson was in partial cloud when we saw the volcano in 1992, and I cannot remember very clearly, much about it. Jefferson was formed after the last significant magnetic reversal, which was about 700,000 years ago. The volcano has produced significant basaltic flows which well being significantly smaller than the basalts of shield volcanoes and fissures, make it an imposing volcano. Jefferson however has also had a violent period because magmas erupted in the most recent eruptions are turning silicic. Jefferson may be therefore moving into a phase of violent events and reports of her demise in that case could be called exaggerated, despite the 140,000 year dormancy of the main cone. Rob

Lava Beds National Monument and Medicine Lake Volcanic Area are both part of the Cascade Volcanic Range even though they are so far east. Lava Beds is an area composed of an interesting array of spatter cones, cinder cones, lava flows, and lava tubes. Over 400 lava tubes have been discovered and more are found every year. Schonchin Butte is a spatter cone that erupted ash and cinders about 30,000 years ago. This is a very popular climb. Mammoth Crater I think is one of the most interesting features in Lava Beds. Mammoth Crater is mostly responsible for making all the lava tubes in the monument when it erupted 30,000 years ago. Fleener Chimneys is a spatter cone that was created by globs of molten lava piling on top of each other. A hole is left in the center and that why it looks like a chimney. The hole is 50 feet deep. Some other interesting places is Captin Jacks Stronghold, Hospital Rock, Heppe Ice Cave, Symbol Bridge, and Petroglyph Point. There is also about 18 lava tubes you can explore as well. The whole area has a very interesting history. In 1872, a war broke out between the Modoc Indians and the settelers living there at that time. The many features in Lava Beds now serve as historic sites where this battle was fought. Medicine Lake Volcano is a shield volcano covering 900 square miles, that has erupted a verity of lavas from basalt to rhyolitic obsidian. Many eruptions were quite explosive and violent producing pyroclastic flows. The summit itself is considered a shallow caldera and is 6 miles across and 4 miles wide. Some unique features in Medicine Lake Volcanic Area are Paint Pot Crater, Burnt Lava Flow, Glass Mountain, and Little Glass Mountain. The last major eruption occured only 1,100 years ago. The area erupted violently, ejecting rhyolitic pumice. Glass Mountain and Little Glass Mountain now cover this pumice. Both of these vents erupted dacite and then later rhyolite. Glass Mountain last erupted in 1910.

Mt Garibaldi is the northern most of the Cascade Range and connects with the Coast Mountains which is another chain of very old, glaciated volcanoes. The Coast Mountains are nothing as imressive as the rest of the Cascade Range, but they too have their own unique geologic history that helped shape the northern northwest parts of Canada. Garibaldi is a dacite stratovolcano made up of domes, pyroclastic flows, and lava flows. Garibaldi was last active about 250,000 years ago. Meager Mountain is northwest of Garabaldi. Meager Mountain is an eroded volcano and its last eruption was after the last ice age. The most recent eruption of the Coast Mountains was of Meager Mountain. About 2,400 years ago, Meager Mountain erupted blocks of rhyodacite 188 feet long.

Hi all Today is the turn of the northern most volcano in Oregon, Mount Hood. Hood is visible from Portland along with Mount St Helens and Mount Adams. The volcano last erupted in 1865. It's geological history seems to have been composed of relatively intermittent explosive eruptions with mudflows, pyroclastic flows and various lavas added as well. This is shown in the Old Maid eruptive cycle which consisted of dacitic lava flows, and pyroclastic flows causing mudflows by melting the ice. The phase started with vent clearing eruptions removing older material and then dacite lavas started oozing from the summit. A large lahar entered the Zigzag River and this is thought to have occurred between 1770-1780 and was still visible when Lewis and Clark visited the area a couple decades later. But the climax was a large pyroclastic flow that destroyed a stand of trees creating the "ghost forest". Hood is a dormant volcano, lest anyone mistake the complete lack of activity last century and it will therefore erupt again. The volcano is known for it's pyroclastic flows and lahars, and unless Hood changes it's pattern of eruptive activity, the lahars, dacite domes and pyroclastic flows seem set to continue. Rob

There are 4 volcanic fields in the Cascade Range that not many people know about. Goat Rocks Volcanic Field, Indian Heaven Volcanic Field, Clear Lake Volcanic Field, and Simcoe Volcanic Field. Goat Rocks Volcanic Field is located in south central Oregon near Mt. Adams. Vents in the volcanic field began to form small clusters of volcanoes throughout the area during the past million years. The Goat Rocks Volcano was formed about 2.5 to 0.5 million years ago. This volcanic cone can still be seen and is located 70 kilometers west of Yakima and 15 kilometers south of White Pass. Indian Heaven Volcanic Field is located between Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams. Its main feature is a 30 kilometer chain of shield volcanoes, cinder cones, and lava flows. This volcanic field has been the most recnet active of all the other volcanic fields. Clear Lake Volcanic Field lies within the San Andreas Fault system in the northern coast ranges of California. Although this is part of the Cascade Range it was formed entirely differntly. Rather than subduction, which is the way the rest of the Cascade Volcanic Range was formed, Clear Lake Volcanic Field was formed by the the pulling apart of the San Andreas Fault system. The range varies in basalt to rhyolite in composition. Some of the volcanoes in the field formed the closest to the subduction plate boundary of any other volcanoes in the world! So this may be something interesting to keep watch over, esecially given its area in a very tectonically active zone. Simcoe Volcanic Field is located south and southeast of Mt. Adams. 24 cinder cones cross the center of the field and more are seen to the south. Most of the features in this volcanic field probably formed between 4.5 to 0.5 million years ago.

You don'tmind if I borrow this lava field post to send to David. I'd love to see it some time - one or the other of them. I had no idea the lava fields existed!

Not many do unless you study the Cascades as obssesivly as I do *laughs*. You find out many unusual and fascinating things that are not too well known.

McKenzie Pass, located between Bend and Eugene is a very fascinating desert of black basalt, fern forests which hides one of the most beautiful water falls on the west coast, Proxy Falls, and cinder cones. Nesseled in the middle of these massive lava flows is Belknap Crater, Little Belknap Crater, and Yapoah Cinder Cone. A smaller crater named South Belknap lies on the south flanks of Belknap Crater. South Belknap last erupted only 1,800 years ago. About 2,900 years ago, basaltic lava erupted from Little Belknap, which is located about a mile east from the main crater. The Dee Wright Observatory was built on top of a massive lava flow that erupted from the Yapoah Cinder Cone. The last eruption was about 1,500 years ago, when ash and blocky basalt exploded from the main crater flowing 12 miles west into the McKenzie Canyon floor. More blocky lava flows and tephra can be expected in future eruptions from any of the craters and vents.

Broken Top is a stratovolcano composed of basaltic andesite. The 9,175 foot volcano was once much higher but it has been severely eroded. During its cone building stages, the summit collapsed many times. Its eruptions erupted tephra and caused massive pyroclastic flows. Lavas varied from basaltic to rhyodacite. Finally, a plug of micronorite formed in the cones central vent. Broken Top hasn't erupted for thousands and thousands of years so it MAY be extinct.

Hi all Julie and I have a surprise in store but (HUSH!! Julie, we are not telling anyone are we??)you will have to wait for it. Hehehehehe!!!!! ---- Anyway todays volcano from Rob is the first of the Three Sisters triumvirate. I have chosen the North Sister to do today, and her sibling volcanoes tomorrow and Thursday. But put your hands together for the North Sister. North Sister is tne northernmost of the Sisters triumvirate and is heavily eroded to the point that one would be hard pressed to find a crater. The volcano has not had any eruptive activity since before the last glaciation which suggests it is extinct. The volcano has numerous dikes that invaded the cone during the final stages. At the volcano's peak, the summit was about 11,000 feet above sea level and it had a base 15-20 miles in diameter. So what future activity will come from North Sister? Well the cone itself is probably extinct, judging by the glaciation, but it may sprout cinder cones around the flanks. But all in all North Sister is probably extinct. Rob

Despite Rob's cruel streak I find his posts amazingly interesting and entertaining. Shhhh don't tell him or it will just feed his ego! *;)

Woooohooooo! I just picked up the last of the photos from my last two trips today. I will look through them tonight and hopefully post them by the end of this week. I am so glad I haven't sent the video tape of my trip to you yet, Marcia. I plan to take the camcorder again when I go back to the Cascades in August, so when I finally send you the tape it really will have a bit of everything for all of you to see. In fact, it looks like Mom and Dad want to see a little bit of the coast in Oregon too. So not only will you get to see the entire Cascade Range, but you will also get to see the beautiful coastline scenery and other surprises as well. We are going to some very fascinating places. I will let you all know about them soon, or I might just keep them a secret until I come back *laughing evily*.

