As part of the National Association of Biology Teachers annual convention in Portland, Oregon,  I led two field trips to Mount St. Helens in October, 2003.. Thanks are due to Peter Frenzen and Todd Cullings who were our US Forest Service hosts for the tour of the national monument.
   Even being on-site and viewing the effects of the eruption I still had a difficult time processing the immenseness of the event until we took the hike on Hummock Trail. Todd suggested that we view these giant features as simply dirt clods from a giant shovel, and then it made sense to me - espcially as I looked at pictures of our group standing next to a "dirt clod". What a fantsastic trip.
 

General	The Hummock Trail
Peter and Todd - our guides	Lecture in the Rain - Wed	Todd explains succession - Saturday	Lichen #1
Chuck Smith - local arrangements	Tree Frog	Prarie lupine	Lichen #2 - and a different look
Coldwater Lake	Rough Skinned Newt	Vegetation returns	Lichen #3
Coldwater Visitors Center	Pearly Everlasting	Lupine with water drops	Lichen #4
Crater Lake	Kinnikinnick	Hummock Pond	Lichen #5
MSH in the clouds	Elk Food	Duckweed	Lichen #6
Johnston Ridge Visitors Center	Rock Moss	Paintbrush	Lichen #7
The model of the blast	Mushroom with Closeup Lepista nuda	Hair Cap moss and sporophyte
Todd Explains the dynamics	Unkown Mushroom
The days end - a rainbow	Slime Mold or Lichen ?
Looking West from a Hummock	Perspective on Hummock Size
Lower Toutle River	Another perspective

Many of the closeup shots were taken by Karen Wignall, a teacher from Iowa.

DVD:
   Message From The Mountain  16 min. (The same one shown at the Johnston Ridge Visitors Center) Northern Lights Pro
   Fire Mountain: The Eruption and Rebirth of Mount St. Helens - 50 min.. - Telly Award Winner, Panorama Int. Productions, Inc.