But any delay would mean the death of the loggers. There was no other way of getting to people besides using a helicopter and you used what your skills enabled you to do. Twenty-one bodies were never found. Pilots fought fierce upwinds and downdrafts in steep canyons and valleys, making rescues with a few feet between rotating blades and trees, plucking people from car hoods and flying into the unknown, landing blind on pure instinct. Still heartbreaking for many Twenty years have passed since then.
Helicopters now ferry tourists to the mountain, and adventure tours onto the volcano are the rage.
In Castle Rock and Packwood, unemployment is high and homes are being foreclosed on. Weyerhaeuser still cuts trees, but many here now make a living by making lattes. The ridge where David Johnston died now bears his name, as does the volcano observatory on its crest. People and mountain are moving on. The eruption was a phase in St. Helens' eons-old existence.