Hi all Hehehehehe!!!! Grinning brilliantly, Rob dashes off to find the Middle Sister. "ROB!!!" "Mid Sis!! How are you??" They embrace. ----- At 10,047 feet Middle Sister is a volcano with few distinctions, but whose appearance as anything in particular is saved by the east face. This side has been stripped away leaving the volcano with few other notable features - no summit crater like her southern sister or the grand pinnacles of the northern sister. This is also a volcano about which not much is known and therefore one is reluctant to say the Middle Sister has had it's day or not. The Diller and Hayden Glaciers are eating into the volcano thus removing any crater that or recognisable vent. So what of it's future? Hard to say. It should be noted that just because the volcano is quiet for the time being, does not necessarily mean the Middle Sister is extinct. Rob

Hi all Tonight is the turn of the South Sister. South Sister, as the name suggests, is the southernmost of the Sisters triumvirate in the Cascade Range. The volcano is the best preserved of the three and the most recently active of them. South Sister has a steep andesite and dacite cone that formed before the Pleistocene because evidence of glacial activity in that era is visible. There is also a small amount of basaltic lava present. More recently rhyodacite lava domes and flows have been erupted (about 2000 years old). South Sister is evidently developing a silicic magma reservoir that may mean it could blow apart with the ferocity of Mazama. While dormant, South Sister is part of a playground for tourists and locals alike. The volcano is not characterised as yet by pyroclastic flows or lahars as so many of the other volcanoes in the Cascades are. If the future of South Sister is dependent on the magma reservoir below, the outlook is not good. As mentioned the silicic magma underneath means future eruptions may be violent. The volcano also seems to be following an interesting pattern of erupting smaller volumes of other lavas types. ---- "Thy gracious sister," the Middle Sister wept. "Surely it is not true that you are considering self destructing". Rob

Sheesh... a dramatic volcanologist!!! Oh well. Better than no Volcanologist at all. Not bad, Rob dear. You have talents I suspect none of us yet know abut. I can hardly wait.

... If you need a sister to explode all over you, might I lend you mine?

There is one important thing about the South Sister that you all should take note of and thats the recent uplift. The ground surface has risen 4 inches from 1996 to 2000. The recent uplift is probably being caused by magma slowly accumulating about 4 miles below the surface. Earthquakes and gas emissions still remain low, but the uplift still continues. Satilites, radar, and seismographs have been put in differnt areas around the South Sister to moniter the uplift and what ever changes it may make. If there were to be an eruption, there would probably be plenty of time to evacuate tha areas, since the area around there is not very populated anyway. So now its just a waiting game to see what happens and there is also a chance that nothing will happen. But we will watch and wait to see if the South Sister is the next volcano in the continental U.S to erupt. http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Sisters/WestUplift/framework.html Julie

Hmmm!!! That is exciting. Is there anything population-wise to worry about in the near vicinity to this swelling?

Sisters and Bend are the only cities or towns that are close to it. Sisters population is 700 and Bends population is 20,400. These cities are close by, but they are not near the swelling. I was near the area where the swelling is when I was climbing the South Sister last August. The biggest danger would be simialar to what some people were doing before Mt. St. Helens erupted in May 1980 and thats camping, climbing, hiking, or doing whatever in the wilderness near the volcano. The trail we went on to climb the South Sister was packed with people and so was the campground area. The South Sister is the second most popular climb in Oregon after Mt. Hood. There's also many other trials that people use to climb and to hike around the Three Sisters Wilderness. Hopefully, if the South Sister were to erupt, there would be enough of a warning so hikers and climbers could be evacuated.

Go check rocks Geo 21. I posted my kentucky lava !

Hi all This the last volcano before Julie and I spring the twin headed surprise: My volcano today is the southern Sentinel of Oregon, Mount McLoughlin. Mount McLoughlin is a volcano that has had a quiet life with the only pyroclastics being produced during the early stages of the volcano. McLoughlin is however a curious volcano in that it is what I call a super cinder cone - a stunning 3000ft high cone of cinders, bombs and other debris that one would have thought is somehow pasted together by lava, but is not. There is no lava covering or pasting together the upper cinders in the cone. What keeps the cone however does involve lava and it would appear that McLoughlin then erupted a thin layer of andesitic lava from the central vent and that formed a hard shell over the cinders. During the third phase of the volcano's life large amounts of andesite lava were erupted from vents now called North and South Squaw, along with two other flows that came from near the South Squaw vent and the northeastern cirque. The latter is spread over the glacial moraines and the landslide deposits in the area. Mount McLoughlin is likely to continue the eruptions of andesite in the future though it is acknowledged that pyroclastic eruptions may resume at some stage. Rob

