Mount St. Helens 45-Year Commemoration Tour
Nate Loper – September 9, 2025
I recently returned from an incredible experience at the Answers in Genesis Mount St. Helens conference and tour, commemorating the 45th anniversary of the historic May 18, 1980 eruption. The event drew about 125 participants and began with a one-day conference featuring some of the leading voices in biblical creation today, including Dr. Jennifer Rivera, Dr. Terry Mortenson, Dr. Steve Austin, and Bill Hoesch (Director of the Mount St. Helens Creation Center).
The following four days were spent hiking and exploring the areas surrounding the volcano, witnessing both the catastrophic effects of the blast and fascinating evidence of past eruptions. One of the most remarkable takeaways was seeing how dramatically the landscape has recovered. Walking through lush forests filled with thriving life, it’s almost impossible to imagine the total devastation that swept through this region just 45 years ago.
On a personal note, being in the Red Group was a special blessing for me. Our rotation leader was Dr. Terry Mortenson, a longtime friend at Answers in Genesis and fellow Grand Canyon river runner who was instrumental in the Christian Leaders Trips we ran for 15 years. Getting to work alongside him once again was a highlight of the week. I also enjoyed time spending time with my dear friends Eric and Tanya Hovind. Eric and I captured a significant amount of video footage throughout the week, which Creation Today will be producing into a short film about the event. This project will be an invaluable tool for the creation community, showcasing Mount St. Helens as a modern-day case study in catastrophic geology.
Each day was filled with incredible discoveries guided by knowledgeable creation speakers who know the landscape and its secrets well. Among the most fascinating sights was a layer of petrified and unpetrified wood sandwiched between lava flows, a vivid reminder of how quickly geologic change can occur. This and many other discoveries will be featured in the upcoming video, so stay tuned!
It’s been 45 years since the Pacific Northwest was forever changed by one of the most significant geological events in modern history. Mount St. Helens continues to serve as a living laboratory, powerfully demonstrating that geologic change doesn’t always require millions of years. In the years following the eruption, geologists documented the formation of a “mini Grand Canyon,” complete with 120-foot-deep canyon channels carved in mere hours by massive mudflows.
What we witness at Mount St. Helens provides a smaller-scale model of the global Flood described in Genesis, affirming that rapid, catastrophic processes—not slow, gradual ones—can shape the earth in dramatic ways. Just as the eruption transformed the region in a matter of moments, the Flood would have reshaped the entire planet, leaving behind the vast geologic record of sedimentary rocks and fossils we see today, including those at the Grand Canyon.
This trip was a powerful reminder of why we do what we do at Canyon Ministries—helping others see how God’s Word and God’s world align, revealing His truth through both Scripture and the explosive evidence all around us.
Dr. Terry Mortenson speaking at the Mount St. Helens conference.
Our first day’s expedition. A nearly 8-mile hike to the base of the volcano!
All this vegetation came AFTER the 1980 eruption wiped out the landscape.
