Awesome and Majestic Places

Exotic & Mysterious Places

Weird & Spooky Places

Back to Directory


Dr.Von Zuko

Want to Go There?
TRAVEL SHOP

Dr. Von Zuko's Recommended Books


Mount St. Helens Pathways to Discovery
The Complete Visitor Guide to America's Favorite Volcano

Hot Spots: 
America's Volcanic Landscapes

Kaua`i : Ancient Place-Names and Their Stories

The Backpackers Guide to Hawaii

The May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount Saint Helens was the greatest and most powerful volcanic eruption in the recorded history of North America.

The eruption, instantly blasted the top 1,300 feet of the mountain away, a full cubic mile of earth and rock. This amount of pulverized debris and ash, could cover New York’s Manhattan Island to a depth of 400 feet. The force of the Saint Helens eruption was equivalent to 500 atomic bombs and the mighty roar of the blast was heard by people over 300 miles away.

Over 200 square miles of forest were obliterated or flattened like toothpicks. Cabins and cottages as far away as 20 miles were buried in ash. It is estimated that more than 175,000  wild and domestic animals were killed.  Tragically, more than forty people perished in this natural disaster.

Today, from a vantage point high on Johnston Ridge you can peer into the gapping crater on the north face of a still potentially active Mount Saint Helens.  On Johnston Ridge, you are also standing directly in what is know as the "lateral blast zone."  During the 1980 eruption, a 600 mile an hour, super-heated wind instantly incinerated and flattened   everything in it’s path for a distance of over 12 miles.

To see more . . . click on the photos!  

Back to top

 Na Pali Coastline: Kauai, Hawaii 

On the small island of Kauai, at the western boundary of the chain of Hawaiian Islands, you will find some of the most breathtaking and beautiful scenery on earth.  It is the isolated, nearly inaccessible Na Pali Coastline however, that will leave you completely awestruck. 

This dramatic landscape, steeped in folklore and mystery has inspired adventurers, writers and artists for countless decades, and more recently, filmmakers. Dozens of movies have been filmed here over the years.   South Pacific, King Kong, and Six Days and Seven Nights, to name just a few.

The Na Pali Coastline has remained a pristine wilderness because it is nearly inaccessible.   There are no roads on this side of Kauai, and the only land route is via a narrow trail and a two day hike along the treacherous cliffs. The only other access is by sea or by helicopter. 

Like all of the Hawaiian Islands, Kauai was born of a volcano. The dramatic Na Pali Coastline has been formed by the severe hand of nature over the centuries. The rock has been sculpted into extreme 2,000 foot razor edged cliffs, with deep lush valleys, nourished by majestic, ribbon-like waterfalls. Exposed lava tubes have been carved by the relentless waves into some of the largest sea caves in the world.

This exposed northwest shoreline bears the full force of high winds and South Pacific storm squalls.   During the winter months, waves as high as 40 to 50 feet smash into the base of the towering cliffs. Frequent and heavy tropical showers wear away at the peaks, and an almost continuous veil of mist shrouds the upper elevations.   Interestingly, just a mile or two over the front range of the Na Pali cliffs, there is an expanse that is arid and desert like. 

Back to top

Mount Saint Helens
Mount Saint Helens
(from Johnston Ridge)


Splintered Trees In the Lateral Blast Zone