Hi all Today the first part of the surprise with an old favourite is sprung. I choose Mount St Helens, because of its enduring popularity, easy access to information about and a jolly good yarn. It is also a volcano very close to my heart being for a while my all time favourite volcano. Basic information about Mount St Helens: Mount St Helens is located in southwestern Washington State and is the centre piece of a National Volcanic Monument covering 110,000 hectares in a tribute to one of the most famous eruptions of the 20th Century. The volcano is about 40,000 years old, though the existing cone was largely formed in the last 400-500 years. Eruptions in the 1800s were especially notable in 1832-1857 when off and on events went on for 25 years. Lava consists of mainly dacites with basalts also found and a large lava tube big enough to walk through found on the south flank of the volcano. Evidence exists that the oldest known deposits are 37,600 old and that the volcano has had several distinct phases involving dome growth, pyroclastic flows, lava flows, and a lateral blast about 1150 years ago. The volcano also produced lahars that poured down the Lewis River. Beginning in 1800 the 57 year Goat Rocks period of eruptive activity began. It started with a dacitic explosion which alarmed the local Indians who had as a consequence a hard winter and crop shortages. The phase reached a striking similarity to 1980 when the volcano began spewing ash onto pristine snow covered slopes. On April 17 1857, the volcano was noted to be: "emitting huge volumes of smoke and fire in a grand and sublime spectacle". The stage was now set for the 1980 sequence. ---- "one step at a time, if I can just keep going. It's pitch black in here... at this time I honestly believe I'm dead..." Standing high on a ridge covered in pine trees and douglas firs with a covering of snow, he overlooks a lake frozen in ice. A land of grand beauty and graceful mountains, clear cold running streams and a myriad of wildlife. Rising before him and sweeping majestically to a height of 9677ft the graceful cone of Mount St Helens dominated the skyline true to Indian mythology about the guardian of the Columbia River. In the village below the tourists and campers flocked to the glorious Spirit Lake, quite unaware that this time the following year the Fujiyama of the USA would be a loaded gun starring down the volcanologists, the State Government, the landowners and the locals. ---- 123 years of relative calm came to end on March 20, 1980 when a seismometer in a basement in Seattle made a decisive twitch. A significant earthquake event had just been recorded by a United States Geological Survey (USGS)seismometer under a volcano in western Washington state. After consulting the USGS office in Denver the seismologists on duty decided it was volcanic in origin. A trip was immediately organised for the following day to install more seismographs around the volcano. In the meantime at the volcano a sustained drum beat of tremors was steadily playing out on the seismographs. Despite the earthquakes which people were noticing at the volcano, the mountain was not yet news. President Jimmy Carter had just announced the US boycott of the Moscow Olympics because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It soon would be. As the USGS assembled its staff to pool their knowledge together about how Mount St Helens had behaved in the past, magma was beginning to rise with the cone. The curtain was about to go up on the first Act. Just after 12.30PM on March 27, an aircraft pilot flying near Mount St Helens noted black stains on the pristine white snow, and a plume rising out of the volcano. A red zone was established to protect people from any increase in activity as the volcano revved. On March 30 93 small explosions occurred in the crater as magma continue it's intrusion. It was fast becoming the biggest show in the Pacific northwest. People flocked to see the volcano and get a sample of the action. No one cared that it was growing more restless by the day. As April wore on explosions and the earthquakes continued. A USGS scientist named Don Swanson who had spent much of his career climbing the volcano went one night to relieve another geologist monitoring the volcano, and noted something terrifying. The whole north face looked grotesquely distorted. "It was terrifying. I wanted to turn around and leave right away." Initially though the bulge was not identified as the biggest threat, because it was a newly identified feature. But as the magma rose in the volcano, the north face began to bulge grotesquely outwards. Locals were starting to get impatient with the volcano with some wishing it would just blow and go. Timber companies complained of losing revenue because of being restricted by the red zone around the volcano. But quite rightly the authorities remained steadfast in their refusal. No one could have known the full dimensions despite the ominous presence of the bulge, of the threat growing in the volcano. But local businesses had an upside to the volcanic activity - tourism was experiencing a mini boom thanks to the antics of Mount St Helens and souvenir sellers were doing a roaring trade of ash samples, t-shirts with slogans like "Keep your ash off my lawn" and... yes, souvenir ash trays created by melting down the ash and solidifying it. One person was not leaving however, and this was Harry Truman, the proprietor of the Spirit Lake lodge. He said to the authorities, that "I am a part of the mountain, and the mountain is a part of me. I ain't leaving!!" However while this was going on, Mount St Helens was gearing up for her biggest show in 4000 years and the biggest in the continental 48 states for the 20th century. David Johnston, 30, and a geochemist with the USGS was monitoring the volcano. He knew better than anyone else what Mount St Helens could do, having seen the destructive power of pyroclastic flows and explosive eruptions in Alaska. On May 17, he was asked by Don Swanson to swap places on the volcano watch roster while Swanson saw off a student going home. Johnston was wary - he knew the volcano was now primed to blow, but he said yes. It would cost him his life. Johnston took over and went to Coldwater II to continue the observations that had been continuous since the volcano began to stir in March. Two other geologists joined him and they monitored the volcano throughout the day. No eruptions occurred and the volcano appeared deceptively peaceful. After the geologists left, Johnston was alone with a volcano that scared him, that scared Swanson and was now just hours away from a grand show of stunning violence. It was May 17, 1980 and Mount St Helens would not hang on much longer. Her north flank now bulged outward by a mammoth 100 metres, was a mile long and nearly a kilometre wide. Down in the deserted village Harry Truman, the proprietor of the Spirit Lake lodge lived with his 16 cats and myriad of birds that he fed. They had fled after the initial explosions, but had since come back. Soon they would be gone for good. Sunday May 18, 1980 dawned clear and calm just like the day before it. Mount St Helens still looked drowsy in the early morning. A U2 reconnaisance aircraft had flown over to get an infrared image of the volcano to pinpoint heat sources. It had picked up two fumaroles high on the volcano near the crater lip, but no one would know until too late that they existed. David Johnston got out of bed and immediately began taking measurements to ascertain what the volcano had done during the night. All seemed so calm and peaceful. No wind, no clouds. Just a clear sunny day on a forested ridge facing a volcano putting the finishing touches to her grand display. The peace came to an abrupt end at 8:32AM. At that moment a magnitude 5.1 earthquake loosened the toe of the bulge enough that the whole thing suddenly began downhill in a HUGE avalanche that attained a speed of 180 miles an hour. It tore down the disintegrating flank and split in two: part poured into Spirit Lake, while the larger tongue filled the Toutle valley to a depth of 180 metres. Even before the massive avalanches reached Spirit Lake it was overtaken by a colossal lateral blast that rolled across the landscape with the consistency of a blow torch, the ferocity of a nuclear bomb blast and with the raspy breath of a giant. David Johnston managed a famous five word message before he was swept into oblivion, never to be seen or heard from again: "VANCOUVER!! VANCOUVER!! THIS IS IT!!" Harry Truman probably never even saw the earth storm hit him and his beloved home of 53 years. He died in a crushing wall of volcanic debris and today is entombed under 66 metres of solid volcanic material. The volcanic storm swept on through the forest killing more people and laying waste to some of the most beautiful land in the US, before imploding and rushing back inwards as the volcano began a vertical eruption that would last the rest of the day. Within minutes ash was 60,000 feet into the atmosphere. It would travel the world in just 17 days. 600,000 tons dropped into Yakima giving on average every man woman and child a 12 ton clean up job. Economic losses totalled US$1 billion and included the losses of Weyerhaeuser whose forests were flattened by the blast. They also lost heavy equipment when lahars poured down the volcano and into the camps on the Toutle and Cowlitz rivers. Roads bridges and railways were swept away or mangled by the seething mass of mud and debris. 57 people died and over 200 were injured. Some people have never been found and others had nightmarish tales to tell of stumbling around in the dark convinced that May 18, 1980 was the last day of their lives. Others tried to outrun the l hars only to be caught on bridges or suddenly having to scramble for higher ground. And what of the volcano? The graceful maiden of the Columbia was gone. In her place a truncated cone with a gaping hole was left. 3km3 was missing, most of it displaced when the north flank disintegrated. The new summit was 400 metres lower. The volcano continued erupting sporadically throughout the summer of 1980 with smaller but no less spectacular events on May 25, June 12, July 22, and August 7. After the June eruption the volcano grew a lava dome. It blew to bits on July 22. On October 16 after another explosive eruption, the volcano began evolving another lava dome. It continued to grow and most eruptions since have contriubted to it in some fashion. When I visited in 1992 the dome was quietly steaming and the volcano was calm and serene. The seismograph in the visitor centre was very quiet suggesting nothing untoward. The forest has begun to regrow and I hope to see Windy Ridge again when I next visit the volcano. But for the time being Mount St Helens is dormant again. Her crater housing an impress ve dome 200 metres high and 800 metres across, is for the time being quiet. ---- Mount St Helens will erupt again, and if past behaviour is the key to the present, then the wild child of the Cascades could blow with even greater force than May 18, 1980. However it seems likely that the volcano will continue accumulating a dome of dacitic lava in the immediate future. Mount St Helens is only a young volcano but already she has earnt herself a place in the annals of the world most notorious volcanoes. Rob

Excellent work Rob! I don't think I could have done it any better myself. Now, finally for the grand finale.......(drum roll please).......The most explosive volcano in Washington State is........Glacier Peak. Glacier Peak lies 70 miles northeast of Seattle and is one of the most remote volcanoes in the Cascade Range. There are no roads near the base. The closest access road is at least 10 miles away. Even trying to get a good view of this magnificent peak is almost impossible. But don�t be fooled...Glacier Peak has quite an extensive eruptive history and has produced some of the largest and most explosive eruptions in the state. About 13,100 years ago, Glacier Peak produced 9 tephra eruptions in less than a few hundred years. The largest tephra eruption ejected more than 5x as much tephra as the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Tephra from these eruptions was carried thousands and thousands of miles across the country. Deposits were 12 inches thick in eastern Washington and over an inch thick in Montana. During Glacier Peak�s eruptive episodes, lava domes formed on the summit and flanks of the volcano. Pyroclastic flow deposits can be seen covering the valley east and west of Glacier Peak. Glacier Peak has also produced dozens of lahars that have severely affected river valleys. The Stillaguamish River valley at Arlington, more than 60 miles downstream from Glacier Peak, has lahar deposits 7 feet thick. Some of these lahars flowed down the North Fork Stillaguamish River and the Skagit River and out into the Puget Sound. Giant landslides on the flanks of Glacier Peak have also created lahars. Some were hundreds of feet deep and traveled all the way out to sea as well. Glacier Peak will erupt again someday. Future eruptions could eject catastrophically large quantities of pyroclastic material. Glacier Peak may again send devastating lahars down river valleys to farms and settlements were thousands of people now live. Areas tens of miles downwind and downstream, as far as the Puget Sound could be severely devastated in future eruptions of Glacier Peak.

