Just a year or so before Mount St. Helens blew, Mount Baker, to the north, was rumbling some and blowing off a bit of steam. It finally settled down (for now), but while it was doing its little shimmy, a bumper sticker was seen on cars in the Bellingham area (just west of Mt. Baker):   "Vote NO on Mt. Baker Eruption!"

Yeah, Mt. Rainier is one of the biggest, perhaps THE biggest volcano in the Cascade Range, a mountain range rumpled up by the collision of tectonic plates, containing several volcanoes. If it got nasty, it could take out Tacoma and Olympia (state capital) and a bunch of small communities, and do a whole lot of dirt to Seattle.

A couple of offshore underwater volcanoes have been discovered recently in this area.

Lotsa fun!

Don Firth