Three months after the eruption I came off the interstate and drove to the red zone. There was a road sign for Toutle(I think) and Spirit Lake with the distance to each. Spirit Lake had been painted out in green paint.
You must have been driving along the Toutle River Highway then, because that's the one that would take one to Spirit Lake. And that's the road that would have had the mud flows down it and houses buried in the mud flows.
But, I would imagine that at just three months afterwards, that area where houses were buried, would not have been dug out yet and the road would have been covered, too... so you probably didn't see that, at that time.
Later on, though, after it had been dug out a bit, you could drive down the Toutle River Highway and see those houses that had been buried and also see the mud marks, high up on the trees, showing that it had gotten pretty high, as it came down the river.
Now, when you drive down that road to Johnston Ridge Observatory, the highway has been relocated to higher ground (as the original highway would have been totally buried that far along, as you get closer to the mountain.
Here's a link to the highway and the mileage markers, all the way to Johnston Ridge Observatory.
On the way up there, on the new relocated highway to Johnston Ridge, you cross this bridge -- the Hoffstadt Creek Bridge. I just thought it made a nice picture. I've got a few of those that I've taken, too... :-)
Here's an interesting page... Washington 504: Spirit Lake Memorial Highway
