Mount St. Helens stirring passions

By Christopher Schwarzen
Seattle Times staff reporter

JAMES BRANAMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES Spectators watch yesterday as Mount St. Helens shoots large plumes of steam and ash an estimated 13,000 feet into the air.

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But not Jon Gagliardi. He was rounding up pizza orders outside the Coldwater Ridge Visitors Center after persuading a Castle Rock pizza parlor to deliver.

Gagliardi, of Tacoma, arrived Friday after the first steam eruption. He went home later that day, but came back Sunday. This time, he planned to stay all week — or maybe as long as the pizza is good.

"I was 8 years old in 1980 and can remember going out to collect ash," Gagliardi said, recalling St. Helens' big eruption. "The thing is, being 8 then and being here now."

Gagliardi looked wistfully at the volcano, winds churning up ash from yesterday morning's eruption.

"I hope she really blows really big again," he said.

If she does, Matt and Sarah Wilson won't see it. The cold, a howling coyote and the all-too-close growl of a mountain lion had them breaking camp yesterday. While the two packed their tent into their car, 2-year-old Michael slept.

	JAMES BRANAMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES As Mount St. Helens threatens to erupt again, Roy Trammell of Portland looks for steam coming from the lava dome with his telescope.

"I think this was the most fun he's ever had," Matt Wilson said of his son. "I think he definitely had more fun out here than he ever has back at the apartment."

The Wilsons arrived Sunday from Kent and found a hilltop campsite with a good view of the crater. Their new neighbors were Rod and Colleen Grant, of Vancouver, B.C., who also came Sunday, equipped for cold weather in an RV.

They had been visiting the Olympic Peninsula coast. The opportunity to watch nature at her best drew them to St. Helens.

But a wedding anniversary today and the fear that two teenage children could wreak more havoc to their home than the volcano would to the Toutle Valley prompted their decision to return.

"It's been a very social outing," Colleen Grant said. "We've met new people and welcomed strangers each night."

While the Grants have a fairly short drive home, Donald and Becky Stottlemire face a long flight. The Kansas City couple were visiting relatives in Oregon and decided a hot volcano was just like old times.

"I remember, following the 1980 blast, all of the ash blowing straight into Kansas City," Becky Stottlemire said. "It was really hazy for days."

Dave and Chris King of Clarkston, Asotin County, had made no preparations when they decided to come to the mountain Saturday.

"We're a little hungry," Dave King said.

Yesterday afternoon, the two were deciding what time to leave last night. Dave King was ready to go, but his wife, finding parallels between the volcano's cycle and her two successful fights with cancer, wasn't ready to give up the view yet.

"It's just so amazing how it all comes back, isn't it?" she said.

Christopher Schwarzen: 425-783-0577 or cschwarzen@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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