Well there you go. Rob and I have given a brief history of every volcano in the Cascade Range. So let's sum a few things up. Firstly, the most explosive volcanoes in the Cascade Range are...Crater Lake, Glacier Peak, and Mt. St. Helens: Crater Lake with its violent pumice eruptions, pyroclastic flows, and collapsing summit, Glacier Peak with its enormous tephra eruptions and devastating lahars, and Mt. St. Helens with its lethal lateral blast, deadly pyroclastic flow, and catastrophic mudflow. Volcanoes have always been around to unleash their deadly forces. It is us that have moved next to them and built around them. The most dangerous volcanoes in the Cascade Range in terms of location to cities and towns are...Mt. Shasta, Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainer, and Mt. Baker. The three small towns of Weed, Mount Shasta, and McCloud lay right in the shadows of Mt. Shasta. Mt. Hood hovers over Portland and about a dozen other towns. The towns of Orting, Puyallup, Enumclaw, Greenwater, Sumenr, Auburn, Electron, and Longmire all lay in the wrath of Rainer�s deadly lahars. Mt. Baker stands over the city of Bellingham. Before Mt. St. Helens and Lassen Peak the Cascades were considered just scenic mountains. But since these past two eruptions scientists have learned a great deal about what the Cascade Volcanoes are capable of. We will never again portray our mountains as just standing rocks, but now mountains of fire capable of unleashing Mother Nature�s fury.

The next thing I will be doing soon is posting photos I have taken from my trips of every Cascade Volcano as well as some of the most fascinating and beautiful areas in the Pacific Northwest.

That'll be worth waiting for!

Please Julie, send them to marci@aloha.net and I will get them to where you can post them and resized for easy downloading. I can't wait!!! Rob, splendid job. I have chicken skin from reading... I hope you regenerate for the next catastrophic eruption to let us know what it was like being there.

Woooooo Hooooooo Julie!

Thanks Marcia for helping me out with this. I didn't think I was ever going to be able to post right. You are the greatest! This first photo is of Lassen Peak from Devastated Area in Lassen Volcanic National Park. The Devastated Area is where the pryroclastic surge came roaring down the slopes and destroyed everything in its path.

Me and my big mouth!

Woohoo! Lol. I was getting worried there for a second. This is Bumpus Hell part of Lassen Volcanic National Park, which is an impressive diplay of thermal vents emitting steam and sulfur. There is also some mud volcanoes that are very fascinating to watch. The walkway is the only part people are allowed to walk on. Venture off that and you may be severely burned or even death.

Here is Black Butte, the 2,500 foot high dacite plug dome on Shastina's western base.

This is a somewhat hazy picture of Mt. Shasta and Shastina. Shasta is the one on the left and Shastina is on the right.

Mt. Shasta at 14,161 feet.

I was standing right at the rim to take this so thats why it looks so big. This is Mammoth Crater, a very large cinder cone that produced most of the lava in Lava Beds National Monument.

Schonchin Butte in Lava Beds National Monument. If you look very carefully, you can make out a tiny tower on top of the crater on the left side. This is the Watch Tower.

Well done, Julie! I deleted your maiden mistake. Welcome to the happy family of html programmers who occasinally still make mistakes. Except for John. He is perfection personified. *sigh*

Mt. McLoughlin, Oregon

Crater Lake and Wizard Island, Oregon Crater Lake National Park- the Pinnacles in Annie's Creek. These are the remaniants of ancient fumaroles Crater Lake-Two boats steer towards Ship Phantom Ship, which is the remains of a dike in the oldest parts of the caldera wall. Mt. Scott loomes in the background

Ohhhhhhhhh....I am good! Hehehe.

"Lightening Rod of the Cascades" Mt. Thielson, Oregon

Lava Butte of Newberry National Volcanic Monument, Oregon

Mt. Bachelor, Oregon

Broken Top, Oregon

Middle Sister on the left and The Husband on the right, Mc Kenzie Pass, Oregon South Sister as seen near Moraine Lake

Upper Proxy Falls, MC Kenzie Pass, Oregon Lower Proxy Falls, MC Kenzie Pass, Oregon

Belknap Crater, Oregon Mt. Washington, Oregon Mt. Jefferson, Oregon

Mt. Hood at sunset, Oregon Climbing Mt. Hood near Timberline Lodge Mt. Hood as seen from Trillum Lake Multanomah Falls cascades 620 feet down basalt cliffs in Colombia River Gorge Scenic Area, Oregon

It seems I forgot a few things. Three Fingered Jack lays between Mt. Washington and Mt. Jefferson. I did not get a picture of it. Three Fingered Jack is easily identified by its impressive summit pinnacles, which gives it its name. Mt. Bailey near Crater Lake and Mt. Thielson I also did not get a picture of. But Mt. Bailey looks a lot like Mt. St. Helens because of its open ampitheater.

Okay, actually I missed a lot of other things too, but the pictures I posted are the MAIN features of the Cascades. If I were to show pictures of everything I would be posting for weeks, maybe months. The Cascade volcanoes of Washington are coming up next, including the long awaited Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainer, and special footage of the town of Orting.

julie, you are getting waaay good at this!

Hi all GEE WHIZ!!! This is impressive!!! Rob

Wow Julie!!! There is a new batch waiting for you at Spring's hard drive! She's amazing as usual! Hugs, Little sister!

Mt. Adams as seen from south side of Mt. St. Helens Mt. Adams from Mt. Adams Recreational Area after sunset Icicles from inside Ice Cave in Mt. Adams Recreational Area More icicles in Ice Cave. The big one hanging from the roof was the one that fell on my head shortly after taking this picture, lol

Hi everyone! I thought I was leaving Friday morning but now we are leaving Saturday morning instead due to a family conflict. Anyway, on Saturday morning we are leaving from Santa Ana, California and heading north up the state to Cresent City, the last city before the Oregon border and also one of the cities that was severely damaged by the tsunami that sped out like a shock wave across the Pacific during the Alaskan earthquake in 1964. I don't know where we are headed from there. Unlike Sean and I, my parents don't plan trips. They just go day by day. So I have only a clue where we may be going. The only thing I know for sure is Brandon Beach and of course Crater Lake. Brandon Beach is a beautiful beach on the coast of southern Oregon. Its one of the best places in the western U.S to find agates. And let me tell you something...the beaches in the Pacific Northwest are absolutly spectacular. They place right behind Hawaii's amazing black sand beaches as far as I am concerened. Since my topic also includes the Pacific Northwest, I will give a description and maybe a photo of several of them some time. Anyway, as for Crater Lake...I decided to take my wetsuit with me. As long as its not cold out and not raining I will take the plunge into the cold icy waters of Crater Lake. 43. F or about 6. C is the water temperature. I will have Mom video tape it too as proof and to see how much I scream in shock from the cold, lol. Then I can say I swam in a volcano *laughing* Yes, I already know I am volcanically insane. I'll be back probably on the 19th or 20th with a full report of my trip. I will also post my remaining photos of the Cascade Volcanoes when I get back as well. Stay safe and see you all soon.

Hi all But Julie knows that I went one step ahead of her a few years ago, and swam in a caldera - Taupo. A caldera maybe 700 square kilometres in size (bigger than the Mount St Helens devastation zone), and with the biggest fresh water lake in New Zealand. Rob

Hi all Not meaning to steal the show here, but I want to direct you to Robs Geo World, where the New Zealand variant of the Cascades Volcano, which Julie and I took you on, can be found. I am doing the major volcanoes of New Zealand and a couple of them have special features (personal accounts based on what I saw with my own eyes)of various volcanoes. So anyway can you please go here and have a look: http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/Geo/64 Thanks heaps, and feel free to comment on the volcanoes of the "Shaky Isles". Rob

Great stuff on your topic, Rob. All you need is a digital camera so we can see what you are talking about. Julie, if I am missing anything from you to put on Spring's hard drive, please remind me.

