CASTLE ROCK, Wash. — You may not be able to get as close this year, but park ranger Alysa Adams said there are lots of other ways to commemorate what she calls Mount St. Helens’ ‘erupt-iversary.’
On May 18, 1980, 57 people were killed when the volcano erupted.
“This is a place that will never be the same, it will always be something new,” said Adams, a ranger at the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center in Castle Rock.
Visitors were reminded of that Sunday night.
A landslide near the popular Johnston Ridge Observatory wiped out a bridge and buried a section of Highway 504.
No one was injured, but 12 people and a dog were trapped beyond the slide and had to be rescued Monday morning.
Until the area can be restored, the observatory will remain closed, potentially for the summer, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Johnston Ridge, the closest visitor center to the volcano, was supposed to open Monday morning.
U.S. Park Service employees, who usually work at the observatory, are now helping rangers at the state park property, almost 50 miles from the volcano.
Adams said the closure is not impacting other viewpoints or hiking trails and should not keep anyone from visiting the Mount St. Helens National Monument.
“This place has so much, whether you want to go crazy and summit the volcano and have a blast doing that, pun intended, or you’re someone who wants to go out and read a book under a tree, Mount St. Helens has a little bit of everything," said Adams.