May 18th 1980

[Wanative]

Sleeping off a drunk. Didn't hear it.

 

[ABITNF]

I just Google Earthed the distance from the mountain to my mom's house in Abbotsford, B.C. We heard it while sitting in the kitchen 196 miles away. Pretty amazing. Mother Nature can be a bit moody.

 

[Smalma]

Fixing breakfast in Snohomish when I heard the blast. Given all the talk I immediately thought the mountain might have blown.

Curt

 

[Russell]

I was on my way back to Seattle from Orcas Island, Camp Orkila. Very much remember the event as a kid back then.

 

[Greg Armstrong]

I was living in Magnolia at the time and was washing my car. Heard the boom and went inside to watch it unfold on the TV.
Memorable event it was.

 

[Brute]

Living on Molokai…

 

[Oliver1329]

Not existing

 

[Brian in OR.]

Riding my BMX bike to fish a local farm irrigation pond my friend and i called "Stud Pond" mainly carp and a few bass in it. Remember the dark clouds coming from the north....

 

[Capt Insano Emeritis]

I just looked how far Martha and I were from the blast…Yacolt is 36 miles away from MtSt Helens. It was gnarly.

 

[Brian Miller]

Heard the boom while climbing Castle Rock in Tumwater Canyon with my first wife. We had no idea what it was until we tried to head back to Tacoma over Blewett and WSP turned us around at US 2 & US 97 due to ash fall causing low visibility. We drove back over Stevens without incident and had good visibility.

 

[nwbobber]

I was fishing with my dad and grandma on Spirit Lake. I was only 5 and don’t remember much beyond the ash falling like snow.

Must've been in Idaho

 

[DanielOcean]

Running down my Dads leg.

 

[nwbobber]

I was digging clams in Seaside, we went up to a donut shop for some coffee and a lady was in there hysterically going on about I-5 being wiped out and Vancouver was gone. I and my folks lived in Vancouver at the time so I figured I would head that way and see what was up. The view heading towards the Longview bridge was incredible. Wall of ash from the floor to the ceiling and from the mountain west as far as you could see. Amazing.
Two weeks before that a few guys and I took some rafts down the Toutle. Glad I got to see that beautiful green water before it turned gray.

 

[Coach Potter]

Must've been in Idaho

Yes…the one and only time I’ve been there.

 

[nwbobber]

Yes…the one and only time I’ve been there.

Pretty cool to be able to say that you were on Spirit Lake at the time, just for the double takes.

 

[Wolverine]

I was Living in Kirkland at the time and was washing the salt water crud off my boat from the previous days trip salmon fishin. When I heard a deep rumble and figured it might have been the mountain going off.

 

[FinLuver]

Remote camping the upper Deschutes. Heard what sounded like dynamite blasts. Maybe a couple hundred miles from the mountain.
Drove into Sisters on the way home…
Found out the mountain had blown.
Was glued to the tv for days after.

 

[Dloy]

Living in Mountlake Terrace. My psychic wife announced “Something strange is going to happen today”. “Right!” (I was thinking ;-).
But, an hour later…

 

[wanderingrichard]

Working the, at the time, Inter German Border in the Army. So didn't know about it until we got told about it over the army radio.

 

[TicTokCroc]

I was negative 6 years old. My uncle took some cool pictures though.