I am back, unfortunatly. Just got in a few hours ago. What an annoying, depressing, and tiring trip!! UGH! I am so exhausted. Imagine driving 700 miles in one day with only a few 5 minute bathroom stops. Thats how far it was from Santa Ana, CA to Cresent City, CA. I honor you if you can sit in the car for 12 hours straight staring at close to nothing but endless fields of cows and dead grass. More than 60% of the trip was just driving. I thought I was going to go crazy. In fact, some parts of the trip I think I did. Funny thing is my health was great in Oregon. My headaches that I have every day completly vanished. My allergies seemed to vanish. A few hours after we got back into California my headches came back again. What is it besides severe pollution that Oregon doesn't have? I don't get it and its making me very frustrated and depressed. I got relief from my pain and now its back again. Hey, maybe when I tell my doctor this and he will send me to Oregon and have the insurance pay for it. Yeah right! Guess I will have to have headaches a little longer. It was nice while it lasted. I got lots more to share about my trip. Besides a few of my complaints, I did have fun.....for 1 day *sigh* I'll talk about my trip later. For now I am going to eat and then sleep and enjoy my last few days of summer break even though I know thats not possible.

Julie, the same happens to me when I flee Hawaii and the problems at home. Even if I have lungs full of eruption fumes, it is magical in the way it cures us.I think being away from stress home seems to engender makes this happen. I cannot think of a worse scenario that your castle and safety making you sick, but I can think of several of us in that situation. *HUGS* and welcome home! Geo is all warm and cuddly to wrap around you to make you feel better. I'll be online in a few - I need to go eat supper first! Talk later?!

I am going to tell about my trip part by part cause it will be too long otherwise. So here is Cascade Adventure 2002 Continued with Coast..... Saturday, August 10th, 2002: We woke up and left Santa Ana, CA at 7:00am. Went up I-5. Stopped at Buttonwillow for a bathroom break. It was barely 9:30am and it was already in the mid 90�s out. Another bathroom stop at Coalinga. Stopped at Gustine for gas and Patterson for an interesting lunch at Subway. There was nothing but yellow and brown grass, cows, and windmills for miles. We finally turned on I-580 into San Francisco. We passed over the Nimitz Freeway at around 2:15pm. Nimitz Freeway was severely damaged when it collapsed on dozens of cars in the Loma Prieta Earthquake on October 17th, 1989. We stopped in Novato for another bathroom stop and crossed over to HWY 101 heading towards Eureka, CA. Scenery was beginning to change. Now pines and birch could be seen. We finally arrived in Eureka at 7:30pm. We arrived at our motel shortly after sunset. It was nice and cool out cause we were finally near the coast. We left the motel to go eat dinner, but Dad accidentally went down a one-way street the wrong way. He did that in San Francisco several times before too. Luckily there were no cops around. After dinner we got back to the motel to go to sleep, but I find cookie crumbs in my bed. Hey, it wasn�t me! So Dad calls the maid in and they change the sheets right in front of us. Ugh! This is why I like to camp instead of staying in motels. Yuck! I tried to sleep but I just couldn�t. Suddenly the lights flicker on by themselves startling me awake. This place is haunted!

Sunday, August 11th, 2002: We woke up and packed up. Went to McDonalds for breakfast. I had dipping dots. I think they are only a California thing, but maybe they are elsewhere too. Dipping Dots are supposedly ice cream that is kind of drier but melts just like ice cream and in the shape of tiny round balls. We then went to Carson�s Mansion, which was owned by a lumberjack in the 1800�s. While we were taking pictures, we ran into 3 people from Brisbane, Australia who were biking down the California coast all the way to San Diego. That�s over 800 miles away! We wished them luck and headed towards Humboldt State University area in Arcata and visited a small redwood grove. We then went to Trinidad to see Trinidad state beach and lighthouse. I decided to walk down the 500 steps to Indian Beach to look for rocks and orange sea stars. We then headed to Crescent City to see the Crescent City Lighthouse. A lighthouse keeper was still operating the lighthouse. We were told there is hardly any like that anymore. This lighthouse though was on an island so you could only get to it when the tide was very low. When we got done with the tour I climbed down to the rocks to explore the tide pools. I was gently picking up one of the purple sea stars when Dad yells at me that the water is coming in. I turn to look and realize the tide has come in. I put the sea star down and rush over to the water�s edge. The dry area that we had all walked over a few hours ago was now covered in ankle-knee deep water. People were crowding around on the other side of the beach watching idiots like me cross the water. I took off my shoes and waded carefully thru the water and back on to the other side. A few hours later that ankle deep water was 7 feet deep with strong currents rolling in from every angle. We then headed on to Point St. George, which used to be a lighthouse until it was destroyed in a storm. I stood on a cliff looking down at the beach and watched the waves come in one after another. They come in differently than they do in southern California. The waves come in more frequently further north and are more dangerous with its stronger currents. After a lunch at Jack in the Box at Crescent City, we crossed over the Oregon border and headed to Oregon Caves National Monument. We could smell the smoke from the Biscuit Fire almost immediately after entering Oregon. It was really severe when we got out of the car at Oregon Caves National Monument parking lot. The 100 degree Fahrenheit heat didn�t make things any easier either. We took the 5:15pm tour of the caves. Oregon Caves was quite fascinating. They are wet limestone caves, so things were quite active inside there. There was a river running right through. The formations in the cave were so fascinating like the cave bacon, the bananas, the stalagmites, and stalagmites, and other weird formations whose names I forgot. The cave went down 220 feet below the surface. What�s most interesting about this cave is something not many other caves have and that is the fact that is has all 3-rock types. Most of it is made of marble and calcite. But there is also sandstone as well as granite and basalt. An ancient volcano 3 miles east of the monument formed the bottom chamber millions of years ago. There is also the evidence of a jagged fault on the cave ceiling. Pretty scary I would imagine being inside that cave if that fault ever were to rupture. After the tour we bought a few post cards and headed back to the car. The sun was a strange orange color cause the smoke had covered the entire sky. We drove into Grants Pass and checked into a motel. We ate dinner at Pizza Hut and then went up the road to look at the stars. I saw 4 meteors in less than a minute! We then went back to the motel and went to sleep.

Monday, August 12th, 2002: We woke up and had breakfast at the motel. Before leaving Grants Pass we went to the campgrounds Sean and I stayed at last August when we were in Oregon and asked them if they had any lost sunglasses. I had lost mine last year in the campgrounds and stupidly I thought maybe they would have them a year later. Yeah right! The guy laughed at me and probably thought I was crazy. Oh well. We then drove to Merlin to see Hells Canyon overlook. I wanted a closer look so I climbed down to the edge of the cliff and peered over. The Rogue River, which is a famous river in Oregon cuts through the canyon like a jagged knife. Most of the rocks are basalt. After that we went to the market to get some more food in Medford and had sandwiches for lunch. Finally we drove to the destination I had been waiting for...Crater Lake. The smoke was very thick though and once we got into the park itself we could barely see much in front of us. We decided to stay at the cottages that were just outside the park boundary. We then headed back to Rim Village to look at the gift store and eat dinner at the buffet upstairs. It would have been nice to eat at the lodge but not for $20.00 per person. Looking at the overlooks were useless cause the entire caldera and all the scenery around it was covered in smoke. It looked like there had been a giant silent eruption cause the smoke was so thick. After dinner, we went to the historic lodge to look around. About that time the sky started to clear as the wind changed direction. Crater Lake, Mt. Thielsen, and the other peaks appeared out of nowhere. It was kind of eerie. Once it got dark out, I went with an astronomy group to the caldera rim where we set out telescopes and learned about different constellations, stars, galaxies, as well as watch the meteors from the Persieds meteor shower. We could see some galaxies and stars that can�t be seen in many other places along the west coast due to how dark the sky was and our location which was about 50 miles or more in any direction from every town and city. We saw so many meteors. Some of them whirled by quickly faster than I could blink. Others seemed to go by so slowly that you could follow the hazy orange and white trails of glittering dust as they soared across the sky. It was absolutely spectacular. But Mom and Dad said it was time to go so we left, went back to the cottage and went to sleep.

