Mount St. Helens
Johnston Ridge, Mount St. Helens, Washington
Late summer leaves little snow on the mountain, but it offers a clear view into the crater from the Johnston Ridge observatory. During the 1980 eruption, the top and side of the mountain washed over the spot on which I'm standing, some five miles from the volcano, and continued on for many more miles down the Toutle River valley. It was here that the young volcanologist David Johnston was stationed to monitor the pre-eruption mountain, and the ridge is named in his memory. Photo © copyright by Stephen Penland.