Mount St. Helens visitor center to reopen this weekend with upgrades

[Thunderbeast]

2. Which Mt. Saint Helens Visitor Center?

Washington State Parks operates a site near Castle Rock.

The federal Department of Interior normally operates the Johnson Ridge center... the closest facility to the crater. That has been closed since last year due to a landslide, and may not re-open until next summer. The original visitor site opened just a few years after the big eruption, and has operated as an education facility. I spoke with a friend this week who read that the older federal facility was being re-purposed for the general public pending the completion of the road repair.

While the lower facilities offer information about the 1980 events, the Johnson Ridge facility is spectacular! The documentary film ends with curtains opening to show the crater, juxtaposed with film of the mountain pre-eruption.

Johnson Ridge is named for David Johnson, a geologist who lost his life that morning while studying the recent volcanic activity from the "safety" of the ridge six miles from the mountain's summit.