Tuesday, August 13th, 2002: We woke up and after packing the car headed to Cleetwood Cove Trail. The ranger told us that things look very clear in the morning. The smoke seems to come in the afternoon. The trail down was quite steep but very easy in my opinion. Mom and Dad thought differently. I got down to the bottom first and waited patiently for them. We took the 11:00am boat for a tour around the caldera. We stopped at many places such as Steel Bay, Llalo Rock, and Devils Backbone as the ranger gave us history on each formation. Then as we neared Wizard Island he announced that people who wanted to get off should take a special ticket from him before we got off so we could get back on the boat again later in the day. Mom and I got off, but Dad didn�t. He has a bad knee so he would wait for us back at the top near Cleetwood Cove Trail. There were two trails on Wizard Island. One was to go to Fumarole Bay which I imagine is quite similar to The Pinnacles near Annie�s Canyon and the other was the obvious climb to the summit of Wizard Island. Mom and I and many other people took the climb to the summit. At first there were many trees shading us from the rays of the sun, but soon we left the tree line and were hit hard by the near 100-degree temperatures. It was quite tough hiking up the last 2 switchbacks but when I reached the top I realized it had been well worth it. I walked around the crater rim a few times taking pictures and admiring the spectacular view. It was then that I realized I had just climbed a volcano inside a volcano! Wow! Mom finally appeared at the summit a few minutes after me. I was quite proud of her that she had made it. I climb volcanoes all the time, but this was Mom�s first. I decided to take a walk into the crater. The walls were very steep so I actually slid down first on my feet but when I lost my balance and fell, I slid on my butt all the way to the bottom of the crater. That was a fun ride! *laughs* After exploring the crater I tried to climb back up but I kept sliding back down. Uh-Oh, I love volcanoes a lot but I really don�t want to have to spend my entire life inside one! I struggled to get back up to the rim. Each step I took a slid down 3 more. My hiking boots were already filling with cinders and pieces of basalt, but I eventually made it to the top. I showed Mom different points from the crater, such as the Lodge that could easily be seen on the caldera rim, Mt, Thielsen, Garfield Peak, Mt. Scott, and many other formations. Finally we hiked down the cinder cone and reached the dock at 2:15pm. Everyone else was waiting patiently for the boat to come and pick us up. We would later realize that the boat doesn�t come till 5:00pm. I walked on to the dock and looked down at the water. It was about 50 feet deep at the end of the dock and you could see straight down perfectly to the bottom. The water was a beautiful blue. Crater Lake is so blue because of the interaction with sunlight and water molecules. All colors of the rainbow are absorbed, but blue light penetrates to the deepest depths, especially when there are no suspended particles or dissolved materials in the large body of water. I was very hot from the hike and I had also run out of water on the way down, which wasn�t good at all. The temperature climbed again and I watched the cool water anxiously as I hung my feet over the edge of the dock. I stood up. Well, it�s either now or never, I thought. I had left my wet suit in the car, but I did have my bathing suit on underneath my clothes. Another girl who was about my age or a few years older seemed to sense what I was about to do. We both walked back to the rocks and took off our hiking boots, and clothes. Everyone else watched us in shock, realizing what we were about to do. We both walked to the end of the dock and just stared at the water for several minutes. The other girl jumped in first, and came up a few moments later screaming how cold it was. I cringed when I saw her expression, but I just couldn�t stand out in the heat any longer. I took a deep breath and jumped off the dock into the water. The minute I hit the water, I almost went into shock from the cold. It stung every part of my body. I surfaced and cried out. Everyone watched us and laughed. I treaded water for several minutes looking down towards the bottom. It was eerie swimming in 50 feet deep water and being able to see the bottom clearly. Actually, you can see a lot deeper. Crater Lake holds the world record for water visibility at 142 feet. I could also feel warm and cold currents pass underneath my body. The coldest ones seemed to pass my feet and my stomach. The warmer ones were near my legs and my chest. It felt very weird. I climbed back onto the dock and walked to the very start and took a running leap off the dock into the water. The coldness of the water was just as bad as when I first jumped in. I surfaced and cried out again. It didn�t matter how many times you jumped in, your body just never got used to it. Mom was video taping me from the shore. We�re swimming in a real volcano, I cried out. I guess other people were getting jealous by how much fun we were having, so many people began to join us. Some didn�t even have bathing suits on so they just stripped down to their bras, underwear, and boxers. It was quite funny. I got out for a bit and went over to the rocks to get my only snack I had, a yummy chocolate chip and peanut butter Cliff Bar. As I began eating it I noticed chipmunks were beginning to appear from underneath the rocks. How did they get on Wizard Island, I wondered. The ranger gave us some theories but no one really knows. They could have come across on the only year that is was frozen over completely, which was in 1949. They may have gotten across many thousands of years ago when some of the rocky lava fingers that stretch from Wizard Island once connected to the caldera shore when water levels were lower. The chipmunks climbed right up into my lap almost, as I ate, so I decided to just hand over my food cause they were beginning to get annoying. Must be the peanut butter. Mom and I watched as Mom�s backpack began to move. Suddenly a chipmunk popped its head out from inside with a potato chip in its mouth. We stared in amazement. The zipper had been closed, but the chipmunk unzipped it! Wow, guess these guys will do anything for a hand out. I saw one try to unzip my backpack but I shoed it away. After playing with the annoying chipmunks, I looked at my watch. It was only 4:00pm. I was hot again so I ran to the dock and jumped back into the water only to come up and scream out again from the cold. I stayed in for a while, but my chest began to feel funny and my feet started to get numb. I think I had enough cold for one day. I got out and stretched out on the dock trying to get warm from the sun. Finally I put my clothes and hiking boots back on and waited at the end of the dock for the boat. Finally, at 5:00pm, the boat arrived. Our group got back on the boat where we finally got the rest of our tour around the lake. We learned an interesting statistic about Crater Lake. To equal Crater Lake�s volume of water everyone in the U.S could have 5 gallons of water every day for an entire year. When you think about that you realize how much water is in Crater Lake. We then saw Chaski Bay and Phantom Ship. The water near Phantom Ship was bizarre. It was a light green and then it turned blue as the sharp cliff underwater near Phantom Ship dropped off from 40 feet deep to 100�s of feet deep. We then saw Pumice Castle, which is a section of welded tuff that didn�t get eroded like the rest of the rocks around it and made a castle-like shape. Then we saw the Old Man of the Lake, which is a floating hemlock log that was possibly carried into the lake by an avalanche. It was first noted in 1929. The log floats upright and before the park service had rules against it, many park rangers would stand on top of it to pose for everyone. The reason it floats vertically is because rocks are caught in the roots. The Old Man of the Lake can be seen floating in many places all over the lake. There is also fish in Crater Lake as well. Kokanee salmon and rainbow trout were introduced to the lake in 1888 and continued until 1942. I also found out that there is geothermal hot springs 1,000 feet underwater, which means Crater Lake is defiantly just dormant. Just as we reached Cleetwood Cove, I began to see the smoke finally start to drift over the caldera. I was happy things were so clear today. It would be awful if we had spent all that money and couldn�t see a thing. Mom and I decided to buy some water at the stand near the cove cause we had both ran out. We then slowly took the long grueling hike back up the steep trail. Every time we tried to stop the mosquitoes would bite us so we kept going until we were finally at the top. We walked back to the car and went to the town of Klammoth Falls to stay at a motel. We ate a quick dinner at the restaurant next door and then we went back to the motel to go to sleep. I didn�t sleep much at all because I realized I had gotten a very bad sunburn all over my body and blisters on my heels. Ouch!

Wednesday, August 14th, 2002: We ate breakfast at the restaurant next door, then packed up and headed back to Crater Lake. We stopped at Mt. Mazama store to get some more water. We then drove to Vidae Falls, which looked even worse than last year due to the dry season. We finally ended up at the Pinnacles, which are ancient fumaroles. We walked along the trail above the canyon to view them, but the bees began to swarm around us. Bees are my number one fear, as well as hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets too. After my little accident of being chased by an entire swarm 6 years ago, I have become terrified of them. I ran back to the car screaming and crying like a baby. Suddenly one lands on my leg and I start hyperventilating. Yikes! I really have some fear. I didn�t calm down until we were back in the car with the doors and windows shut and locked. We drove over to the Phantom Ship overlook to take some more pictures. The Cascade Butterflies (that�s not their name, but I call them that cause I have seen them flying near ever Cascade Volcano) were flying all over the place. One landed on my shoulder and another one crawled on my hand. We then drove over to Pumice Castle overlook. We could see Mt. Thielsen very well from there. Then we stopped at the volcanic vista, which had a panorama view of Red Cone, Diamond Peak, Diamond Lake, 2 of the 3 Sisters, and Mt. Thielsen. We finally ended up back at Rim Village. Smoke was now covering everything. Looks like we had taken our scenic tour just in time again. We couldn�t see the lake or the trees now. We saw several ash devils along the crater wall swirl back up over the rim. We ate lunch in the cafeteria and browsed through the gift shop again. After, Mom and I sat on the crater rim wall and fed the chipmunks and birds that were walking up the ash along the caldera wall. We then headed through Pumice Desert and out of the park. We seemed to get closer and closer to Mt. Thielsen, but it too disappeared in the smoke and in the trees. We headed towards Roseburg and after a dinner at Denny�s, checked into a motel and went to sleep. Again I did not sleep well cause of my sunburn.

