Mount St. Helens Mount St. Helens is most famous for its catastrophic eruption in 1980. The active volcano is located in Washington State, about 90 miles south of Seattle and 50 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon. The Mount St. Helens recreational area was re-opened in 1987. The Mount St. Helens eruption of 1980 was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in United States history. A series of small earthquakes were detected starting on May 16, 1980. Two days later, at 8:32 on a Sunday morning, a massive earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale violently shook Mount St.…
Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky includes the most extensive cave system known in the world. More than 367 miles of cave passageways have been mapped, and there may be more miles still uncharted. The national park preserves this cave system along with Kentucky's Green River Valley and the surrounding hills. Since becoming a national park in 1941, the area has also been designated a World Heritage Site and an international Biosphere Reserve. Mammoth Cave started to develop 350 million years ago in a layer of limestone. Over 70 million years, water slowly dissolved the stone and left the extensive…
Independence Rock, a natural landmark along the old Oregon Trail, can be found near Casper, Wyoming. The rock was an important landmark for pioneers; it served as a campground and watering hole, and it marked their progress westward. Three main pioneer trails the Oregon, California, and Wyoming led past Independence Rock. Measuring approximately 1900 feet long, 800 feet wide, and 130 feet tall, the massive granite outcropping is hard to miss. The distance around its base measures 5,900 feet, or more than a mile. Some say it looks like a giant whale emerging from the plateau. The rock is now…
