[Ciaphas Cain]

A few years ago I visited Johnston Observatory, north of Mount St. Helens. It's named after the geologist who was camped there on the morning of the eruption. He was two miles or so away. Within seconds his camp was hit by superhot ash. Over a decade later they found the remains of his truck. They never found him.

Standing on the balcony of the observatory, looking out into the mouth of that monster...

Everyone needs to be humbled by nature at least once in their life. This was such a moment.

[Zathras]

Agreed
Mt St Helens is an eye opener on the power of volcanoes.
This one in Indonesia could potentially be bigger.

[Mr. Douglas]

Just before they opened the new road to the visitors center a friend of mine and I drove our road bikes to the bottom of the new road and biked all the way to the visitor’s center. It was around 20+ miles and uphill all the way. The road was designed to handle motorhomes, so none of the switchbacks were too tight. We rested and then pointed our bikes downhill, back to the car. 20+ miles at about 45 mph the whold way downhill. It was a rush. Scared lots of Elk. Bicycles come up on them quietly...

[JimSEA]

That is an unsettling spot to visit but pretty safe and definitely interesting.

[T-Bone Texan]

I’ve stood there, and observed the scene.

It is incredible. It looked like the lake was moved a mile downstream. the toothpicks in the water were full grown trees.

The amazing thing was the destruction. Utter destruction: trees torn up and leveled, miles before we even got to the mountain itself.