Thursday, August 15th, 2002: We woke up and ate motel breakfast. Then we packed up and headed towards Cottage Grove. I saw a red fox sneaking through a garden as we drove by. Mom wanted to see covered bridges so we took the covered bridge tour through Cottage Grove. I was bored so I picked blackberries along the side of the road. We then headed into Eugene, where Mom and Dad let me stop at University of Oregon to get more information about attending. U of O is my 3rd choice university. We ate another lunch at Jack in the Box and headed up Mc Kenzie Pass. I had talked my parents into going to Proxy Falls. We could see the North Sister through the trees as we drove up. Along the way we stopped at another covered bridge and went into the ranger station to get another Northwest Forest Pass. We reached Proxy Falls at around 2:30pm. We hiked to Lower Proxy Falls first. Only very physically fit people can get to the very bottom due to the steep trail that is covered in tree roots and rocks. Mom and Dad stayed at the top of the trail while I slid down to the bottom to get some very close up and personal pictures with the camera. I climbed up the rocks and the moss to the top of the waterfall. I got my pictures, but on the way down I slipped and went crashing into a big mud puddle. My tennis shoes were covered in mud. I walked in the water to wash them off and walked up the trail squeaking and squishing all the way up. I accidentally took the wrong trail to Upper Proxy Falls cause the sign was switched so I ended up back at the car, so I hurried back and found the right way and took some pictures of Upper Proxy. What is fascinating about Proxy Falls is that the falls doesn�t go anywhere. It flows right through the basalt and disappears. I finally hiked back up to the car and after collecting a few rocks, we headed to Florence. I noticed immediately the temperature change. It was close to 100 in Cottage Grove, Crater Lake, and in Roseburg, but in Florence it was freezing, probably in the low 50�s out. I was glad I had jeans and sweatshirt for once on the trip. Along the way, I saw 2 bald eagle nests, with one being occupied. We got a motel room and then headed over to Moe�s one of the most famous seafood restaurants in Oregon. We had their famous clam chowder and fresh Oregon muscles and clams. After a great meal (for once), we headed back to the motel and went to sleep.

I'll continue the last 6 days tomorrow.

Julie, I'm going to go back up and read your posts but first I wanted to welcome you back *HUGS* We all missed you!!!!

*HUGS* Thanks Wolfie. I missed Geo so much while I was gone. I was thinking about everyone of you during my trip, especially when I was at Crater Lake.

Friday, August 16th, 2002: We woke up and went to Safeway to buy some more foods for breakfast and lunch. Had breakfast in the parking lot. We then headed towards Newport, OR. The street names along the highway were all U.S states. Once we reached Newport, we stopped at Devil�s Punchbowl. Devils Punchbowl is a collapsed sea cave that during high tides or stormy seas becomes a churning cauldron of foam. We then went to Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We walked the 104 steps to the top of the lighthouse, which is 93feet, making it the tallest lighthouse in Oregon. I mostly took notice of the basalt that was covering all the beaches and cliffs. It turns out the basalt is from the Colombia River Basalt. A small section of the flow went southwest into Newport, OR area. Interestingly enough, almost everything along the Oregon coast seemed to be made of basalt. After going to the interruptive center, we went south to Yaquina Bay State Park where we had a picnic lunch of sandwiches. Mom went to check out the other historic lighthouse in the bay. Next we walked up the trail to the Heceta Head Lighthouse and took the tour inside. I walked down to the beach after and felt the water. It was way colder than Crater Lake. We then drove to Sand Dunes Recreation Area where I had some fun making sand angels, and running and sliding down the sand dunes. After, we took pictures of the Upmqua Lighthouse. We then headed to Coos Bay, OR where we got a motel and than ate pizza for dinner. After dinner we went back to the motel and went to sleep.

Saturday, August 17th, 2002: We woke up and at marrionberry pancakes for breakfast, one of Oregon�s specialties. I then went down to the pool only to freeze to death when I got out. The pool may have been heated but the air was still in the low 50�s out. We then packed up and got gas for the car and ice for the ice chest. We drove towards Charleston where we went to their Annual Seafood Festival. The three of us shared some fresh Oregon coast BBQ salmon. It was so good! We then drove to Sunset Bay Beach to take pictures. When we got to Simpson Reef Viewpoint, we spotted thousands of sea lions and seals resting on the huge rocks off shore. When we got to Cape Arago Viewpoint we could hear all the seals and sea lions very clearly. It sounded like a huge kennel of dogs. Once we reached Bandon, we went to the Coquille River Lighthouse. We found out that the Pacific Northwest has more shipwrecks than any other coasts due to its severe storms. I was getting bored again so I played on the sand dunes and ran on the jetty only to get sand blasted, which really really stung. We then drove into the town of Bandon and stopped at their Cheddar Cheese Factory. They had about 50 different types of cheeses and you could sample every one of them. So I went around like 3 times of course! We then had Tillamook Ice Cream. I had the Cascade blackberry ice cream. The Pacific Northwest is very big on their berries. In fact, most of the blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries that you buy in the markets come from Oregon. A marrionberry is a different type of blackberry. There are also huckleberries, katataberries, and loganberries. Huckleberries are very similar to blueberries. Katataberries are a cross between a blackberry and a marrionberry. A loganberry�.umm�I forgot. We then drove a little ways down the road to the Cranberry Bog where we learned how cranberries are grown and harvested. For some reason people think cranberries grow in water, but they don�t. They grow in a regular field and are heavily watered but not to a point of saturation. When they are ripe, which is usually in October or November, the field is flooded and the cranberries float to the surface. A machine goes in and scopes them up. We decided to take some cranberry relish, cranberry coffee, and marrionberry jellybeans home. Then we took a walk through the historic old town and tasted more delicious foods, such as berry fudge, chocolate fudge, and other sweets and candies. If you want to pig out for free then go to Bandon, OR. We then moved down to Coquille Point where we went down to the beach to look at the face rocks. The face rocks are also called haystacks, sea stacks, or monoliths. I found a few pieces of agate along the beach. We then headed over to Bandon State Beach. I thought there would be lots of agates on the beach like all the books said, but I couldn�t find any. In fact there wasn�t many rocks on the beach at all. Either there was all covered with sand or I was at the wrong beach. We reached Fort Orford close to sunset. Fort Orford was a very small town. I don�t think there were even a gas station there let alone any fast food places. The motel we got was nice. It had a view of the ocean, the harbor, and well as a few sea stacks. We ate dinner at the only restaurant in town and then took some pictures of the coastal views. After playing a game of Scrabble, we went to bed.

