To see the lasting remnants of the devastation, the changes to the mountain and the surrounding landscape, and the emerging new life there is really amazing.
It's been an educational experience for all of us; one that still has us shaking our heads with wonder and awe.
We drove into the area from the south with intentions to drive to Windy Ridge viewpoint, but with several roads closed by snow, we instead drove as close as we could get to the end of the 83.
From here, Nath took a run beyond the road closure to the June Lake trailhead and out to the lake itself.
We then drove back to Ape Caves and donned our head torches to explore a bit of the biggest lava tubes in North America.
The beaver bay campground on Swift Reservoir offered us a great lakeside possie for the night and after a play in the playground and some rock skimming the next morning, we hightailed it west to the 5 and straight up to the 504 to access the northern side of the mountain which was the side that blew out in the 'lateral' explosion.
The Mount St Helens Visitor Centre at Silverlake, the Forest Learning Centre halfway along the 504 and the Johnston Ridge Observatory all offered us insights into what happened where and why - with videos focusing on differing aspects of the disaster. 
If I had to pick highlights I'd suggest the doco video was best at Johnston Ridge, the displays for the kids (including the helicopter cockpit) was awesome at the Forest Centre and the walk-through volcano model at the Silverlake Centre was really helpful in trying to explain the concept of magma. Speaking of which, it doesn't matter how serious something is - I still can't say magma now in any way other than Dr Evil style. Mag-ma.
Looking up at the blown-out cone from Johnston Ridge, I tried to replay the videos I'd just seen in mind. I found it near impossible though to fathom how the entire valley (and miles of surrounding valleys) had been blanketed, in a matter of moments, by what used to be a massive chunk of mountainside and molten rock from deep underground.
Towns, lakes, old-growth forests - wiped out. A massive lesson in how insignificant we humans and our endeavours are.
After snowball fights and a bit of dinner on Johnston Ridge we drove back down and nighted at the Seaquest State Park.
