As I left Battle Ground Lake after an early morning fishing trip, the 9 a.m. radio news said Mount St. Helens had erupted with a major rush of rock and hot ash.
Looking to the north from the park entrance, the enormous ash cloud took on the appearance of a combination nuclear explosion and major forest fire.
There was an eerie silence, I had expected an eruption to be very loud, but evidently, the sound must have traveled in the direction of the eruption.
Thinking of my previous trips to the mountain, I knew it would never be the same again, Harry Truman, and beautiful Spirit Lake camp were surely gone.