Sunday, August 18th, 2002: Woke up and looked at the wonderful view outside the window. Not many times do you get a beautiful view of the coast. We packed up and headed over to Ray�s Market to get some more food. Had breakfast in the parking lot again. We then drove to Cape Blanco State Park to see the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. The winds were blowing about 50 miles per hour near the cape. Suddenly, Mom�s hat flew off and she chased it towards the cliffs. It went over the cliff but a nice guy climbed down the cliff to get it. We took a tour of the lighthouse and then headed back into Port Orford to see the Myrtlewood Store. Myrtlewood is wood from a special kind of tree grown in Oregon. After, we made several stops along the way to see coastal viewpoints. We stopped at Boardman State Park and picked some more blackberries. We then stopped at Arch Rock where we had some snacks. There were quite a few critters there as well; blue jays, sea gulls, squirrels, and rabbits. I decided to share some of my food with them, but that was a mistake. They thought I was the nicest person in the world so they came closer and closer until the squirrels were climbing at my feet. Yikes! Imagine 5 squirrels as big as small cats, 2 huge sea gulls, 4 screeching blue jays, and a rabbit coming at you all at the same time. I just threw most of my food and ran and the squirrels ran after me! Dad tossed a tomato at the sea gull. I didn�t think it would eat it, but I was wrong...sort of. The sea gull took it in its beak, but all of a sudden the tomato squirted out juice and that must have freaked the bird out cause he dropped it and made a very weird noise like he was startled. We were laughing so hard, that we almost didn�t even see the two blue jays swoop down and fight over the tomato. Finally we headed towards Brookings, OR. The smoke was getting worse again as we were getting closer and closer to the fire. We stopped at several more viewpoints along the way. We stopped at Harris State Beach for a rest stop. I did some bouldering on the monoliths, which was a lot of fun cause if I fell I would just be very very cold cause the water was right below me. Later, as we were picking blackberries, I saw a brown red-banded snake slither into the thorny bushes. Once we got into the town of Brookings we gassed up the car and headed to Lobe State Park. Before we even got there we passed by a fire camp. There were hundreds maybe thousands of fire fighters, marines, and other volunteers who were just hanging around probably waiting to go back into the fire. We didn�t make it to Lobe State Park. There were 2 armed marines further up the road past the fire camp with a sign that said road closed due to fire hazard. The fire must be only a few miles from here. So we turned around and headed back into Brookings. We decided to go to the Port of Brookings. There were many interesting stores and an art festival going on, but we had arrived there at closing time so we got to see everyone packing up. We did see a booth that had fire information about the Biscuit Fire. We learned on that day the fire was only 35% contained. Then we left and crossed over the border back into boring California. Yak! We got to the motel, checked in, and then went out for Chinese food. After dinner, we went back to Battery Head Lighthouse again to take some pictures during sunset. We then went back into the motel and played Scrabble again and then went to sleep.

Monday, August 19th, 2002: We woke up and packed the car. There was ash all over the car windows from the fire. We stopped at Wal-Mart and Safeway and McDonalds for breakfast. Then we headed south into Redwoods National Park. The fog was so thick that we could barely see more than 1oft in front of us. Actually we thought it was fog, but it could have been smoke mixed with fog. It was really hard to tell. We stopped at the Trees of Mystery and went inside the gift store. We didn�t have time to walk through Trees of Mystery so we continued south again. We stopped at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and in there took Davidson Road to Fern Canyon. We had to cross a steam in our rental car to get to the parking lot which was kind of fun, even though Mom and Dad were freaking out. We had a picnic lunch in the parking lot and watched the elk grazing on the beach and in the marsh. We then took the trail to Fern Canyon. Fern Canyon was beautiful. There aren�t too many words to describe it. The canyon walls were about 50 feet tall and growing everywhere, including on the walls was ferns. Some were dripping water on to the canyon floor. A stream ran through the canyon and I crossed it many times as we headed further and further into the canyon. There were some huge trees that had fallen from above into the canyon and they lay across it like bridges covered in moss. I climbed up a few of the logs to try to get some better pictures, but my hiking boots were wet from the stream and I fell while holding the camcorder as it was recording! So now I can always watch myself and see what an idiot I am as I fall on my butt and cry out. There were many banana slugs in the canyon, fish and other interesting critters in the stream, and wild mushrooms growing in the green moss. I finally caught up with Mom and Dad who were quite upset when they saw me muddy and soaking wet again. We then took the trail loop back to the parking lot. We went back onto Davidson Road and back to HWY 101 heading towards Ladybird Johnson Grove in Redwoods National Park. When we reached Ladybird Johnson Grove, we took the trail loop too the giant redwoods and ferns. The sunlight in the forest made for some very unusual pictures. We then drove into McKinleyville and went into the Chamber of Comerance to see if we could find the blueberry farm. But we found out that it was closed. So we drove into Eureka and stopped at McDonalds for some more dipping dots. We then stopped at K-mart to get another battery for my camera. Then we drove to Fortona to get gas. We drove through Avenue of the Giants and stopped again on the side of the road to pick blackberries. As we were driving out, Dad and I saw a tree on the other side of the road that had an opening big enough for 3 people to stretch out and sleep comfortably. We got to Ukiah close to 10:00pm. We checked into a motel and went to Denny�s for dinner. We then went back to the motel and went to sleep.

That's funny, about your mom and dad freaking out when you crossed the stream. Are you going to catch the blueberry farm still?

Tuesday, August 20th, 2002: We woke up and packed up. Had motel breakfast in our rooms. Then we left motel and headed to Santa Rosa. There were interesting basalt formations along the way on HWY 101 probably due to uplift from the San Andreas Fault. We went to Calistoga to see Old Faithful of California. Calistoga is near Gyserville. This whole area not only has a geothermal plant, but it also has hot springs and geysers as well. This is because the rocks are hot only a few hundred feet from the surface. The geyser we went to see was erupting every 14 minutes that day. There were many others in the area but most were capped off. There was volcanic ash everywhere from ancient eruptions of a volcano that we were standing in the center of. We were told that the geysers eruption times change sometimes when there is earthquakes meaning that maybe geysers can be some means of prediction. The geyser was erupting almost every 2 hours before 1989. But then when the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit, the eruption time changed to about what it is now. That�s quite a change! We then left Calistoga and headed through Wine Country back to HWY 101 north and back into Santa Rosa where we got gas and ate at Jack in the Box. We drove south again and went over the Golden Gate Bridge and through downtown San Francisco. Traffic all the way from Santa Rosa through San Francisco was almost worse than L.A. We got to Salinas and stopped at Denny�s to have a snack. Then we drove to Pinnacles National Monument. Pinnacles National Monument is the result of uplift from the San Andreas Fault nearly 140 million years ago. The other part of the pinnacles is about 195 miles east. I wanted to go into Balcony Cave but there wasn�t enough time. We took pictures of the pinnacles and the California quails that were scurrying on the trail and then headed into Paso Robles where we got gas. We then ate dinner in San Luis Obispo. We looked for a motel for hours but everyone was either too expensive or no vacancy. Finally we ended up in Santa Barbara where we found a motel around midnight. We then went right to sleep.

Wednesday, August 21st, 2002: We woke up and packed up. Ate another motel breakfast. Then left Santa Barbara ate 9:00am and arrived back home close to noon.

Nope, no more blueberry farm. We got there at 5:30pm and it closed at 5. Its sad. Only Northern California, Oregon, and Washington have those things on the west coast. There certainly isn't many berries here that are growing, I mean that are ediable. Its way too hot.

Okay. I want to mention a few things cause over all I thought this trip was a disaster. It was way too much driving and I wasn't very fascinated by all the lighthouses but thats okay. Firstly, this may sound weird but I am not used to staying in motels. I am used to camping....as in pitching up the tent and snuggling in my sleeping bag with whatever else decided to crawl inside, lol. Don't ask!! The only thing good about staying in a motel is the beds....I got to jump on them as much as I wanted! LOL. You see, my parents don't like camping or I should say roughing it. Sean and I are the only ones that do that. Funny, I thought my parents were trying to save money on this trip. They really didn't succed cause we kept eating every meal out. Sean and I would always go to the market the first day and get what we need and survive off that. This trip our food consisted of mainly burgers, fries, sandwhiches, and pizza. When I am roughing it with Sean we survive off of power bars, cliff bars, trail mix, granola bars, ramen noodles, jerky, and jelly beans, lol ( don't ask about the jelly beans. That may little thing). Anyway, the only day I truely enjoyed myself was my second day at Crater Lake when I was hiking on Wizard Island and freezing my skin off in Crater Lake's chilly waters. I had a few kicks the other days but nothiung can compare to that day. I can't even describe what it was like see the inside of a caldera from inside another volcano. It was breathtaking. That day almost made the 3,300 miles we put on the car worth it......almost.

Although I am starting school tomorrow, I want to continue decribing about the other volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest. What do I mean by other volcanoes? You will soon find out later in the week...I hope.