SFR Glacier Peak

Sorta fishing-related
Roper

Roper

Idiot Savant, still
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I’ve been looking at topo maps to see what might be affected if it blows. The Suiattle and White seen to be the easterly drainages. After seeing what St Helens did we could be in for another disaster. Anyone know more about this than I do?

BTW, for those who may be unaware, Glacier is currently “highly active”.
 
Is it having heightened activity? Or is this just a hypothetical?

"Highly active" still can mean hundreds of years between eruptions.
 
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The big danger from Glacier Peak would be potential the lahars. While it has been several years since reading about the impacts of Glacier Peak lahars it could be bad news for some folks; my memory may be wrong on the exact details but as I recalled

Some 12,000 to 13,000 years ago the several of the lahars reached Puget Sound with one flowing down the Sauk/North Fork Stillaguamish reaching the sound at Stanwood while depositing something like 6 feet of sediment at Arlington. At that time the Sauk flowed down the Stillaguamish basin. The other lahars in that period as well as several 6,000 to 7,000 years ago all flowed down the Sauk/Skagit again reaching Puget Sound. It may have been that the effects from lahar flowing down the NF Stillaguamish valley that led to the diversion of the Sauk to the Skagit basin -speculation on my part.

There have been a number of lesser events with more limited outflows; confined mostly o the Suiattle and Whitechuck valley though obviously there would be impacts on the Sauk and potentially the folks at Darrington. I don't think there have been significant events in more than 1,000 years.

A late winter/early spring timed event would be worst (more potential snow melt to drive the flow). Is the mountain due for another period of eruptions?

Curt
 
How I read the artical is they want more monitors, there was no mention of any increased activity. Scare tactics for more funding is all, when it does blow hopefully I won't be fishing the Sauk!
 
In the summer of 2003 I hiked to the base of Glacier Peak. It has had massive eruptions in the past. Along the trail I saw deposits of ash and pumice over 50 feet deep. The Suiattle River is milky year round because it cuts through these ash deposits. Kennedy Hot Springs was a nice place to camp, sadly the October 2003 floods wiped it out. If (when) Glacier Peak erupts again, I would flee from the Skagit drainage. The ash fall would make the eastside hell and the lahars would devastate the Sauk and Skagit.
 
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There are some amazing views up there. I hope to not lose that in my, or my kids, lifetime! Agree on the massive damage that would cause. The Sauk in particular, as the Suiattle drains directly into it. Those rains in 2003 changed a lot of terrain. Pretty damn impressive what 1 event can do. The Suiattle road was in disrepair for years from that. I know of several cement bridges that were just picked up and destroyed. Longmire on Rainier almost got taken out. The campground at the Nisqually entrance is gone forever - the land simply was swept away by the Nisqually. I loved that campground as an easy base camp.
 
Of all the cascade volcanoes, Glacier peak felt to me like the wildest and most dangerous. That might have been partly due to the remoteness. The miles that you need to hike before you even get to the mountain weed out a lot of people. The look of the summit area just gives the feeling that it might blow.
I had not heard that Kennedy hot springs had been wiped out. Some would say that is a good thing though, the main pool was right around human body temperature, and had a fecal coliform level that was off the charts. Much higher than would be found in a municipal sewer.
 
I never made it to Kennedy before it was gone! Maybe that was a good thing. My favorite hot springs is not remote - but Norris in Montana. That is such a cool place to have a beer and relax. I guess it is remote, if you consider the drive to get there - but remote with beer, good food and music.
 
If you go to the USGS website, you can review the active alerts for volcanos that they monitor. There are no volcanos in our neighbor hood on that active notice list.

Glacier Peak, although the previous article Roper posted says its active, doesn't mean there is an imminent eruption. I suppose it just means it's a active volcano like Baker, Rainier, Adams, and Helens. USGS Volcano Updates

I found it interesting that the Three Sisters area in Oregon is seeing some rapid up lift in the ground over the past couple years. Even though I haven't heard of any imminent eruption, that's one peak my I would keep my un educated eye on. Sisters Oregon Volcano

I've always thought Volcanos were cool, since the King Kong or Godzilla, or what ever cheesy movie had volcanos. The idea of a big hole in the ground that can go to the core of the earth fascinates me.
 
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Neat area. I went in past Kennedy Hot Springs back in the late 80's on a Sitkum Glacier approach. It looked nasty.

I've since done a good bit of hiking in the downwind zone, around the Chiwawa, White, and Little Wenatchee rivers. The amount of pumice and volcanic bomb material the eruptions threw out is very impressive.
 
I got the same impression as Paige. I also saw the piece on the Sisters; I can imagine the folks who monitor volcanoes would like to have such sophisticated instruments on Glacier Peak.

Personal anecdote. One of my most memorable days in the Cascades was a solo one-day traverse of Glacier Peak up Kennedy Glacier and down Sitkum. About 16 hrs round trip. Now, you can’t drive to the Whitechuck R trailhead, so doing Glacier Peak in a day is much more difficult. Also now, with the retreat of glaciers, Kennedy glacier is a much harder climb.
 
Smalma said:
The big danger from Glacier Peak would be potential the lahars. While it has been several years since reading about the impacts of Glacier Peak lahars it could be bad news for some folks; my memory may be wrong on the exact details but as I recalled

Some 12,000 to 13,000 years ago the several of the lahars reached Puget Sound with one flowing down the Sauk/North Fork Stillaguamish reaching the sound at Stanwood while depositing something like 6 feet of sediment at Arlington. At that time the Sauk flowed down the Stillaguamish basin. The other lahars in that period as well as several 6,000 to 7,000 years ago all flowed down the Sauk/Skagit again reaching Puget Sound. It may have been that the effects from lahar flowing down the NF Stillaguamish valley that led to the diversion of the Sauk to the Skagit basin -speculation on my part.

There have been a number of lesser events with more limited outflows; confined mostly o the Suiattle and Whitechuck valley though obviously there would be impacts on the Sauk and potentially the folks at Darrington. I don't think there have been significant events in more than 1,000 years.

A late winter/early spring timed event would be worst (more potential snow melt to drive the flow). Is the mountain due for another period of eruptions?

Curt
Click to expand...
as long as they don't come down Allen creek I should be okay
 
Paige said:
How I read the artical is they want more monitors, there was no mention of any increased activity. Scare tactics for more funding is all, when it does blow hopefully I won't be fishing the Sauk!
Click to expand...
I lucked out on the Oso slide ,the river was closed or I very well could have been fishing the slide hole that day. between C-post & skagland hill was my all time favorite piece of water.
 
Did you ever see the Suiattle River during run off. It's like liquid cement running down hill. I remember one time that the river was clear. This was before runoff. There was a big log jam that I climbed on and gave the river a few casts with a no. 2 Mepps. I just wanted to cast a spinner in that river.
 
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