The recent hot weather has brought an early bloom to Mt. St. Helens National Monument where the Monkey Flower and Paintbrush are at peak bloom. This image was taken Sunday evening in the afterglow of the sun that just sank below Johnson Ridge. It is amazing how the Mountain has transformed itself in a relatively short period in terms of geological time. Where there are flowers now there were once large evergreen trees as evidenced by the fallen tree stump in the right part of the image-from Ashes to a Garden of Eden in less than four decades. Often we think of these beautiful iconic landscapes in a somewhat static way, but when I sat alone at this volcano, surrounded by some of the best alpine flowers I have ever seen, I felt more of a sense of the dynamic and changing nature of this Volcanic Monument. One may have a glimpse of eternity through appreciation of the here and now, but eternity in this case is more of a series of cycles. When will be the next eruption?
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Sig Nordal 