Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument preserves the landscape reshaped by the catastrophic 1980 eruption that removed 1,300 feet from the summit and deposited ash across the Pacific Northwest. The Johnston Ridge Observatory on the crater rim provides a direct view into the horseshoe-shaped crater and the active lava dome within. The surrounding landscape, once stripped bare by the blast, is now a living laboratory of ecological recovery studied by biologists worldwide.