Date: Feb 13, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Category: Slideshow
In the Shadow of the Crater: Blast Zone, Lava Canyons, and a New Glacier on Mount St. Helens
with Natasha Cowie Swan Lake Nature House Thursday 13 February, 7.00 pm
Loowit, or Mount St. Helens, is an entire world unto itself, an eldritch landscape. The tiny perspective of a human makes it difficult to comprehend the vast sweep of the stratovolcano’s domain: from the endless plains of moss-covered pumice draping its base to its graceful slopes soaring up to the immense, ragged summit crater. Everything is high drama; in supersaturated colour and constant movement. Emerald-blue lakes sparkle at the fringes of landslide paths, turquoise rivers tumble through basalt canyons, and the rainbow-hued rocks of the crater walls crumble and crash into a steaming, icy void.
You are invited to an evening describing this eerie place of fire and ice. Natasha is a hydrologist with a research background in glacial geomorphology. She will describe her recent trips to the mountain’s blast zone (north) and summit (south) and give a scientific overview of the forces shaping the volcanic landscape. You can expect many photos, terrible recommendations for trail food, tales of hiking along waterfall ledges and scrambling up lava flows, and the story of the very special Crater Glacier.
Swan Lake Nature House doors open 7:00pm for half an hour of chatting with friends & newcomers. Coffee, tea & snacks by donation before the 7:30 announcements and Natasha’s interesting presentation.
Google maps location https://maps.app.goo.gl/MU911FsHW9LF2XnM7
For our up Island friends & those who can’t attend in person there’ll be a Zoom link sent in advance so you can watch & post questions remotely.
See you there, or on the Zoom link!